The Nationalization of Latvians and the Issue of Serfdom: The Bal ...

Arturs Boruks has investigated the historical agrarian and agricultural-farming link of Latvians to the land throughout their history—from ancient times (lasting until the twelfth century) to the modern day. Kaspars Klavinš makes a valuable contribution to this field of studies through the consideration of such issues as the Baltic Enlightenment and Perceptions Medieval Latvian History.⁴⁰ The two hundredth anniversary of the publication of Merkel’s work on the Latvians in 1796 resulted in much research being conducted on his literary contribution in the late eighteenth century and early nineteenth century.

In the late 1990s, Ella Buceniece, in a comparative study, examined contemporary impressions of Merkel’s work from a philosophical perspective, while Ojārs Skudra⁴¹ looks at the journalistic and communicative historical aspect of Merkel and his work on the Latvians. Their assessment reflects a generally positive evaluation of Merkel’s journalistic and intellectual contribution in Latvian literature that extends beyond a stereotypical appraisal of the role Merkel played in the eventual abolition of serfdom in Livonia and the widespread academic perception of Merkel as a cultural historian and cultural philosopher. Jānis Rozenbergs examines Merkel’s facilitating role, motivation, and contribution in the study and publication of Latvian folklore. Ojārs Zanders analyzes the friendship between Herder and Merkel as well as Herder’s enduring intellectual influence on Merkel.⁴²

Tovio Raun and Andrejs Plakans examine Miroslav Hroch’s model of the three phases of nationalism from the invocation of the national to the realization of political nationhood in smaller European nations. In relation to the Estonian and Latvian national movements, this provides a workable theoretical framework that also explains the transitional phases from agrarian peasant society to the politically self-conscious and viable conception of an independent nation-state.⁴³ The eighteenth-century reinvention of concepts such as culture, nation, and history—which have become embedded in the fabric of modern social, political, and geographical reality—have their origins in the Enlightenment.

At this stage, it is appropriate to redirect attention back to the rele-vance and importance of this study.