How did the Lithuanian patriarch Jonas Basanavičius inspire the nation with his scientific research? The idea as a movement and development of science fits into the problem of nationalism in the history of the Russian Empire and European science. My aim is to analyse Basanavičius’ studies, ideas and research into the Lithuanian nation in the fields of anthropology, ethnology and ethnography from 1879 to 1927. I argue that German ethnology may have influenced Basanavičius’ theoretical concept of nation studies. In my analysis, I focus on the following issues: (1) the projects of the Science Society in Lietuviška Ceitunga, Aušra, Varpas and other publications; (2) research in biological anthropology; (3) studies of ethnology and ethnography; (4) collecting antiques; (5) ‘ethnographic’ fellowship; (6) the national research programme; and (7) studies of the Lithuanian nation. Key words: cultural nationalism, Europe, Jonas Basanavičius, Lithuanian Science Society, Russian Empire, Völkerkunde.

This article* is dedicated to the regional studies movement in Soviet Lithuania, primarily to ethnography, and argues that Lithuanian ethnographers conducted ethnographic research in different ways. The focus is on the Ramuva movement, founded in 1970 at Vilnius University and continuing until 1994. The activities of the Lithuanian regional studies movement were characterised by diverse education and ethnographic practices. I assert that the key to the success of Ramuva’s activity was a creative circumventing of Soviet ideology and practice. Through a discussion of theoretical issues and the results of fieldwork, I analyse the following questions: How did Marxism–Leninism change ethnography in Soviet Lithuania? What were the activities, methods and theory of regional research? Was Ramuva’s policy of knowledge production in opposition to the Soviet regime?

The aim of this paper is to show the academic links inherent in the idea of ethnographical-statistical studies of Lithuania conceived by the Latvian ethnographer Eduards Volters (1856–1941). In as early as the end of the nineteenth century, the Latvian linguist and ethnographer was working at the Imperial Russian Geographical Society and was developing ethnographical-statistical studies to determine the “tribal” composition of the population. In an original way the theory integrated the concepts of the history of ideas and ethnographical statistics. In 1930 Volters engaged in the activities of the Lithuanian Scientific Society and introduced the concept of “the soul of a nation” in his ethnographical-statistical studies. The author of this article tests the hypothesis that the beginnings of “the soul of a nation” concept in relation to the Lithuanians are connected with the historical anthropological perspective. The author theoretically analyses the rhetoric of Volters’ idea of ethnographical statistics from the following points of view: (1) ethnographical-statistical studies of Lithuania, (2) a romantic nation, and (3) the idea of science and education.

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To mark Lithuania’s centenary, this issue is dedicated to the genesis of anthropology, ethnology, ethnography and folklore. This interdisciplinary issue covers the history of ideas, or the science of ideas in the 19th and early 20th centuries and beyond. Lithuanian scientists who graduated from universities in the Russian Empire and Europe developed theoretical concepts of Enlightenment in the humanities and the social sciences. The emerging study of Lithuania integrated and interpreted the concepts of ethnic research that prevailed in Europe and Imperial Russia at that time. Using a comparative approach, the thematic articles reveal the links between the genesis of Lithuanian ethnology and anthropology, and the research into ethnic groups in the Russian Empire, the Other, the study of people and nations in the West, and the ideas of Völkerkunde. The focus is on the following issues: the reception of ethnography and Lithuanian studies, the comparative study of people and nations, and ideas of nationalism. Key words: сultural nationalism, Lithuania, nation-building, nation, science societies.