Kazickas Family Endowed Professor in Baltic Studies; Associate Professor of Baltic Studies; Director, Center for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, Jackson School of International Studies
Fields of Interest
Biography
Ph.D. Indiana University, 1996
Curriculum Vitae
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Guntis Šmidchens is Director of the Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies in UW's Jackson School of International Studies. He has research interests in Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian Languages, and Nordic and Baltic Folklore, Cultures, History and Politics. He is an Adjunct Associate Professor of Slavic, and past President of the Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies (AABS).
Teaching:
- Baltic Cultures (Scand 345/JSISA 345)
- Baltic History (Scand 454/HSTEU 454)
- Baltic Politics and Society Today (Scand 455/JSISA 455)
- Introduction to Scandinavia (Scand 100)
- Introduction to Folklore Studies (Scand 230/C Lit 230)
- Folk Narrative (Scand 331/C Lit 331)
- History of Scandinavia (Scand 381/HISTEU 381)
- JSIS A 504 Survey of Eurasia
- Scand 512 Institutions
- Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian Languages
Research
Selected Research
- Guntis Šmidchens, A Chain of Friendship: Reflections on the Baltic Way and Inspiration for Belarus. Foreign Policy Research Institute Baltic Bulletin, 31 August 2020.
- Guntis Šmidchens, Dziesmu vara: Nevardarbīga nacionālā kultūra Baltijas dziesmotajā revolūcijā. Latvian Translation of Power of Song, 2014. Riga, Latvia: Apgāds Mansards, 2017.
- Guntis Šmidchens, "A Heritage of Baltic Song Celebration Songs." Culture Crossroads 9 (2016): 7-19
- Guntis Šmidchens, "Singing Revolution, Past and Present" Foreign Policy Research Institute Baltic Bulletin, 12 October 2016
- Baltimaade üldlaulupidude laulutraditsioonid ja pärand. Mäetagused 63 (2016): 21-34.
- Guntis Šmidchens. Entries on "Riga" (published 2015) "Tallinn," and "Vilnius" (forthcoming) Encyclopedia Britannica.
- Guntis Šmidchens. The Power of Song: Nonviolent National Cultures in the Baltic Singing Revolution. University of Washington Press and Museum Tusculanum Press, 2014.
- Guntis Šmidchens. "Remembering the Baltic Singing Revolution on the National Mall, 1998." Washington DC: Smithsonian Folklife Festival: 2013.
- Guntis Šmidchens. "Latvia, Poetry of." Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 4th ed. 2012. 793-795.
- Guntis Šmidchens. "Estonia, Poetry of." Princeton Encyclopedia of Poetry and Poetics, 4th ed. 2012. 459-461.
- Guntis Šmidchens, "Herder and Lithuanian Folksongs," Lituanus 56,1 (2010): http://www.lituanus.org/2010/10_1_05%20Smidchens.html
- "My Motorcycle" 19 poems by Imants Ziedonis. Latvian Literature #7 (2008): 5-38.
- Guntis Šmidchens. "Introduction: Fighting for Liberty in Lithuania." Lionginas Baliukevičius: The Diary of a Partisan. Vilnius: Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania, 2008. 11-24.
- Guntis Šmidchens. "National Heroic Narratives in the Baltics as a Source for Non-Violent Political Action." Slavic Review: Interdisciplinary Quarterly of Russian, Eurasian, and East European Studies 66.3 (2007): 484-508.
- Guntis Šmidchens. "Notes on the Latvian National Epic Hero, Lacplesis." Journal of Folklore Research 43.3 (2006): 271-280.
- Guntis Šmidchens. "Baltic Studies Summer Institute." Film. BALSSI Consortium: 2004.
- Guntis Šmidchens. "Symposium on the Baltic in the 21st Century." Film. BALSSI Consortium: 2004.
- Guntis Šmidchens. Translation from Latvian to English, "Latvian Bourdon Songs." Baltic Voices. Harmonia Mundi, Volume 1, HMU 907311: 2003.
- Guntis Šmidchens. "Why Study Baltic Languages?" Newsnet: News of the American Association for the Advancement of Slavic Studies. 2003. 25-27.
Research Advised
- Toomet, Tiina. Female Agency and Violence in Danish and Estonian Folk Ballads. Master's Thesis, Scandinavian Languages and Literature, University of Washington, 2020.
- Roos, Liina-Ly. "Post-Soviet Identity in Nordic Fiction: Trauma of Occupation and Sex Trafficking in Sofi Oksanen's Purge and Lukas Moodysson's Lilya 4-ever." M.A. Thesis. University of Washington, 2014.
Courses Taught
Autumn 2025
Summer 2025
Spring 2025
Winter 2025
Autumn 2024
Spring 2024
Winter 2024
Autumn 2023
Summer 2023
Spring 2023
Winter 2023
Autumn 2022
Summer 2022
Spring 2022
Additional Courses
(Autumn 2017): SCAND 543: Folk Narrative
Affiliations
Home Department
Professional Affiliations
Association for the Advancement of Baltic Studies, Society for the Advancement of Scandinavian Study