Book presentation: In Silence. Queers, Soviet Power, and Society in Latvia

On 15 November, a book In Silence: Queers, Soviet Power, and Society in Latvia was presented. The event was a great success, with a large number of guests coming by to listen to the authors of the book talk about their intentions for the book and read parts of it.

This collective monograph is the first comprehensive study on the queer subculture (counterculture) in Soviet Latvia. In sum, the monograph illuminates the existence of a queer subculture under Soviet authoritarianism — one that challenged the dominant heteronormative culture by creating its own spaces in public places, employing subculture-specific language (with subculturally accepted word meanings), constructing its own hierarchies, and shaping its own self-identity.

The research objectives presented in the monograph may be classified into four main groups: (1) to reveal the interaction of state institution practices and male same-sex subcultures; (2) to explore the prospects and practices of female same-sex subcultures; (3) to ascertain the knowledge and preconceptions among the heteronormative majority towards the interaction between state institutions and same-sex sexual subcultures; (4) to research the available testimonies on the prospects of queer domestic life under the Soviet regime and the artist’s sensibility in the context of same-sex sexual practices.