Life Story and Self-Awareness. Oral History in Latvia. Edited by Ieva Garda-Rozenberga. Riga: Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Latvia, 2012, p. 280 (in Latvian)

The first part of the book sums up the views of the National Oral History (NOH) researchers regarding life stories and self-awareness. It shows the very many ways in which the concept of self-awareness can be viewed by revealing the various historical situations, places, and times in which the search for self-awareness as well as meaning in past, present, and future events can be placed at the forefront. The book searches for answers and discusses issues that oral history researchers can put forward in the forming of societys self-understanding and self-awareness and how the existence or lack of these can influence attitudes towards life and a sense of the meaning of life on both an individual and collective level (family, region, or nation – whether imagined, constructed, or real). The book evaluates issues regarding life stories and self-awareness using the social anthropological, historical, and sociological approaches.

The books seven chapters examine the principles of how collective memory is formed as well as the different social memories, as exist in Latvia, and their possible coexistence or confrontation. At the same time, the book also focuses on individual memories and narrative identity by showing the constructive role of language and story in the understanding of oneself, the promotion of intercultural dialogue, and also in the process of studying national identity.

The second part of the book includes excerpts from 13 life stories that have been used as sources for the chapters in the first part of the book. These life stories, which are available at the Latvian Oral History Archive, give the listener/reader an idea of the things that unite the many facets of Latvias story of history. The life stories show that, through an individuals narrative, a unique insight into a specific historical event may be obtained, one that is full of emotion, evaluation, and self-awareness. The memories in this part of the book tell about refugees fleeing to Germany and Norway and about the conflicting attitudes regarding induction into the army of one or the other side fighting in World War II. Many Latvian men born in the 1920s ended up fighting in several opposing armies: the army of independent Latvia, the Red Army, and the Latvian Legion within the German armed forces. Life stories also reveal todays attitudes towards the Soviet experience with all its diversity and contradictions.