The SOL panels examines how post1918 and post-1991 reform intersected with memory and identity, offering insights into the link between land ownership and the formation of historical subjectivities in the 20th-century Baltics. Land reform can serve as a key instrument of democratisation, state legitimacy, and social interaction.
Over the 20th-century, land reforms in the Baltic states and East-Central Europe reshaped land ownership but affected people unevenly, intersecting with factors such as ethnicity, class, gender, and geography. This interdisciplinary panel examins the experiences of those who oned, lost, or claimed land during these reforms, focusing on how land ownership shaped their identities and relationships with communities, the environment, and the state, while highlighting the disproportionate impact on maginalised minorities and peripheral regions.
The workshop discusses how to analyse 'subjectivities' in the Baltic states from a historical perspective. The discussion unites methodological considerations with empirical findings and case studies. Relying on the collection of the Oral History Center of the University of Daugavpils, the workshop examines the methodological problems of oral history, including the time-bound nature of the interviews, the language of the interviews and more.
In the Baltic states, major land redistribution efforts after 1918 and 1991 payed a key role in shaping society and national identity by linking property reform to broader historical and moran narratives. The panel explored how these reforms intersect with memory, subjectivity, and prior agrarian policies, offering a more connected view of 20th-century Baltic history.
The workshop presented the SOL project to the experts in the field of the Baltic Studies, research on the subjectivity and land reform. Participants discussed the main concepts and engaged in a conversation about key methodological challenges that the project needs to address.