Publications 📚
Fatehi, Erfan; Herkman, Juha; Koivukoski, Joonas; Laineste, Liisi. “National identity through the prism of satire: humor scandals in Estonia 1991–2022.” Journal of Baltic Studies, vol. 56, no. 4, 2025-1-30, pp. 1–22. doi
Abstract
This study provides a comprehensive examination of humor scandals in Estonia from 1991 to 2022 through a mixed-method approach. The research identifies ten major national humor scandals, analyzed within the theoretical intersections of humor and scandal studies, with a specific emphasis on how they affect and are affected by Estonian national identity. Through systematic quantitative mapping, the study outlines the frequency, scope, and media coverage of these scandals, revealing a growing trend in humor-related controversies in Estonia’s post-Soviet era. The findings highlight the sensitivity toward national identity in Estonian humor controversies and contribute to the broader understanding of humor’s dynamic role in society.
Open Access Lundberg, Gustav. “Pluralism in peril? Examining the protectionist turn in Latvian integration policy.” Journal of Baltic Studies, 2025. doi
Abstract
Many scholars have drawn attention to the growing influence of nationalist ideology within Latvian politics in recent years. The causes behind this nationalist turn remain disputed. This article studies this process through analyzing four integration policy documents, followed by an examination of different plausible hypotheses explaining the nationalist turn. The author compares two popular explanations – identified as the Potemkin pluralism hypothesis and the external threat hypothesis. Lastly, the author proposes a third hypothesis, the ethnic party system hypothesis, in order to further emphasize the role of the Latvian party system in shaping the state’s increasingly nationalist policy output.and here it is
Jurkynas, Mindaugas. “Lost and Found: Discovery and Implications of First Elections In Post-Communist Lithuania.” Problems of Post-Communism, 2025-11-18, pp. 1–14. doi
Abstract
The first democratic elections in independent Lithuania in 1990 have been neither reported nor explored due to the absence of official data. This article, for the first time ever, will present and explain outcomes of the local elections. The research puzzle addresses the question: Why did the nationalist movement that won the national election lose the local elections a few weeks later? Drawing on theoretical considerations, reports from local newspapers, and interviews with former politicians, this article explains the outcomes of the 1990 municipal elections and explores their broader implications for Lithuania’s democratization process.
Kalmo, Hent. “Estonia as a multinational nation-state: the imperial origins of post-independence political thought.” Journal of Baltic Studies, vol. 0, no. 0, Routledge, pp. 1–23. doi
Abstract
The anti-democratic leanings of nation-statehood are sometimes ascribed to the potency of a particular ideal – a homogenous nation-state – that champions of ethnic nationalism supposedly attempt to make a reality, to the detriment of those not belonging to the core nation. Interwar Estonia has also been described as a ‘nationalizing state’ that granted a hegemonic position to the titular nation. Casting doubt on the theory of ‘nationalizing states,’ this article argues that nation-statehood in Estonia was combined with the ideal of multinationalism. This concept was developed as a counter-model to the kind of imperial domination that was associated with czarist rule.
Open Access Leino, Mare. “General education in Estonia: the combination of pedagogy, social pedagogy and special education.” The Pedagogue in Europe, 2025, pp. 97–115. link
Lielbārdis, Aigars. “Latvian folkloristics in the early years of the Soviet occupation and the case of Andrejs Kurcijs.” Journal of Baltic Studies, 2025-11-19, pp. 1–20. doi
Abstract
This article is devoted to Latvian folklore studies and the Institute of Folklore during the first years of Soviet occupation after the Second World War. As well as the Soviet regime, the principles of Soviet scholarship were also established in Latvian folklore studies. In 1946, Latvian poet Andrejs Kurcijs obtained a research position in folk medicine at the Institute of Folklore, but his career ended in 1949 with his arrest and deportation to Siberia. The article is based on archival materials and is framed by postcolonial studies of the Soviet area.
Open Access Merfeldaite, Odeta; Zemaitaityte, Irena; Railiene, Asta; Katkoniene, Agata. “Social pedagogues in Lithuania.” The Pedagogue in Europe, edited by Anna Aluffi Penini, Fabio Olivieri, Roma Tre-Press, 2025, pp. 149–160. link
Abstract
The chapter analyses the role of social pedagogues in Lithuania in the context of contemporary teacher competence frameworks and growing socio-educational challenges in schools. The aim is to examine how practice-based social pedagogy studies and the competences of social pedagogues (professional, cognitive, collaborative and emotional-motivational) are operationalised in everyday school practice when responding to complex cases of chronic absenteeism. The following problem questions are addressed: (1) how are the holistic educational competences of social pedagogues implemented in practice when providing socio-educational support to pupils at risk of exclusion? (2) what forms of intra-institutional and inter-institutional cooperation are activated in complex pupil cases? (3) what factors facilitate or hinder effective support and pupils’ re-engagement in education? The empirical part presents two case studies from a gymnasium in a large Lithuanian city (school year 2023/2024), focusing on ninth-grade students with long-term absenteeism and diverse psycho-social difficulties. The analysis shows that social pedagogues play a central coordinating role in assessing pupils’ needs, drawing up individual support plans, mobilising teachers, specialists, parents and municipal services, and ensuring a continuum of support from school-level child welfare commissions to city-level structures. The results reveal both the potential and limitations of the current support system: in one case, despite extensive multi-agency intervention, the pupil remains disengaged from schooling, while in the other, strengthened cooperation and clear structure lead to a marked improvement in attendance. The findings highlight the need for early intervention, sustained inter-institutional collaboration and flexible support formats, including alternative educational pathways.
Open Access Velmet, Aro. “Public Opinion in Revolutionary Times: Cybernetics, Sociology, and the Politics of Estonian Perestroika.” Acta Historica Tallinnensia, vol. 31, no. 2, 2025-11-14, pp. 271–296. doi
Abstract
During Perestroika, the Estonian Popular Front (PF) used opinion polling to assert itself as the only political force attentive to public feedback. This article situates this claim in the longer history of Soviet debates over the necessity for feedback in complex societies. It argues that the PF’s politics of polling were based on cybernetics-inspired theories of social communication, developed in the 1960s and 1970s at Tartu University by researchers such as Marju Lauristin. Institutionally, the rise of polling was enabled by organisations created to deliver the Scientific–Technological Revolution in Soviet economics and society, such as the Sociology Laboratory in Tartu, and the management consulting bureau Mainor, in Tallinn. Thus, the political contestations of the late 1980s appear as the radicalised end point of a decades-long Soviet debate over the shape and methods of social reform.
Kvašīte, Regīna. “Terminology Commissions in Latvia (1919–1921) and Lithuania (1921–1926): Comparative Research.” Acta humanitarica academiae Saulensis, vol. 32, 2025-12-5, pp. 152–169. doi
Abstract
The first Terminology Commissions were established in Latvia in 1919, and in Lithuania in 1921. The article discusses the establishment of the Terminology Commissions of Latvia and Lithuania, the organisation of the work and its results based on the research carried out so far, publications in the press and the minutes of the Terminology Commissions meetings.
Open Access Pukelytė, Ina. “Lithuanian Actors’ Studio in Moscow: A Tool of Soviet Indoctrination.” Art History & Criticism, vol. 21, no. 1, 2025-12-1, pp. 32–40. doi
Abstract
The article presents the strategies of the soviet regime that were used to colonise Lithuania and to politically indoctrinate Lithuanian post-war artists from 1947 to 1952. The first strategy was related to the establishment of new soviet drama in theatres, but it proved less effective compared to the second one, that is the indoctrination of young artists by sending them to study at the Russian Institute of Theatre Arts in Moscow (also known as GITIS). Based on interviews with actors Birutė Raubaitė and Leonardas Zelčius, as well as the memories of stage director Aurelija Ragauskaitė, the article reveals the specific methods used to indoctrinate future Lithuanian actors. The teaching methods played a crucial role in turning actors into promoters of the regime. As revealed by the study, the Stanislavski method was the most effective in influencing the consciousness of young actors, they became proponents of socialist realism art. Based on the theoretical insights of David Brandenberger and Hannah Arendt, the article reveals how, using political speeches, art, front organisations, propaganda manipulated emotions and solidified the totalitarian regime.
Agris Redovičs. Juris Podnieks. Dienasgrāmatas 1975–1981. Latvijas mediji, 2025 link
Read an excerpt from Podnieks’ diaries on KinoRaksti
Estonian documentary filmmaker and classic Andres Sööt has released a new photo book — an album from his personal Camino pilgrimage made between 2004 and 2015. It is also worth revisiting his 2011 film about the Way of St. James. Sööt calls it his last major work, which I very much hope is not the case.
Greta Vilnelė’s review of Lithuanian short films from the recent “Scanorama”
Neptuns publishes The Book of Homo Novus has been published. This bilingual publication brings together over 50 contributors — artists, creators and participants of the famous Riga festival — who offer personal memories of Homo Novus, outline important theoretical themes, and envision the future of theatre in visual form. Book launch — December 15 at 6 p.m. at the Gallery “Istaba”, K.Barona iela 31b, Riga.
New Journal Issues 📖
A special issue of Culture Crossroads №29 has been published. This issue is dedicated to the tenth anniversary of the International Scientific Conference on Teaching Spanish as a Foreign Language, with guest editors Dr. Philol. Ana León-Manzanero (Latvian Academy of Culture, Latvia) and PhD Olvido Andújar-Molina (University of Oviedo, Spain).
Art History & Criticism Vol 21, Issue 1 has now been published, featuring work on Čiurlionis, artist migration, Lithuanian design, ecological culture, virtual materiality, and more.
Journal of the Institute of Latvian History, Vol. 1, No. 123 (2025).
PDF
A special issue of Acta Academiae Artium Vilnensis on the cultural, political and artistic intersections between Africa and the Central-Eastern Europe during the Cold War has been published
Sirp, new issue – 45 link
Check Tristan Priimägi’s short piece on the issue of second screens
Kulturos Barai, new issue – 11 Table of contents, texts should be available online next month
Conferences and calls for papers 📢📝
Registration is now open for the International Conference “Social and Humanities Research in/on Central and Eastern Europe: Envisioning Futures from a Tumultuous Present”
On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the journal Topos. Journal for Philosophy and Cultural Studies.
12-13 December, 2025, Vilnius
venue: European Humanities University
Keynote Speakers:
• Epp Annus (The Ohio State University)
• Mykola Riabchuk (Ukrainian Academy of Science)
registration. deadline - 10 december
program
Slovo (an interdisciplinary, postgraduate peer-reviewed academic journal) released a call for submissions for the upcoming 2026 issue
Theme: Contested Realities: Paradigm Shifts in the SSEES Region
Article submission deadline: 1 February 2026
Review submission deadline: 1 March 2026
Guidelines and instructions
Thematical issue of Nordicum - “Mediterraneum on Decoloniality”
Type: theoretical reflections
Deadline: 2025-01-10
Apply
Many calls listed in the November digest are still open. Check them out.
Exhibitions 🖼️
On December 3, the gallery Prospekto Galerija opened a group photo exhibition, “Mobilumai kadre ir už kadro”. The 2025 annual of the Lithuanian Photographers’ Union, _Lithuanian Photography, was also presented. For this edition, editor Agnė Gintalaitė selected 302 works by 32 artists. In the exhibition, where there is no hierarchy or canon, the works of the 32 authors (from J. Kazlauskas to contemporary artists) function as nodes of ideas, exploring (im)mobility as either coercion or privilege, and addressing themes ranging from space travel to border control. The exhibition runs until January 17.
On December 11, the Kaunas Town Hall will host the opening of the exhibition “Šešėly ir šviesoj. Kauno vaizdas” along with the presentation of the book “Šešėly ir šviesoj. Martynas Zaleskis ir Kauno vaizdas.
20013
Dates: 2025-12-17
Place: Vilnius, Lithuania, Meno Avilys
Description: This exhibition has no topic. Or to be more precise, the topic is too broad and abstract to define. “20013” is dedicated to the act of remixing, whilst viewing it both as a force of annihilation and empowerment. The main aim of this exhibition is to build an experience packed with raw destruction, humour, and a glimpse of melancholy – all to create a variety of moods we often use to define reality. It is sought that the exhibition – as well as works in it – would remind one of the opportunity for change or some space for potential; this potential sometimes arises in a bleak situation when a few pieces are rearranged.
Website
Following the recent protests against Latvia’s withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention on domestic violence—which is currently suspended—I recommend visiting the online documentary exhibition “Physical Evidence Museum”. The museum’s collection consists of everyday items—witnesses of domestic violence—collected with the help of many women from across Latvia, as well as from other countries the museum has visited, including Estonia, Poland, and Switzerland. All items represent real stories from real people.
Watch /Listen▶
The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies hosted an online roundtable discussion on “Demographic Development in the Baltic States: Identity, Integration, and Inequality” on Tuesday, December 2, 2025. The recording is now available on youtube
Integration Through Art: Documentary and Dance in Estonia (Podcast)
By: Baltic ways
Platform: Spotify, Apple podcast, RSS
Duration: 24
Over 100,000 Ukrainian refugees have come to Estonia at some point since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Of those, tens of thousands remain in the country, building their own communities and integrating with local Estonians. For many, art is an important assertion of Ukrainian identity, but also a bridge to their new neighbors. Scholar and filmmaker Parker Watt set out to document these stories and embarked on an integration journey of his own during a year spent in Estonia, finding meaning at each step, proverbial and literal, along the way.
Listen
News 📰
The Nemuno Aušra party, which is part of the ruling coalition in the current Seimas, has initiated new amendments to the law regulating the work of the Lithuanian National Radio and Television (LRT). The amendments are designed to make it easier for the ruling parties to replace LRT’s leadership and to freeze the broadcaster’s budget for the next three years. The media community has organized protests in response. Recently, the party also found itself at the center of yet another scandal involving the appointment of a new Minister of Culture, who resigned after a week amid mass protests and continued criticism.
The Estonian Rahvusarhiiv announced the upcoming digitization and public availability of KGB documents related to Johan Laidoner and Konstantin Päts. The three boxes of materials, covering the years 1940–1960, concern Laidoner, Päts, and their relatives. The documents originate from the archives of the Estonian SSR as well as the Penza and Bashkir security services. This rare material reached the National Archives thanks to historian Küllo Arjakas. The documents will be processed and digitized by mid-March at the latest. They can already be viewed in the AIS archival information system. I hope this new collection will also shed some light on how these materials were located and retrieved from such difficult-to-access institutions.
The Latvian State Archive of Audiovisual Documents is looking for a high-quality copy of the 1992 documentary The Jewish Street by director Hercs Frank—specifically, a videocassette version without hard subtitles, to be digitized and screened for his upcoming 100th birthday. If anyone has a videotape of this film in their home archive or a digital copy available, please contact the archive via e-mail [email protected] or on social media.
Arturas Jevdokimovas replaces Arunas Matelis as chairman of the Lithuanian Cinema Union. His welcome note on facebook