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Publications 📚
Davoliūtė, Violeta, Dovilė Budrytė. The Routledge Handbook of Memory in Post-Socialist Europe. Routledge, 2027. link
Annotation
This handbook shows how memory operates simultaneously as lived experience, institutional practice, geopolitical weapon, and resource for imagining the future. It explores decolonial and postcolonial approaches, memory laws, oral history, nostalgia, testimony and digital memory-making.
Spanning the aftermath of the Second World War, the socialist and post-socialist periods, and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the volume covers post-socialist Europe and relevant diasporic and transnational contexts. Its case studies include the Holocaust commemoration in Belarus, museums in the former Yugoslavia, the Holodomor, Crimean Tatar cultural diplomacy, Poland’s Museum of the Second World War, Russia’s Memorial society, and Ukrainian virtual war museums. The thirty-two chapters gathered here collectively demonstrate that memory in the region is not a secondary reflection of politics but a constitutive dimension of political life itself.
The book will be of interest for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students and scholars working on topics related to memory in the region, while remaining accessible to non-specialist readers.
Starkutė, Ugnė Barbora, Anna Ewa Pilarczyk-Palaitis. ““Authentically” ethnic? Coloniality as expectations of “authenticity” towards ethnic minorities.” Journal of Baltic Studies, 14 Sept. 2026 DOI.
Abstract
In this article, we explore how the epistemic character of coloniality is manifested in identity politics toward ethnic minorities through the expectations of ‘authenticity.’ Two different cases are examined: the indigenous Sámi in Finland and the Polish ‘accidental diaspora’ in Lithuania. These cases are based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted from 2016 to 2024 in Finnish Sápmi, and in Lithuania and Poland. The article aims to show that oppressive ‘authenticity’ affects both indigenous and national minorities. It also contributes to discussions on the relationship between nation-state, ethnic minority rights, and the sustainable coexistence of diverse ethnic and national groups.
Hiršs, Andris, Andrejs Balodis, Ainārs Kamoliņš. “De-Sovietization as metanoia: rewriting the history of philosophy in Latvia.” Studies in East European Thought, 8 Sept. 2026 Open Access.
Abstract
The study interprets the de-Sovietization of Latvian philosophy as a complex process of intellectual reorientation rather than a radical rupture. It examines public debates on the role of philosophers, philosophy textbooks, the transformation of philosophical terminology, and the expansion of translations of Western philosophical works. The article also analyzes the rewriting of the historiography of philosophy in Latvia. Together, these developments suggest that the philosophical landscape after 1991 was shaped by processes of reinterpretation, selective continuity, and institutional adaptation, demonstrating how elements of Soviet philosophical practice were simultaneously rejected, transformed, and partially preserved within the emerging intellectual culture.
Jurgutienė, Aušra, Eva Eglāja-Kristsone. *Baltic Literature and Russian Imperialism *. Brill, 2026. link
Annotation
With Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine reviving imperial rhetoric, Baltic Literature and Russian Imperialism explores how literature has long resisted domination. Twenty scholars uncover how Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian writers responded to Tsarist, Soviet, and post-Soviet forms of Russian power. From censored novels and forced Russification to suppressed memory and cultural survival, this book traces how literature exposes injustice, preserves national identity, and challenges the myths of liberation. Drawing on rare archival sources and regional postcolonial approaches, this timely volume reveals why the cultural fight for freedom, waged with words, is as urgent now as ever.
Brüggemann, Karsten. “The Baltic “Our Abroad” in Russian Imperial Imagination: Continuity and Change from the Late Russian Empire to the Early Soviet Union.” Spatial Dimensions of Russian and Soviet Imperial Ideologies and Practices (1689–2024), Brill. link
Annotation
Studies focusing on the Baltic Socialist Soviet Republics often mention that this region was perceived by many contemporaries as a “Soviet West” or as “our abroad”. What is often overlooked is that this was no Soviet invention. Already during tsarist times, the Baltic provinces were seen as more “Western” and more “European”, essentially a “Russian Germany”. This chapter explores the origins of this image and discusses how Russian nationalism established an alternative reading of the Baltic littoral “otherness”. Instead of being a marker of the empire’s true Europeananness, they were transformed into a potentially disloyal “German bastion” against Russia. This chapter examines further the changes in the perception of the region during the interwar period, when it became a reality abroad. Early Soviet texts about the Baltic states replaced ethnic stereotypes with class stereotypes, portraying them as a bridgehead of imperialism and “fascist” states suppressing their proletariat. As I argue in this chapter, the early Soviet view thus essentially continued with the patterns established by Russian nationalism in the nineteenth century. Only after 1939 and the establishment of Red Army bases on the territory of the Baltic states, they were made into friendly neighbours, before the annexation of 1940 once again made them a potential “our West”.
News 📰
“Ulya” by Viesturs Kairišs, which premiered at Cannes earlier this year, is now released on big screens in Latvia
Danish, Swedish and Latvian co-production “Woman Unknown” filmed in Latvia receives the Venice Festival Golden Lion
With the 99th Academy Awards ceremony scheduled to take place in Hollywood on 14 March 2027, the Baltic countries revealed their titles submitted for the Best International Feature Film Award.
Estonia: Our Erika, German Golub (Lithuania/Estonia/Latvia)
Latvia: Ulya, Viesturs Kairišs (Latvia/Estonia/Poland)
Lithuania: How to Divorce During the War, Andrius Blazevicius (Lithuania/Czech Republic/Luxembourg/Ireland)
Exhibitions 🖼️
ArtVilnius ‘26
Dates: 2026-10-01 to 2026-10-04
Place: Vilnius, Lithuania, Litexpo
Website
Foto Tallinn
Dates: 2026-09-18 to 2026-09-20
Place: Talinn, Estonia, Kai Art Center
Website
Kaunas Art Book Fair
Dates: 2026-09-26 to 2026-09-27
Place: Kaunas, Lithuania, Photography Gallery
Website
The Cinema of Jānis Streičs: Watch Like a Researcher!
Dates: 2026-09-25
Place: Riga, Latvia, Riga Film Museum
Description: For European Researchers’ Night the Riga Film Museum is hosting a special quiz dedicated to acclaimed director Jānis Streičs, featuring film fragments and musical accompaniment by Kaspars Gulbis. Free and open for everyone.
Website
Things Return Quietly by Vytautas Kumža
Dates: 2026-09-10 to 2026-10-29
Place: Riga, Latvia, ISSP Gallery
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Festivals & Screenings 🎬
Riga International Film Festivla
Dates: 2026-10-15 to 2026-10-25
Place: Riga, Latvia, multiple venues
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Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (PÖFF)
Dates: 2026-11-06 to 2026-11-22
Place: Tallinn, Estonia, multiple venues
Website
Kino klasikas with Dita Rietuma “1967”
Dates: 2026-10-27 to 2027-03-10
Place: Riga, Latvia, Splendid Palace
Description: Film theorist Dita Rietuma’s curated series “1967” at the Splendid Palace brings together five acclaimed films from different countries that marked a turning point in world cinematic history. As part of the program, Rolanda Kalniņš’s legendary film Four White Shirts will be screened in January 2027.v
Website
New York Baltic Film Festival
Dates: 2026-11-05 to 2026-11-08
Place: New York, USA, Scandinavia House
Description: Festival Passes now on sale. Save 15% before October 5
2026 film line-up will be announced September 28
Single screenings tickets on sale September 29
Website
Opportunities
PÖFF is looking for volunteers 2026. Application deadline: 25 September. Apply
Quick Links 🔗
Tue Steen Müller on Baltic Sea Docs’ film programme
Business Doc Europe coverage on several projects presented at Baltic Sea Docs 30th edition
Baltic Pitching Forum announced the 2026 programme
echo gone wrong: The autumn season at the Lithuanian National Museum of Art. Read
RIGA IFF reveals programme of 13th edition