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Embodiments

Latvian Folk Ornament and Mythology Nexus as a Revival: Contested Historical Layers, Visualized Ideologies, and Commodified Creativity

Contemporary uses of folk ornament reach beyond the realm of traditional culture and it is a cultural phenomenon where belief, national and ethnic sentiments, esoteric outlook, commercialization and layers of historical meanings and contestations are intertwined in a mutually constitutive way. Through an ethnographic lens theoretically grounded in folklore studies, this dissertation explores the nexus of folk ornament and mythology in Latvia and its manifestations in different ideological constellations of the 20th century as well as contemporary settings.

- Olga Syrova, 22.11.2025

Heterogenity of Historical Time in the Contemporary Latvian Novel: A Comparative Perspective

Since the fall of communism, the experience of time in society and culture has changed significantly. Instead of linear and homogeneous time, we live in a fragmented, layered, and plural temporality. This is also evident in contemporary novels, which depict the present as incorporating the past. The doctoral thesis focuses on the contemporary Latvian novel as a paradigmatic case of multitemporality and compares it to other works of Eastern European literature.

- Olga Syrova, 22.11.2025

Bodies, Violence, Gender Roles: Shifting Expectations of Clerical Behaviour in Medieval Scandinavia

My doctoral project focuses on the expectations of clerical behaviour, largely dictated by canon law and ecclesiastical discourse of the time. While certain desirable behaviours and lifestyles for members of the clergy were known and promoted by the Scandinavian church from its beginnings, there are numerous accounts of clerical misconduct, regular breaches of canon law and even long-term disregard for certain conventions. The reaction of the papacy and papal legates to these incidents varied from time to time, and at times there was even tolerance of clerical behaviour that was explicitly contrary to canon law.

- Olga Syrova, 22.11.2025

Nature in Service of the Nation

How does literature shape national conceptions of nature? How are different nature types valued as regard to nation building – be it as an economic, or symbolic, asset? My PhD project arises from this question, and will combine literature geography, cultural memory studies, and digital humanities to examine how nature is constructed in the literature of Norway from 1814 to 1871.

- Olga Syrova, 22.11.2025

On Belonging and Identity in the Post-WWII Baltic Diasporas as Mediated in Fiction and Life Writing

For the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian exile communities that emerged in the aftermath of World War II and the occupation of their respective homelands, the arts became a way to both perpetuate their identity in the free world and to explore the predicaments wrought by the condition of exile. Within the diasporas’ literary scenes, the works that touched upon the exilic experience varied from attempts to recapture and preserve lost homelands to contemplations on trauma and displacement.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025

Shattered Expectations: The construction of narrative meaning in a shared reading group for informal caregivers

Informal caregivers often experience expectancy violations when caring for loved ones. The experience of becoming an informal caregiver may for example challenge their expectations of themselves as caregivers and expectations regarding their own future. This thesis aims to investigate these schema violations as prominent themes in contemporary Scandinavian caregiving fiction.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025

Gold Treasures as Objects of Identification in the Baltic Sea Region from 1800 until Today

The PhD project investigates the reception of Viking Age gold treasure finds in the Baltic Sea Region during the 19th and 20th centuries. Their discovery, their way into museums and collections, their presentation there, as well as their research and popularisation allow conclusions to be drawn about processes of identification with and demarcation from early medieval Scandinavian culture that took place around the Baltic Sea during this period.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025

In Search of Lost Homes: Post-Holocaust Restitution in Norway 1945–1950s

In my PhD thesis, I research the post-Holocaust restitution of homes and businesses in Norway, focusing on the greater human significance of property and return. Through this lens, I examine the larger topics of Jewish Norwegians’ rebuilding of their post-Holocaust lives and the post-war Norwegian government’s response to the genocide.

- Olga Syrova, 21.11.2025