PROCEEDINGS OF THE LATVIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES

New urban narrative collections at the Archives of Latvian Folklore

https://doi.org/10.53231/LZAV.24.1.3
Keywords: folkloristic paradigms, urban folkloristics, Riga’s Pārdaugava, nature in the city, performative heritage, digital participation
Language: In Latvian

From 2021 to 2023, researchers of the Archives of Latvian Folklore implemented the project “Urban Experiences: Narratives, Memories, and Place Heritage”, funded by the Latvian Council of Science. The article aims to introduce the urban narrative collections created during the project and to assess the fieldwork process in the context of folkloristic discussions and paradigms. The field of the research was Riga’s Pārdaugava — neighbourhoods at the left bank of the Daugava river. The primary data collection methods were interviews, storytelling events, a digital questionnaire, photo documentation, and inquiring about personal archives of Pārdaugava dwellers.

Seventy-four interviews and more than 500 photos make a collection Pārdaugavas stāsti (Pārdaugava Stories). Photos and interview metadata, including a map of mentioned places, are open-access resources. The digital questionnaire got 18 responses, with 60 place stories added to a map. Two new autobiographical collections were handed over to the Archives of Latvian Folklore that are documenting the life on Lucavsala island in Riga since the 1950s. In response to the geopolitical events, a photo collection, “Signs of Support for Ukraine in Latvia”, was created.

The authors highlight the interdisciplinary methodology necessary for contemporary urban studies and combine the approach of folkloristics with that of oral history and life writing studies, visual studies, and environmental and digital humanities. A significant aspect is also broadening the definition of folklore among folklorists and the society they research so that the folk narrative research addresses the values and experiences of current urban life. The role of nature and small creative communities in city life, as well as the potential and flaws of digital societal participation, are some of the focal themes of the study.