On 30-31 January 2025, Daugavpils University (DU) hosted its annual international conference in the humanities, titled The January Papers (previously known as the DU Faculty of Humanities Scientific Readings until 2023). The conference centred on the diverse fields of humanities represented at DU, including comparative literature, contrastive linguistics, translation studies, regional studies, cultural studies, and more.

Each year, the conference attracts a significant number of renowned and emerging researchers from Latvia and beyond. The 35^th Daugavpils University International Scientific Conference, The January Papers, featured 84 speakers from Estonia, Italy, Israel, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Ukraine, and Germany. This year, the conference was held in a hybrid format, taking place both in-person at DU and online via the ZOOM platform, with support from the Daugavpils University Lifelong Learning, Culture, and Science Communication Society, Intelekta Parks, and in collaboration with the University of Siena, Campus Arezzo.

The conference commenced with addresses from a full member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences and chair of the scientific committee, Professor Maija Burima, alongside the Vice-Rector for Studies of DU, Professor Inese Kokina, and the acting dean and lead researcher of DU, Mārīte Kravale-Pauliņa.

Professor Elīna Vasiļjeva from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Department of Languages and Literature, has received a DU Certificate of Recognition for her professional and creative academic work, development of international research and academic collaboration, and promotion of the DU name. Acting Dean and lead researcher Mārīte Kravale-Pauliņa expressed her gratitude to the chair of the scientific committee, Professor Maija Burima, for maintaining the scientific tradition and continuity in organising the 35^th January Papers.

The conference’s plenary session was dedicated to DU emeritus professor, philologist, and former rector (2002–2007), Honorary Citizen of Daugavpils, Dr. habil. philol. Zaiga Ikere, who has devoted over 40 years to academic and scientific work at DU and marked a significant milestone in her life this year. Full member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences and Professor at the University of Latvia, Ina Druviete, delivered a speech entitled Zaiga Ikere: For Latvia and the World, highlighting the substantial contributions of philologist Zaiga Ikere to the development of linguistics. Professor Vilma Šaudiņa from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences and head of the Centre for Lithuanian Studies provided insight into her colleague’s biography in her reflection Zaiga Ikere: On the Banks of the Venta and Daugava. Docent Ilze Oļehnoviča of the Department of Languages and Literature summarised insights regarding the significance of Professor Zaiga Ikere in their individual scientific journeys, including those of her former doctoral students who now represent the DU academic staff: Associate Professor Elvīra Isajeva, Docent Jeļena Tretjakova, Lecturer Solveiga Liepa, and herself.

The 35^th January Readings at DU were organised into five thematic blocks. The workgroup The Baltic languages: synchrony and diachrony comprised linguists from Latvia and Lithuania, concentrating on research that addresses issues in semantics, terminology, media language, phraseology, nomination, and other contemporary aspects of Baltic languages.

The workgroup The English Language: Synchrony and Diachrony discussed current issues in sociolinguistics, contrastive linguistics, semantics, and linguistic discourse in mass media texts. It examined terminology, the specifics of literary text translation, and the general peculiarities and challenges of translation.

Discussions within the workgroup The Slavic Languages in the Historical and Cultural Context encompassed topics such as Glagolitic script, the worldview of Old Believers, festive rituals, phraseology, poetic language devices, cognitive linguistics, and other contemporary issues in language studies.

The research in the workgroup A human and the world in culture and history focused on analysing concepts of humanity, transformations in world perception, life stories, and the portrayal of identity in cultural and literary texts.

The workgroup Literature and culture: process, interaction, problems addressed issues related to identity representation in literature and culture, the category of memory in various authors’ works, autobiographical and biographical literature, epistolary literature, and other genre discourses.

The conference proceedings, after peer review by the scientific editorial board and reviewers, will be published in DU’s internationally cited EBSCO database included in scientific article collections: Cultural Studies; Literature and Culture: Process, Interaction, Problems; Language in Various Cultural Contexts.

Following evaluation by the scientific editorial board and reviewers, the conference materials will be compiled into collections of scientific articles published by Daugavpils University and indexed in the internationally recognised database, EBSCO: Cultural Studies, Literature & Culture: Process, Interaction, Problems and Language in Various Cultural Contexts.

The DU Humanities Conference, known as The January Papers, has been held annually on the last Thursday and Friday of January since 1991. The timing of the conference has influenced its name among organisers and participants. The initiative for the conference was inspired by the emeritus professor of DU, Dr. habil. philol., and corresponding member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences Fjodors Fjodorovs (1939–2020), and Professor Joel Veinberg (1922–2011).

Additional Information:

Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Daugavpils University

 Email: hszf@du.lv

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