1st International Egodocumental Network Conference
Vilnius University, Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, the University of Lodz, and the Egodocumental Research Group (https://egodocuments.umk.pl) organise an international conference focusing on research, development, and changing perceptions of egodocuments in the twenty-first century. The conference aims to bring together scholars from different disciplines to share their insights and to encourage interdisciplinary studies of egodocuments.
The conference will also be the first meeting of the International Egodocumental Network established in December 2023 by the Egodocumental Research Group (Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń and the University of Lodz) to unite scholars from different disciplines working on egodocuments. It provides a platform for discussion, collaboration, and exchange of information between the participants, as well as online research seminars organized twice a year. In this dimension, our conference continues two editions of the Scientific Symposium "Egodocuments, Life-Writing and Autobiographical Texts..." organized at NCU in Toruń in 2022 and 2024.
Keynote speakers
Dr. Nataliia Voloshkova
Kazimierz Wielki University and Oxford Brookes University
Prof. Leona Toker
Hebrew University and Shalem Academic College
Prof. François-Joseph Ruggiu
Sorbonne Université, CNRS and Oxford University
Aistė Kučinskienė
Vilnius University and Institute of Lithuanian Literature and Folklore
Self-Fashioning in Lithuanian Women’s Letters (First Half of the 20th Century)
Letters were one of the earliest forms of written communication available to women, serving as a means to assert their agency through the expression of their voices and engage in cultural life (as discussed by Dena Goodman, Linda S. Kauffman, and others). In Lithuania, an increase of women’s correspondence became evident in the late 19th century and the first half of the 20th century, a period characterized by intense nation-building processes and the development of national culture. This paper examines the practices of self-fashioning (defined as the construction of one’s identity within societal codes) in the epistolary communication of Lithuanian women who were cultural figures, including Julija Žymantienė-Žemaitė, Gabrielė Petkevičaitė-Bitė, Marija Pečkauskaitė-Šatrijos Ragana, and Sofija Kymantaitė-Čiurlionienė, among others. The primary aim of this paper is to explore the creation of a public persona in private letters by analyzing the roles constructed within the correspondence and the relationship between the formation of one’s public identity and letters as a specific type of egodocuments, with particular emphasis on the addressees.
