Since September, the Lituanica Department of the National Library of Lithuania, in partnership with “Global Lithuanian Leaders”, Antanas Smetona High School of Ukmerge and Vladas Slaitas Public Library of Ukmerge District Municipality, is implementing an educational project called “Discussions about Emigration.” The project is aimed at introducing high school students to the history of Lithuanian emigration and its current trends.
The program includes interactive lectures about major waves of Lithuanian emigration and Lithuanians in the world, as well as conducting oral history interviews with people who emigrated from Ukmerge and still live abroad or recently returned to Lithuania. The data collected by students will be analysed by the researchers at Lithuanian Emigration Institute of Vytautas Magnus University and published in Oikos, Lithuanian diaspora and migration studies journal. All oral interviews, both audio files and transcribed texts, will be deposited at Vladas Slaitas Public Library of Ukmerge District Municipality.
Students, who participate in the project, already listened to two lectures on the history of Lithuanian emigration and participated in the oral history workshop. In late October, they travelled to Vilnius and visited the National Library of Lithuania and Vytautas Kasiulis Art Museum, which exhibits works by an acclaimed Lithuanian émigré artist. On 10 November, students attended a discussion led by the “Global Lithuanian Leaders” about the current migration processes and success stories of new emigrants.
The project will end in December, with a public debate, where students will be asked to share and defend their opinion about positive and negative aspects of emigration.
“Conversations about Emigration” is our pilot project. If it is successful, it could be implemented in other regions of the country.
More information about the project can be found on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ pokalbiaiemigracija?fref=ts
Lituanica Department