Folklora un ideoloģija: folkloras teksti latviešu mācību literatūrā PSRS 20. gadsimta 20.-30. gados
Folklore and Ideology: Folklore Texts in Latvian Textbooks from 1920–1930

Summary/Abstract: The focus of this article is Latvian textbooks published in the USSR from 1920-1930 for Latvian pupils living in the Soviet Union, and the use of folklore texts in them. Attention is focused on the principles of the selection of specific texts and how the authors of textbooks interpret folklore texts. This research aims to determine how folklore units available in Soviet Latvian textbooks resonated with the dominant dogmas of the Marxist-Leninist ideology in the USSR. The first half of the article describes the most important aspects of the Soviet Latvian diaspora and the organization of education. In this part of the study, all Soviet Latvian textbooks issued from 1920- 1930 were examined: ABC, Latvian language and literature textbooks, school reading books and chrestomathies, as well as published selections of folklore units (24 books in all), not all of them included folklore texts. The focus of the analysis is only those books in which folklore had been published. The analyzed folklore units show how these texts can be used for propaganda purposes using various methods: by selectively picking out only those folklore units that correspond to the Marxist-Leninist ideology, commenting and creating paratexts, ignoring Latvian folklore genres (mythical songs, magic tales), using metrics and formulas of classical folklore to create texts with new content glorifying Soviet reality.

• Details
• Contents