Kaspars Zalāns

Junior Researcher

New Nationalisms

Email: kaspars.zalans[at]uni-greifswald.de

Baderstraße 6-7
Room 3.08
17489 Greifswald

CV

I received my Bachelor’s degree in Multimedia Journalism from Glasgow Caledonian University and further received my master’s with excellence in literature from University of Latvia. My master’s thesis and subsequent research dealt mainly with exploration of gender roles and masculinity in contemporary Latvian poetry. Additionally, I have examined linguistics and stylistics in early Latvian postmodernism.

Alongside research work, I worked as a book editor, proofreader and translator from 2019 until 2022, working with contemporary fiction, classics, poetry and popular science.

 

Research Project

New nationalisms: utopian and dystopian narratives of the new nationalisms

My research deals with linguistic framings in regards to immigration, historical events and gender in Latvia’s educational institutions. Comparison will be drawn between Latvian and Russian schools for better understanding of the effectiveness and results of integration politics in Latvia.

Selected Publications

Papers

Kaspars Zalāns (2020): The Representation of Masculinity in Jānis Tomašs’ “Melnie darba cimdi” and Dainis Deigelis’ “Dievs beidz”, in: Aktuālas problēmas literatūras un kultūras pētniecībā: rakstu krājums, 25. Edited by Edgars Lāms.

Kaspars Zalāns (2020): Masculinity in Augusts Sauliets' poetry and contemporary poetry, in: Augusts Saulietis. Modernisms un sadzīves reālisms. Edited by Ausma Cimdiņa.

Kaspars Zalāns (09.2020): Kas tur vīrišķīgs? [What is manly about it?], in: Domuzīme, online: ir.lv/2020/08/31/kas-tur-tik-viriskigs/

Conferences

As Speaker:

“The Relationship Between Postmodernism and Socialist Realism in Margeris Zariņš’ Works”. Shifting Literary Culture since Stagnation in the Brezhnev Era: The Baltic Paradigm, Riga, 23.09.2021–24.09.2021.

"Masculinity in Augusts Sauliets' poetry and contemporary poetry". Latvian literary classics as the impulse for critical thinking. Augusts Saulietis 150 year anniversary, Riga, 12.12.2019.

“The Representation of Masculinity in Jānis Tomašs’ ‘Melnie darba cimdi’ and Dainis Deigelis’ ‘Dievs beidz’”. Current issues in research of literature and culture, Liepāja, 14.03.2019–15.03.2019.

Awards

  • “The New Scientist” award, Latvian Academy of Sciences, 2020.

  • “Kārlis Dziļlejs promotional award”, Kārlis Dziļlejs fond, 2019.