Imperija ir tauta: Eduardo Volterio etnografija, 1882-1941

LTKnygoje parodoma, kokia didžiulė yra Eduardo Volterio darbų politinė įtaka per jo puoselėtus akademinius ryšius. Volterio etnografija, apimanti daugiakalbius įvairių etninių grupių Rusijos imperijos Šiaurės vakarų krašto ir Lietuvos gyventojus, išsiskiria savitu teoriniu požiūriu. Volterio darbams įtaką darė britų, prancūzų, lenkų, rusų, austrų, vokiečių, ypač Johanno Gottfriedo von Herderio, antropologijos idėjos. Senaisiais žmonių tikėjimais paremtuose giminystės ritualuose Volteris matė socialinį kontraktą, kurį suvokė kaip antropologinę sąvoką. Imperijoje Volteris įrodinėjo, kad latviai ir lietuviai skiriasi nuo slavų. Etniškumas suvoktas kaip primordialus, instrumentalus, Lietuvoje – konstruojamas. Rasės tyrimų atsisakyta. Pateiktos originalios etnografijos sampratos. [Anotacija knygoje]

ENThe aim of this book is to reveal the challenges of Eduards Volters’ (1856-1941) ethnography in the Russian Empire and Lithuania. Volters is considered the pioneer of Lithuanian ethnography as he was the first to institutionalise Lithuanian and Latvian ethnography courses and began to research these nations at a time when, in 1864-1904 in the governorates found in the European part of the Russian Empire, the printing of Lithuanian and Latgalian publications in the Latin script was prohibited, restrictions were introduced on teaching in these native languages and Polish had been completely erased from public life. Volters was born in 1856 in Agenskalns; his father was a pharmacist from German family. In 1875 he graduated from the Riga Governorate gymnasium and began studies in linguistics at Leipzig University (1875-1877). Later, he studied at universities in Tartu (Dorpat), Moscow and Kharkiv. In 1882, while working on his Masters thesis in Konigsberg, Volters made the acquaintance of the former university rector, Baltic studies researcher and ethnographer Adalbert Bezzenberger, who inspired Volters to arrange expeditions to Lithuania. Volters dedicated the rest of his life to revealing the characteristics of the Lithuanian and Latvian nations. The empires officials persecuted Volters for using the Latin alphabet. Yet, Lithuania’s intelligentsia were also cautious in dealing with Volters, whom they took to be a Russian imperial official, viewing him ambiguously and sometimes even with hostility. According to Keith Hart, 19th-century anthropology served to explain to Europeans how to better rule the world. Anthropological and ethnographical methods were not widely known of in many Central and Eastern European locations. Democracy, the humanities, books and newspapers mean while did have an enormous influence on learning about other peoples. A broader problematic approach has yet to be applied to early Lithuanian ethnographical studies.We do not know which institutions, personalities or theoretical perspectives had the strongest influence on the first Lithuanian and Latvian ethnographic research. This book is a means of generating new interest in what imperial and national ethnography can teach the contemporary person. We raise the bold assumption that Volters may be considered one of the founders of the literate Lithuanian and Latvian communities, while his research dealt with issues of anthropological historical knowledge. As British anthropologist Jack Goody has said, writing facilitates the creation of a new form of communication in the political economic community, while the dichotomy between those who are “illiterate” and “literate” facilitates learning about communities themselves. Volters and Jonas Basanavičius, along with other members of the Lithuanian intelligentsia, established the Lithuanian Scientific Society, he worked for the Imperial Russian Geographical Society in 1882-1918 in the field of Lithuanian studies, and together in their involvement with the illegal imperial monthly newspaper "Aušra" (Auszra) they encouraged Lithuanian ethnographic research to be conducted differently to what was prescribed by imperial science policy. Volters collected material about the problem of the Lithuanian nation printed in Russian newspapers and about Lithuania’s National Revival in the American press. How did Volters, a member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, manage to combine research conducted on behalf of the empire with the political aspirations of the Lithuanian and Latvian nations? Broader research of Volters’ books and studies on Lithuanian and Latvian ethnography does not exist.Therefore, the research problems raised here, namely, the problem of research ofthe Russian Empire’s North West Region, Volters’ definitions of kinship and nation, the strategies he took regarding ethnography, statistical concepts, theoretical statistics, and the prospects and legacy of a nation, are all new. These questions are investigated in the book by means of an analytical interpretive discourse analysis. The most important, historiographically recognised ethnographic works by Volters published in Saint Petersburg (1882-1918) were analysed first. Then we looked as his texts written in Lithuania (1919-1941) and the comparative heritage research he conducted here. Overall, this constitutes a presentation of Volters’ intellectual biography. A newly discovered document contains the clear definition that the Russian Empire commissioned the discipline of local ethnography to meet the empire’s political aims. Thus, Volters’ research of the Lithuanian and Latvian nations, realised based on an imperial commission, is defined by the empire as local ethnography. In addition to local ethnography, there was also general ethnography, which aimed to develop the Russian people’s self-perception. This ethnographical concept has not been examined at all in Lithuania. Thus, we shall seek to reveal the characteristics of Lithuania’s and Latvia’s ethnography in the Russian Empire in the context of the history of anthropology. [From the publication]

• Istorija / History
• Etnologija / Ethnology