Uus seminarisari „Sugu ajaloos“ toob kokku teadlasi erinevatest valdkondadest

Sel kevadel alustab uus seminarisari „Sugu ajaloos“, mis toob kokku teadlasi erinevatest valdkondadest, et arutleda sooajalooga seotud teemade üle nii Eesti kui ka laiemas rahvusvahelises kontekstis. Seminarisarja eesmärk on soodustada valdkondadevahelist dialoogi ja jagada värskeid uurimistulemusi, pakkudes inspiratsiooni ja koostöövõimalusi.

Seminarid on mõeldud teadusharude vaheliseks platvormiks, kus kohtuvad ajaloolased, kirjandusteadlased, filosoofid, kultuuriteadlased, politoloogid ja teiste erialade uurijad. Ettekanded toimuvad kord kuus ning igal kohtumisel esinevad teadlased nii Eestist kui ka välismaalt.

12. mail kl 16.15 peab ettekande Läti ajaloolane Zane Rozīte. Ettekande pealkiri on "New Insight into Women's History in Latvia: Social Portrait of Female Students (1919-1940)".

Ettekanne toimub ainult Zoomis (https://zoom.us/j/96508672246) ja on inglise keeles.

Esineja ja ettekande tutvustus:

In the territory of present-day Latvia, women were enrolled as the first female students in the Baltic Technical School in Riga, founded by the German occupation authorities on 1 October, 1918. However, women obtained full gender equality – equal rights, possibilities and responsibilities – in higher education after the establishment of the University of Latvia on September 28, 1919. In the first academic semester, there were 685 female students or more than half of the total student body. By 1940 the total number of female students reached more than 7,000. That allows us to speak about the existence of a large, specific and important social group of modern society – female students, which has been included in the history of Latvia only fragmentarily. Researchers have mainly explored “the first”, “the most notable” and “Latvian”, attention have also been paid to certain individual female students, through whom all female students in the academic community have been represented. Thus, broader studies on female students as a certain social group and certain ‘social portrait’ aspects – ethnicity, religion, age, family status, etc., have been ‘blank spot’. The concept ‘social portrait’ is not clearly and concisely defined in the historical literature. Ultimately researcher determines and precisely defines the specific actors and social categories under study. This presentation will address women in the study process, researching such specific problems as women’s study choice and motivation. Significant part of Latvian society still saw higher education as a personification of public space reserved for men and as embodiment an absolute masculinity, while according to the predominant perceptions of the population, childbirth and caring for their husband and children continued to be at the heart of a Latvian woman’s life. An educated woman and her choice to study and her choice of studies were perceived as a threat to the normality of society. This presentation will also provide an insight how Latvian society reacted to it. The extensive and heated discussions on this topic show that interwar Latvian society often defined the social order through women and purposefully viewed education as an instrument of social control over women.

Zane Rozīte is historian. She received her PhD at University of Latvia in 2024. Currently she is expert librarian at the National Library of Latvia and her book “Women in Latvian Intelligentsia: Social Portrait of Female Students, 1919–1940” will be published in 2025.