News

On May 27-28, 2024, for the seventh time the International Lithuanian Congress will take place at Wrocław University. We are proud to invite every person interested in Lithuania, its language, culture, history, politics, the relations between Lithuania, Poland and their neighbors, to participate in the 7th Congress, commemorating some of Lithuania’s most important anniversaries.

The year 2024 marks 20 years since Lithuania and Poland’s accession to the European Union and of Lithuania’s membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. In this very year we celebrate the 30th anniversary of Lithuania and Poland’s declaration of friendship and neighborly relations.

Immanuel Kant, a leading figure in contemporary philosophy, whose thoughts on the nature of language are still up to date, was born 300 years ago.

We also celebrate the 100th anniversary of Lithuanian Song Celebrations (Dainų šventė), which first took place on August 23-25, 1924 in Kaunas. The Celebrations comprise a crucial part of Lithuania’s cultural identity, characterized by unique forms of expression, placed on UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The 7th International Lithuanian Congress invites researchers of various fields, social and cultural activists to participate in discussions, divided into following sessions of the conference:

·         Lithuanian language and comparative linguistics

·         culture, literature and folklore

·         history of Lithuania, Lithuanian-Polish relations

·         politics, law and society

·         Immanuel Kant – man and philosopher

During the 7th Congress, a diverse cultural program and expert debates will be presented.

More details and the application form could be found on https://labaswroclaw.wordpress.com/. Applications will be accepted until April 1, 2024.

INVITATION

A research group “Linguistic, Literary, Cultural and Historical Research: the Regional Aspect” organises an international interdisciplinary scientific conference The Region: History, Culture, Language on the 16th–17th of May, 2024. Researchers of different fields are invited to participate and discuss the subject using different perspectives. 

Suggested topics:

• Methodologies and methods in regional research;
• Regions in historical research;
• Cultural and communication memory in the region;
• Regional policy and governance;
• Region in ethnology, anthropology and cultural research;
• Regional identity, mentality and self-awareness;
• Ethnographic peculiarities of regions;
• Linguistic understanding of the region, territorial and social dialects, language specifics;
• Regional literature and regional authors, regions and regionality in literature;
• Traditional and contemporary applied and visual art expression in the region;
• Development opportunities for the design sector in the region;
• Regions in the context of informal art education;
• The specifics of musical folklore in the regions;
• The peculiarities of creation, dissemination and perception of professional music in the regions.

KVIETIMAS

INVITATION

We invite students from foreign and Lithuanian Baltic studies centers to participate in the International School at of Baltistics at the Faculty of Philology of Vilnius University. It will be held from 23 to 25 November 2023.

The students will have the opportunity to listen to lectures by Balticists on Old writings, Prussian language, the grammar of Baltic languages and onomastics. They will also take part in seminars and network with students from other centers.

·         Fluency in Lithuanian at A2/B1 level is required.

·         Participation is free of charge, and we will also provide travel, accommodation and meals for participants coming from abroad.

·         The number of participants is very limited.

Registration is open until 2 November at: https://forms.gle/sR3umk9aQ3iPZCB89

If you have any questions, please contact ernesta.kazakenaite@flf.vu.lt

Digital Integrated Education Tool (SIUP) "Lithuania in the World - the World in Lithuania" (https://hmf.vdu.lt/mokslas/elektroniniai-istekliai/) is an interdisciplinary universal tool for Lithuanian language studies, designed for students and teachers of Baltic Studies Centres and Lithuanian language schools . We hope that SIUP will promote empathetic interest in the historical and cultural links between Lithuania and different foreign countries, in the current interaction and cooperation between peoples, states and societies in various spheres of political, economic and socio-cultural life.

The book was started to be written in 2017 at the Lithuanian University of Educational Sciences, and since 2019 its preparation had continued at Vytautas Magnus University.

On 11-18 June, Dr. Halina Beresnevičiūtė Nosalova from Masaryk University in Brno, Czech Republic, was visiting Vytautas Magnus University. During her visit, Dr. H. Beresnevičiūtė-Nosalova worked in libraries, where she collected material for the courses on history and literature of the Baltic region. She also gathered material for forthcoming publications in the field of Lithuanian 19th c. social history and Czech-Lithuanian cultural relations. Dr. Halina Beresnevičiūtė-Nosalova also met with university professors and researchers, namely prof. Egidijus Aleksandravičius and Dr. Daiva Dapkutė from the Department of History at Vytautas Magnus University.

Dr. Halina Beresnevičiūtė Nosalova was visiting Vytautas Magnus University

Photographs from Dr. Halina Beresnevičiūtė Nosalova personal archive

On June 3-7 a lecturer from the Liepaja University (LiepU), Latvia,  mg. philol. Sandra Okuneva (Sandra Okuņeva), had a traineeship at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) in Kaunas. S. Okuneva is a director of the Bachelor's degree programme „Baltic Philology, Culture and Communication“ at the Faculty of Humanities and Arts and a phD student at the same time.  

During the visit, S. Okuneva got acquainted with the study programmes and research areas of the Faculty of Humanities of VMU. She worked in the VMU library collecting materials for her research and testing the possibilities of the library's reading rooms, which provide an environment conducive to study and research and comfortable working conditions. Lecturer also visited VMU Centre of Letonics. The chief coordinator of the Center Dr Kristina Vaisvalavičienė and ethnologist Dr Auksė Noreikaitė told the gest the main areas of  their investigations and  activities.

S. Okuneva, commenting on the results of the internship, expressed her gratitude to her Lithuanian colleagues for the warm welcome introducing the University and the city of Kaunas, as well as for the financial support for the internship provided by the project "Promotion of Cooperation between Foreign Baltic Studies Centres and Lithuanian Scientific and Educational Institutions". According to S. Okuneva, professional and informal communication not only strengthens the cooperation between our higher education institutions, but also enriches the content of studies at the Liepaja University.

S. Okuneva at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) in Kaunas

Photographs from S. Okuneva personal archive

On 2023 May 21-27 Tereza Kabelačova, a researcher at the Institute of General Linguistics and Baltic Studies of Masaryk University in Brno, visited Vilnius University. During the visit, she worked in the VU Central Library, collected materials for the Lithuanian courses and scientific research, got acquainted with the latest literature. In the meetings with VU colleagues, she discussed the development of studies and scientific research, cooperation in the field of Baltic studies and joint conferences.

On 2023 May 17-23 Lina Pestal visited Vilnius University. During the visit Lina Pestal worked in the VU and Martynas Mažvydas libraries, participated in various events - Lithuanian and Ukrainian poetry and music evening, prof. dr. Neringa Klumbytė's lectures.

Lina Pestal visited Vilnius University

Photographs from L. Pestal personal archive

On 2023 April 30-May 7 dr. Vytautas Rinkevičius visited Institute of General Linguistics and Baltic Studies at the Masaryk University in Brno, where he gave lectures to students.