The EUROPAST research component (part of Work package 2) focuses on the representation of the history of the Vilnius region in memory institutions and among diverse ethnic communities in the region.
Although the region was historically inhabited by various ethnic communities and has a rich and diverse culture, its distinctiveness as well as different interpretations of its history are often not represented in public narratives. Thus, the focus of the research project was chosen based on gaps in existing research and the relevance of this case for the EUROPAST project. The research seeks to answer the following questions: Whose voices are included, and whose are excluded, in the representation of the history of the Vilnius region at the local and national levels? How has this changed over time? How is the multiethnicity, multilingualism and multiculturalism of the Vilnius region presented and valued in memory and public institutions as well as ethnic communities in the Vilnius region? What techniques have worked best to increase the engagement of citizens in the co-production of public history and strengthen democratic deliberation in the Vilnius region?
Work on the research dataset, which will consist of oral history interviews with the representatives of the memory institutions, practitioners of history, and public historians from various ethnic groups of the Vilnius historical region, is well underway. Desk research for the design and preparation for the interviews is complete, and data collection, including focus group discussions, individual and joint interviews, and observation, is currently being conducted. The data is collected by a team of early-career researchers from VU, namely Rūta Vyšniauskaitė and Laura Puciataitė from the Institute of International Relations and Political Science (IIRPS) as well as Ignė Rasickaitė from the Faculty of History, led by the Project Leader prof. Violeta Davoliūtė. Once the data collection is finalised, the transcripts of the interviews and focus group discussions will be prepared and uploaded to the National Open Access Research Data Archive (MIDAS) under conditions foreseen in the EUROPAST Data Management Plan (DMP).
During the EUROPAST mid-term conference (5-6 July 2024), researchers from Vilnius University Violeta Davoliūtė and Dovilė Budrytė, and early-career researchers Rūta Vyšniauskaitė and Ignė Rasickaitė presented their research on the local representations of the multi-ethnic history of Vilnius region. The data collected and the possibilities for further research were considered in a roundtable discussion with the Vilnius University research team by researchers from Lund University, the Leibniz Center for Contemporary History in Potsdam and Georgia Gwinnett College.
According to the EUROPAST researchers, the data collected will help to understand how the unique historical identity of the Vilnius region and its multi-ethnic communities is narrated and fostered in local memory institutions and these communities. During the roundtable discussion, researchers discussed the evolution of historical representations in museums in the Vilnius Region, the presentation and evaluation of multiethnicity and multilingualism in exhibitions and other museum activities, and effective strategies for engaging citizens in shaping public history. The following themes were particularly emphasised by the panellists and the audience:
- Although Vilnius Region is home to diverse ethnic communities, its rich cultural landscape is frequently overlooked in national historical narratives
- Museums tend to focus heavily on historical facts and events in their narratives but give little attention to the experiences and interpretations of individuals and communities, the interactions between them and their cultural and political contexts, and the contested historical themes in the Vilnius region
- Museums in the Vilnius region are faced with the problem of limited resources, forcing them to choose between maintaining and improving their infrastructure and enhancing the quality of content in the museum
- Interdisciplinary insights are important for this type of research, as they would allow a better understanding of the interaction between historical events, memory, culture and politics.
The research will run until the end of the EUROPAST project in the Autumn of 2025. In the future, the project's researchers plan to carry out interviews with representatives of the ethnic communities of the Vilnius region and other relevant institutions. The collected data will be made available for secondary use.
