<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This article* is dedicated to the regional studies movement in Soviet Lithuania, primarily to ethnography, and argues that Lithuanian ethnographers conducted ethnographic research in different ways. The focus is on the Ramuva movement, founded in 1970 at Vilnius University and continuing until 1994. The activities of the Lithuanian regional studies movement were characterised by diverse education and ethnographic practices. I assert that the key to the success of Ramuva’s activity was a creative circumventing of Soviet ideology and practice. Through a discussion of theoretical issues and the results of fieldwork, I analyse the following questions: How did Marxism–Leninism change ethnography in Soviet Lithuania? What were the activities, methods and theory of regional research? Was Ramuva’s policy of knowledge production in opposition to the Soviet regime?</p></abstract>

This article* is dedicated to the regional studies movement in Soviet Lithuania, primarily to ethnography, and argues that Lithuanian ethnographers conducted ethnographic research in different ways. The focus is on the Ramuva movement, founded in 1970 at Vilnius University and continuing until 1994. The activities of the Lithuanian regional studies movement were characterised by diverse education and ethnographic practices. I assert that the key to the success of Ramuva’s activity was a creative circumventing of Soviet ideology and practice. Through a discussion of theoretical issues and the results of fieldwork, I analyse the following questions: How did Marxism–Leninism change ethnography in Soviet Lithuania? What were the activities, methods and theory of regional research? Was Ramuva’s policy of knowledge production in opposition to the Soviet regime?

The Regional Studies Movement in Soviet Lithuania

Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, Lithuanian Institute of History

Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

{"article-title":"The Regional Studies Movement in Soviet Lithuania"}

This article* is dedicated to the regional studies movement in Soviet Lithuania, primarily to ethnography, and argues that Lithuanian ethnographers conducted...

The Regional Studies Movement in Soviet Lithuania

Publié en ligne: 05 déc. 2019

Pages: 71 - 89

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2019-0014

Mots clés
Baltic countries, belonging, Lithuania, Marxism–Leninism, Ramuva movement, Soviet ethnography

© 2019 Vida Savoniakaitė, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

The Regional Studies Movement in Soviet Lithuania

Publié en ligne: 05 déc. 2019

Pages: 71 - 89

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2019-0014

Mots clésBaltic countries, belonging, Lithuania, Marxism–Leninism, Ramuva movement, Soviet ethnography

© 2019 Vida Savoniakaitė, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.

Mots clés
Baltic countries, belonging, Lithuania, Marxism–Leninism, Ramuva movement, Soviet ethnography