The Baltic Experience Information Session (Cancelled)
Wednesday, November 29, 2023 , 1 - 2 p.m.
Location: 160 Enarson Classroom Building
Contact: Michael Volk
This program has been cancelled for 2024.
Students in The Baltic Experience faculty-led course explore the historically rich and diverse cultures of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, a region in which colonial German, Russian and Swedish and Ashkenazic Jewish cultures fused with the indigenous Baltic and Finnic heritage. Today, the Baltic countries represent thriving democracies known for their innovative technological enterprises, vibrant cultural life, strong commitment to ecology and sustainability and lush natural landscapes.
The course covers the cultural history of the area beginning with Viking settlement and the Teutonic Knights, and later the Hanseatic League, Swedish Livonia, Russian Imperialism and the Pale of Settlement, Soviet Rule, the fight for independence in the late 1980s and integration into the European Union and NATO. Because of their Soviet history, the Baltic countries are today home to a large Russian-speaking minority, which in recent years has grown and formed a vibrant political and social dissident culture. With its focus on the colonial past, contemporary cultural diversity, regional and transnational exchange and collaboration, this course explores important questions of citizenship and cultural and political participation in the 21st century.
