Center for Social Anthropology

The Center for Social Anthropology (CSA) was established of the Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) in 2005 following the initiative of two anthropologists, Prof. Romas Vaštokas (University of Trent, Canada), of Lithuanian diaspora and Dr. Vytis Čiubrinskas (Vilnius University), who along with Dr. Jolanta Kuznecovienė, sociologist of VMU, have launched a Master’s Program in Social Anthropology there.

The Center serves as anthropological research unit of the Faculty of Social Sciences conducting research and curriculum development projects as well as organizing scholarly activities – programs, conferences, seminars, etc. and preparing publications.

 

MEMBERS

  • Prof. Vytis Čiubrinskas – Senior Researcher and Head of the Center
  • Prof. Victor de Munck – Senior Researcher
  • Rūta Dapkūnaitė – Research Assistant
  • Julija Druk – Research Assistant

 

VISITING PROFESSORS

  • Prof. Jonathan Hill – Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA
  • Prof. Ullrich Kockel – Department of Intercultural Studies, Heriot – Watt University, Edinburgh, UK
  • Prof. Ingo Schroeder – Department of Comparative Cultural Research, University of Marburg, Germany

 

VISISTING PhD CANDIDATES

  • Frances Harrison – the Fulbright Program Fellow (2016-2017), Department of Anthropology,
  • Binghamton University (State University of New York), USA
  • Adomas Lapinskas – PhD Research Fellow (2013- 2014), Baltic and East European Studies
  • Center, Sodertorn University, Stockholm, Sweden
  • Christine Beresniova – the Fulbright Program Fellow (2011-2012), Department of
  • Anthropology, University of Indiana, Bloomington, USA

 

PROJECT AFFILIATES

  • Prof. Laura Assmuth – University of East Finland, Joensuu, Finland
  • Dr. Daiva Bartušienė – Department of Sociology, VMU
  • Dr. Darius Daukšas –  Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, Lithuanian Institute of History, Vilnius
  • Dr. Pernille Hohnen – Department of Culture and Global Studies, University of Aalborg, Denmark
  • Assoc. Prof.  Jolanta Kuznecovienė –   Department of Sociology, VMU
  • Prof. Rimantas Sliužinskas – University of Klaipeda
  • Assoc. Prof.  Kristina Šliavaitė –    Department of Sociology, VMU

 

RESEARCH SCOPE

  • transnationalism and migration,
  • anthropology and sociology of religion,
  • anthropology of postsocialism,
  • epistemology, politics and development of the discipline of sociocultural anthropology,
  • social memory and cultural heritage studies,
  • economic anthropology

Field research sites are in Europe, North America, South Asia

 

MISSION

  • To conduct anthropological research and to make research materials available for Masters’ in Social Anthropology students and other graduate students;
  • To contribute to academic and public debates on key issues for Lithuanian society;
  • To organize anthropology conferences, workshops, seminars, courses and summer schools and to prepare academic publications;
  • To maintain professional links with other academic and research institutions in the field of anthropology and related disciplines;
  • To contribute to visibility and development of the field of anthropology as a new discipline in the country and in the Eastern European region.

 

Partner Institutions

  • Lithuanian Institute for Social Research, Vilnius
  • Department of Ethnology and Anthropology, Lithuanian Institute of History, Vilnius
  • The Center of Oriental Studies, Vilnius University
  • Institute of Baltic Sea Region History and Archaeology, University of Klaipeda
  • Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Lithuania, Vilnius
  • Lithuanian Red Cross Society’s Refugee Day Center, Kaunas

 

  • Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, USA
  • Department of Anthropology, State University of New York, New Paltz, USA
  • Department of Anthropology, University of Bordeaux, France
  • Department of Anthropology, University of Regina, Canada
  • Department for Ethnography and Social Anthropology, Aarhus University, Denmark
  • Department of Anthropology, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, USA
  • Department of Intercultural Studies, Heriot – Watt University,  Edinburgh, UK
  • Department of Social Anthropology, University of Lund, Sweden
  • Department of Social Sciences, University of Pardubice, Czech Republic
  • Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Fribourg, Switzerland
  • Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Salle, Germany
  • Department of Cultural Studies, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany
  • Department of Anthropology, University of Tallinn, Estonia
  • Department of Anthropology, University of Latvia, Riga, Latvia

 

CURRENT PROJECTS

TRANSLINES – Inequalities of Mobility: Relatedness and Belonging of Transnational Families in the Nordic Migration Space

2015 -2019

Research project coordinated by the University of Eastern Finland (Joensuu) in partnership with the CSA and other universities and research centers in Latvia, Estonia, Finland, Romania and Russia: supported by the Academy of Finland.

Fieldwork sites: the Baltic States, Romania, Russia, Finland and Norway.

 

Remigrations and Transformations in Post-socialist European Regions

2013-2016

International Research Program coordinated by the Centre for Intercultural Studies, University of Mainz, Germany in partnership with the CSA and other universities and research centers in Austria, Croatia, Poland, Serbia and Czech Republic, supported by ERSTE Stiftung, Vienna, Austria.

Fieldwork sites: Central and South-Eastern Europe.

Social Memory and Heritage of the Forced Migration of Lithuanians to Trans-Volga Step Area in Russia

2013 – 2016

Research project coordinated by the CSA in partnership with the University of Klaipeda, Lithuania; supported by the Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Kazickas Family Foundation, New York, USA.

Fieldwork sites: Trans-Volga area of Saratov County, Russia.

BAGS – Baltic Anthropology Graduate School

2014-2018

Institutional development project coordinated by the University of Tallinn and University of Latvia, supported by the Wenner Gren Foundation, USA. Consortium of VMU, Latvia (Riga), Stradins (Riga) and Tallinn University for the joint PhD in Anthropology Program development.

COMPLETED PROJECTS

LIVE  – The Impact of Globalization and Transnationalism on the Fragmentation of the State and National   Identity

2012 – 2014

Research project coordinated by the CSA in partnership with the Lithuanian Social Research Center and the Lithuanian Institute of History, supported by the Research Council of Lithuania.

Fieldwork sites: Chicago, London, North-East of Poland, Lithuania.

SPIL – The Peculiarities of Secularization Processes in Lithuania: Intersections of Public and Private Religiosity

2010-2012

Research project coordinated by the CSA, supported by the Research Council of Lithuania

Funded by the Lithuanian Science Council.

Coordinating institution: CSA

Fieldwork sites: Lithuania.

                                                                                                                            

WALQING – Work Quality and Life Quality in New and Growing Jobs

2009-2012

EU 7th Framework Program Research Project coordinated by FORBA (Forschungs und Beratungsstelle Arbeitswelt), University of Vienna, Austria in partnership with the CSA and other universities and research centers in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Spain, Norway and United Kingdom; supported by the European Research Council.

Fieldwork sites: eleven EU countries.

 

The Catholic Church and Religious Pluralism in Lithuania and Poland: An Anthropological Study of Public and Private Meanings of Religion in Postsocialist Society

2007-2010

Funded by the Volkswagen Foundation.

Coordinating institution: Max Plank Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany. Participant institutions: CSA and the Department of Sociology, VMU, Jagiellonian University (Crakow) Poland.

Fieldwork sites: Poland and Lithuania

LIT –Europeanization, Globalization and Lithuanian Immigrant Identity in Response to Politics of Migration in England, Ireland, Norway, Spain, and the USA

2007-2009

Research project coordinated by the CSA in partnership with the Lithuanian Social Research Center and the Lithuanian Institute of History, supported by the Research Council of Lithuania.

Fieldwork sites: Ireland, Norway, Spain, UK and the USA.

 

LIM – Expression Models of National Identity: Social Memory, Cultural Succession and Change under the Conditions of Globalization

2006-2007

Research project coordinated by the CSA in partnership with the Lithuanian Social Research  Center and the Lithuanian Institute of History, supported by the Lithuanian National Research and Studies Foundation.

Fieldwork sites: Lithuania

 

NECEN:  Uncertainty and Freedom: Contemporary Ethnographies of Second Generation Change in the Post-socialist World

2004- 2007

International Research and Graduate Studies Program

“ Nordic and East Central European Network of Qualitative Social Research” coordinated by the Institute of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen in partnership with the University of Lund, U-ty of  Helsinki, U-ty of  Latvia, U-ty of Warsaw, U-ty of Bucharest,  U-ty of Oslo, supported by the Nordic Council of Ministers Foundation (NORFA).

 

CBT – The Circum-Baltic Qualitative Social Science Teaching Network

2005–2007

International curriculum development in anthropology program suported by the Nordic Council of Ministers (Nordplus Neighbor Program). Coordinating institution: Department of Anthropology, University of Copenhagen. Participant institutions: universities and research centers in Lithuania (CSA),  Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Norway, Russia and Sweden.

CONFERENCES AND WORKSHOPS

(organized by the SCA)

International

Transnationalism and the Fragmentation of Identity

2014 11 15

at  Lithuanian Institute of History, Vilnius

Identity Politics: Migration, Communities, and Multiculturalism

2009 05 28-31

at Klaipeda University, Lithuania

Defining Region: Socio-cultural Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Perspectives

2005 05 19-22

at Klaipeda University, Lithuania

National

Transnationalism: Ethnic and Trans-ethnic Contexts: Experiences from fieldwork

2013 10 28

at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas

Religion in Contemporary Lithuania: Intersection of Public and Private Religiosity

2013 05 10

at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas

The State and Fragmentation of Identities: (Trans)nationality, Cosmopolitanism or Localism?

2012 11 21

at Lithuanian Social Research Center, Vilnius

Secularization Process in Lithuania: Challenges of Public Religiosity.

2011 05 27

at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas

Identity and Migration: Theoretical Debates and Practice 

2009 11 20

at Institute for Social Research, Vilnius

Research on Identity Politics: Theoretical Debates and Practice

2008 10 03

at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas

Expression Models of Lithuanian National Identity under Conditions of Globalization

2006 10 30

at Vytautas Magnus University, Kaunas.

PUBLICATIONS  

(Books and edited volumes)

(2015) Kuznecovienė, Jolanta, Naujanienė, Rasa. Tarp aukštų reikalavimų ir menko pripažinimo. Darbuotojų patirtys ir darbo trajektorijos maitinimo paslaugų ir pagyvenusių žmonių globos sektoriuose. Vilnius: Lietuvos socialinių tyrimų centras.

(2014) Čiubrinskas, V., Daukšas, D., Kuznecovienė, J., Labanauskas, L., Taljūnaitė, M.

Transnacionalizmas ir nacionalinio identiteto fragmentacija. Vilnius: Versus Aureus.

(2013) Ališauskienė, Milda, Kuznecovienė, Jolanta (eds.).

Religija ir visuomenė: teorinės įžvalgos ir kasdienybės praktikos. Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University Press.

(2012) Kuznecovienė J., Ališauskienė M., Glodenis, D., Schroder, I. Religion in Lithuania: Between Secularization and (or) Change. Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University Press.

 

(2011) Čiubrinskas Vytis (ed.). Lietuviškas identitetas: šiuolaikinės emigracijos kontekstuose. Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University Press 

(2010) Čiubrinskas, Vytis and Sliužinskas, Rimantas (eds.) Identity Politics: Migration, Communities, and Multilingualism. [Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis, vol. 20: Studia Anthropologica, vol.4.], Klaipeda: Klaipeda University Press.

(2009) Čiubrinskas, Vytis and Sliužinskas, Rimantas (eds.) Identity Politics: Histories, Regions and Borderlands. [Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis, vol. 19: Studia Anthropologica vol.3.] Klaipeda: Klaipeda University Press

(2008) Čiubrinskas Vytis, Kuznecovienė Jolanta (eds.). Lietuviškojo identiteto trajektorijos. Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University Press 

(2007) Čiubrinskas, Vytis. Socialinės ir kultūrinės antropologijos teorijos. Kaunas: Vytautas Magnus University Press.

(2006) Čiubrinskas, Vytis and Sliužinskas, Rimantas (eds.) Defining Region: Socio-cultural Anthropology and Interdisciplinary Perspectives [Acta Historica Universitatis Klaipedensis, vol. 12 and 13: Studia Anthropologica vol.1 and 2.] Klaipeda: Klaipeda University Press.