The International Kartvelological Congress was held in Tbilisi on November 10-14, 2015. It was organized by the Georgian Acacemy of Sciences, Tbilisi State University and the Georgian Patriarchate.
Prof Karina Vamling, Caucasus Studies (Malmö University) participated with the paper “These wine wells are just as good as the old Goths’ vats of mead” – historic-ethnographical materials on Georgia in early Swedish newspapers.
Senior lecturer Märta-Lisa Magnusson is interviewed on recent developments in Nagorno-Karabakh in an article published in Open Democracy. The article discusses problems related to the lack of international standing of Nagorno-Karabach.
Read the article by Lucas Goetz in Open Democracy – “Nagorno-Karabakh: European Dreams”: https://www.opendemocracy.net/can-europe-make-it/lucas-goetz/nagornokarabakh-european-dreams
Radio P4 interview with Märta-Lisa Magnusson, senior lecturer in Caucasus Studies at Malmö University, on the security situation in Chechnya.
Background
Following a decision by the Swedish Migration Board a Chechen family was sent back to Chechnya from Sweden. A couple of months after their return the father was killed.
Listen to the interview: http://sverigesradio.se/sida/artikel.aspx?programid=91&artikel=6129699
Abkhaz is one of the languages targeted in the research project LUNDIC “Lund Digital Atlas of Language and Culture” (http://project2.sol.lu.se/lundic/). Prof. Teimuraz Gvantseladze at the Institute for Abkhazology, Sokhumi State University (Georgia) http://sou.edu.ge/index.php discusses the process of data collection and the upcoming workshop with prof. Karina Vamling.
Märta-Lisa Magnusson, universitetslektor i kaukasusstudier vid Malmö högskola, höll föredrag på Arvika Bibliotek 11 februari över temat Perspektiv på Ukrainakrisen. Ryssland och de postsovjetiska staterna i Kaukasus.
Det händer på Arvika Bibliotek http://arvika.se/kommunochpolitik/pressochinformationsmaterial/nyheter/nyhetsarkiv/dethanderpaarvikabibliotekv7.5.3278eb23144b2e75ebe17749.html
We often think about the Caucasus as the crossroads of Asia and Europe. Add another ancient road to this: Africa! At archealogical excavations in Dmanisi 1.75 million years old Hominid remains have been discovered. (reconstructions below).
As noted in the UNESCO World Heritage description (http://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5225/), this is the earliest Hominid remains beyond Africa.
Visit Dmanisi: http://dmanisi.ge/?lang=en
Dmanisi is located 85 kilometers south-west of Tbilisi. The site includes remains from the most ancient period of settlement as well as later stone, bronze and historical Middle ages.
(Photo K.Vamling)
A unique project in Abkhazalogy was presented at Sokhumi State University, Tbilisi, on November 6. The aim of the project is to create an electronic library of Abkhaz literature published mainly after 1991 on the Abkhaz language, grammars and dictionaries, as well as works on Abkhaz archeology, history, ethnography, folklore, literature and other areas of the Humanities. The project is funded jointly by UNDP and EU (COBERM).
Project leader is professor Teimuraz Gvanceladze (photo above, to the right), a prominent specialist on the Abkhaz language and Director of the Institute of Abkhaz Language and Culture at Sokhumi University. Co-workers in the project are both Abkhaz and Georgien scholars: Dr. Rezo Kacia, Dr. Gvanca Gvanceladze, Dr. Tamar Gitolendia and Sofiko Chaava. The research team has already started their work and at the project site around 60 pubications are already available: www.abkhazovedenie.com.
The project presentation was covered by the Abkhaz team of the news program Moabe, 2TV (Meore Arkhi), November 7. In the clip below professor Teimuraz Gvanceladze tells about the project and, as one of the foreign guests at the presentation, professor Karina Vamling, Malmö University (Sweden), gives her views and comments on the importance of the project. The program is broadcasted in the Abkhaz language.
Sokhumi State University, Tbilisi, is a partner university in the Erasmus Mundus EMINENCE project where Malmö University also participates. The exchange is open at all levels – staff, post-docs, PhD candidates, students at MA and BA levels (read more: http://www.mah.se/english/Education/Exchange-student/MundusEminence/).
Today, on November 15, the central Rose Square and Rustaveli Avenue i Tbilsi, were closed for traffic. From the morning police vehicles and hundreds, or most probably several thousand, policemen lined up along the avenue, blocking off side-streets. 
By 3 o’clock the square was packed with demonstrators, gathering with flags and banners. Among the Georgian flags were many EU flags, US and UK flags, Ukrainian flags. The banners carried slogans such as “Stop Russia”, “Russian troops – get out of Georgia”.
The rally is a protest against “Russia’s occupation” of Georgia’s breakaway regions. It is organized by the opposition party United National Movement, which criticises the current Georgian government for not being sufficiently active in countering this development.
Civil.ge: PM on UNM’s Planned Rally
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=27820
Georgian Journal: Tbilisi prepares for the protests: blocked off streets and police patrols
http://www.georgianjournal.ge/society/28753-tbilisi-prepares-for-the-protest-blocked-off-streets-and-police-patrols.html
BBC: Georgians protest against Russia-Abkhazia agreement
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-30071915
Civil.ge: At ‘No to Annexation’ Protest Rally UNM Slams ‘Collaborationist’ Govt
http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=27824
Photos & video by Karina Vamling
Professor Karina Vamling participates in the 1st International Caucasus University Association (CUA) Conference on Endangered Languages, organized in Ardahan, Turkey, by Caucasus University Association, Ardahan University. Dates: October 13-16, 2014.
The title of her paper is “Internet as a tool for language development and maintenance?”, where she discusses Megrelian as a case in point.
Read more:
https://ardahan.edu.tr/cuaconference2014/
The video below shows very short climpses from the different papers with a focus on languages of the Caucasus, presented at the conference.
Ett samarbete mellan Europa Direkt Malmö på Stadsbiblioteket och Ungt valdeltagande i Malmö och Skåne.
http://webapps2.malmo.se/evenemang/EventGuide/View/Ovrigt/Europeiska_sprakdagen_734273
