The Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies is pleased to announce that Ramunė Bleizgienė has been awarded the 2025-2026 Academic Events and Projects Grant to support her organization of the upcoming international conference, “Local Feminisms in the Baltic Region (Late 19th-Early 20th Century): Parallels, Differences, and Influences.”
The AABS Grant for Academic Events and Projects of up to $5,000 is available for any academic event or scholarly project that promotes Baltic Studies.
The 2025 applications were evaluated by the AABS 2025-2026 Grants and Awards Committee consisting of AABS VP for Professional Development Dr. Kaarel Piirimäe, AABS President Dr. Jörg Hackmann, and AABS Director-at-Large Dr. Dovilė Budrytė. Learn about the other 2025-2026 recipients here.
Ramunė Bleizgienė is a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore (Vilnius, Lithuania). She has published the monograph “Private Silence, Public Voices: Women’s Identity Dynamics in the Late 19th and Early 20th Century” (2012), and chapters of the books: “Voices of Maironis: His Oeuvre, Activities, Memor” (2019),“The Lithuanian’s Literary Canon Workshop (the Late 19th–the Early 20th Century)” (2022). Her academic interests are the history of women’s writing, the literary history of the late 19th and the early 20th centuries, and the history of emotions. Bleizgienė, in collaboration with Dr. Birutė Avižinienė, compiled and published a collection of multi-authored articles entitled “Sketches in Women’s History: The Second Half of the 19th Century – the First Half of the 20th Century” (2024).
Event Overview
An international conference “Local Feminisms in the Baltic Region (Late 19th-Early 20th Century): Parallels, Differences, and Influences,” will outline the research on the history of women in the Baltic region during the period in question. The event will shed light on the multifaceted connections between feminism, nationalism, and modernity in the Baltic region and will broaden the focus of research on women’s history by analyzing how feminist movements shaped and were shaped by broader societal changes, such as national movements and the modernization of society.
The conference aims to promote interdisciplinary dialogue. Such an approach will provide an opportunity for new theoretical perspectives of feminist research, allowing for a new appreciation of women’s contributions to literature, art, culture and social processes. Particular attention will be paid to presenting women who have been overlooked, showing their contributions to national culture and modern identity. The conference will provide an opportunity to examine the research on women’s history in the late 19th and the early 20th century that has been carried out separately in the Baltic countries by highlighting regional parallels, differences, and influences on the process of women’s emancipation in the countries.