India studies in Soviet Lithuania: approaching Asia from outside the establishment

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: "paralelinė visuomenė"; Antisovietinė rezistencija; Hinduizmas; Indijos studijos Lietuvoje; Kitas; Krikščionybė; Kultūra; Lietuvos ir Indijos draugija; Lietuvos-Indijos draugija; Nacionalinis identitetas; Orientalistika; Pagonybė; Ričardas Mironas; Rusifikacija; Rytų studijos; Sanskrito studijos; Sovietinė Lietuva; Subkultūros; Tautinė ir etninė tapatybės; Vilniaus universitetas (VU; Vilnius University); "parallel society"; Anti-Soviet resistance; Christianity; Culture; Hinduism; India studies in Lithuania; Lithuanian-Indian Friendship society; Lithuanian–Indian Society; National and ethnic identities; National identity; Oriental Studies; Orientalism; Other; Paganism; Ričardas Mironas; Russification; Sanskrit studies; Soviet Lithuania; Subcultures.

ENAsian Studies as a constituent of area studies has constantly been framed by the discourse of a nation-state both as an object of study and as the subject generating demand for such knowledge. In particular, it holds true to nation-state debate in area studies which questions methodology, as well as the organizational principles of area studies based on the concept of the nation-state. However, the predominantly outward orientation of Western Asian Studies, preoccupied with postcolonial discourse, has given less attention to frameworks and strategies of engagement with Asia from the perspective of non-colonial nations in Europe or of those deprived of statehood and sovereignty through occupation, as was the case with the Baltic states in 1940. What is specific about engagement with Asia in these stateless countries is that, instead of producing knowledge in the service of the state, the local academies and in particular the cultural activists set out to appropriate orientalist knowledge for the construction of national identity aimed at resisting the colonial regime.[...] This chapter thus sets out to explore the case of engagement with India on the marginal zones of colonial formations, such as twentieth-century Lithuania under Soviet occupation, by addressing the rather hybrid orientalist tradition of imagining and knowledge of India, which gained currency in the society preoccupied with the reframing of national identity. The idea of Lithuania’s links with India was modelled on linguistic affinity between the Lithuanian language and Sanskrit established in nineteenth-century comparative linguistics. During the years of Soviet oppression this not only contributed to long-term fascination with this country but also raised profound interest in ethnic Lithuanian culture, which proved to be an effective and socially engaging framework of identity transmission. [Extract, p. 189-190]

• Politikos mokslai / Political sciences
• Istorija / History