14.04.2022 Online lecture "Carthography of the religious landscape of the Baltic"
Lector: Catherine Gibson
Language: English
How do maps shape our understanding of the world? This talk examines the wealth of religious and ethnographic maps produced in the 19th century to make sense of the multiconfessional and multilingual inhabitants of the Baltic provinces. Showcasing a wide range of rare maps from collections in Estonia, Latvia, and Russia, the talk will discuss fascinating examples of the uses and misuses of maps to identify where different religious groups lived, visualise statistical data on the numbers of different confessions, and monitor deviant or minority groups. It also uncovers the stories of controvertial maps which were intentionally produced to distort contemporary understandings of religious issues, such as through deliberate oversimplifications or the misleading use of colour.
10.02.2022 Online lecture "Attempts to convert Swedish population of Ruhnu island"
Lector: James White
Language: English
Over the summer of 1866, the Swedish-speaking population on the lonely isle of Ruhnu sought conversion from Lutheranism to Russian Orthodoxy. Fishing, trading and hunting all around the Baltic Sea, these islanders had a highly distinctive culture, dialect, and way of life. However, a valuable shipwreck soured their relations with their local Lutheran pastor and led them to threaten conversion to the faith of the tsar. In this talk, we will use the authentic voices of the involved individuals to tell this dramatic story of religious conflict amidst the waves of the Baltic.