News

will take place on

January 15, 2025   

at 16:45 CET

in Room 9, Dobra 72

Any attempt to reconstruct the historical multilingualism faces several difficulties. For centuries, nobody asked people about their linguistic competences and even if that question appeared, bias and negligence were still common. The multi-confessional, multi-ethnic, and multi-lingual eastern region of Latvia – Latgale – is a perfect case in point. Throughout the centuries, Latgale experienced numerous changes of political rule, quasi-colonial exploitation, cultural shifts, and waves of migration. The bases of a historian’s work – written sources – reflect only a fraction of the languages locally spoken. Moreover, both the sources and the academic literature include misleading terminology or are entangled in nationalistic, imperial, and colonial discourses. The presentation will discuss various challenges in studying past multilingualism and the ways of decolonising the topic.

To join the seminar online, please register before 3 PM
on the seminar day at crp@al.uw.edu.pl