Ceļojumu kartēšana un sociālpolitiskās tendences: Latvijas Padomju rakstnieku savienības biedru braucieni 20. gadsimta 70.–80. gados

In the period of Soviet occupation, travel opportunities were limited, thus radically affecting citizens’ travel habits and destinations. However, privileged groups of society, such as intelligentsia, including members of the Latvian Soviet Writers’ Union, enjoyed material privileges and regular trips for trade or cultural missions, tourist and health improvement to other Soviet republics, satellite states, Western states, and “exotic” places with Soviet significance. The focus of this research is aimed at exploring and analysing social and political aspects, as well as travel tendencies by members of the Latvian Soviet Writers’ Union outside the Soviet Union in the 1970s and 1980s. Within the study, a digital data collection of the travels has been set up to cover the geographical area and examine the intensity of trips, as well as to identify the members who were frequent travellers, the most popular destinations (systematizing countries by ideologically political position), and the purposes of trips. Geographical mapping methods have been used to visualize the data. The database and maps are available in the digital resource literatura.lv of the Institute of Literature, Folklore and Art of the University of Latvia. The case study method was also applied, namely, by exploring Zenta Ērgle’s travelogues From Pluto to Neptune (1975) about a tourist trip to African countries and A Year with Two Springtimes (1979) about a trip to New Guinea, Australia, and New Zealand. DH methods, such as digital mapping and data visualization, have been used in the study of Latvian literature to achieve a systematized and in-depth analysis of travel routes and intensity, providing an opportunity to investigate the data on the socio-political situation affecting the trips, their purposes, as well as the persons and organizations involved.