On August 25, Adolfas Damušis Democracy Studies Centre of the National Library of Lithuania invited to a meeting with prof. Kęstutis Skrupskelis, a prominent Lithuanian-American historian and philosopher, author and professor emeritus. During the meeting, professor talked about his books and shared his thoughts on the book he writes currently in English about the young Kazys Grinius, the future President of Lithuania.
Prof. Skrupskelis was born in Kaunas, to a family of a journalist Ignas Skrupskelis and a literary scholar Alina Skrupskelienė. His academic specialty is the history of American philosophy. He is also interested in the intellectual life of pre-war Lithuania, the history of the press, and the consequences of occupation for the development of political consciousness in Lithuania. He taught philosophy at the University of South Carolina (US) and Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania). Currently he is a professor emeritus.
“The rebel Lithuania,” a December 1989 El mundo article begins. Although most people can point to the early 1990s as the era when the Soviet Union fell, we sometimes forget about the internal changes that once made international news. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Lithuania made strides towards independence while newspapers across the world discussed these historic, unprecedented moves. This phenomenon makes it exciting and fascinating to read an article like this one from late 1989 Spain. The main headline reads “Baltics challenge the Kremlin,” and the article describes how the Lithuanian parliament voted in favor of abolishing an article of the Constitution that guaranteed the political monopoly of the Communist Party and thus instituting a multi-party system. As the article states, “It was well known that this decision would unleash the ire of the Kremlin, which is opposed to a multi-party system. It [the decision] could also provoke similar challenges in the other republics and incentivize the members of parliament who want to undo this article of the Soviet Constitution.” 
On May 4, 2017, National Library of Lithuania held 4th interdisciplinary diaspora seminar, bringing together researchers from different academic fields. This year’s event, organized by Lithuanian Studies Department, offered a few interesting perspectives on Lithuanian diaspora.
