Theorizing Festival Programs as Manifestos: The International Folklore Festival Baltica During the Singing Revolution (1987–1991)
Theorizing Festival Programs as Manifestos: The International Folklore Festival Baltica During the Singing Revolution (1987–1991)
Author(s): Aleida BertranSubject(s): Cultural history, Customs / Folklore, Political history, Social history, Cultural Anthropology / Ethnology, Post-War period (1950 - 1989), Transformation Period (1990 - 2010)
Published by: Latvijas Universitātes Literatūras, folkloras un mākslas institūts
Keywords: folklore revival; critical discourse analysis; Baltic identity; cultural resistance; symbolic power; legitimation;
Summary/Abstract: The International Folklore Festival Baltica was founded at the dawn of the Singing Revolution to be celebrated annually in a different Baltic republic (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) under the flagships of kinship, authenticity, and Baltic unity. Existing literature has explored this festival in the fields of folkloristics, ethnomusicology, cultural heritage, and performance studies. However, the analysis of Baltica festival programs remains under-researched. This article presents a conceptual proposal for interpreting the discourse of festival programs as manifestos legitimizing the history, heritage and knowledge of a festival community under censorship. Through the prism of Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA), and the categories of authority and mythopoiesis, it unravels discursive mechanisms that reaffirm cultural, national, and a collective Baltic identity, and ground the enactment of discourse in social practice and performance.
Journal: Letonica
- Issue Year: 2025
- Issue No: 57
- Page Range: 102-124
- Page Count: 23
- Language: English
