Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T04:40:55.415Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Lives on the border: language and culture in the lives of ethnic Russian women in Baltinava, Latvia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Olga Cara
Olga Cara*
Affiliation:
School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University College London, UK
*
*Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study draws on ethnographic research conducted in a small village, Baltinava in Latvia, 2.5 kilometres from the border with Russia. The research examines how ethnic Russian women create a specific Latvian Russian identity by contrasting themselves from ethnic Latvians and Russians who live in Russia and identifying with both groups at the same time. To narrate their lives and to make them meaningful, real and/or perceived “attributes” are combined to draw boundaries between “us” and “them.” Thus, the same thing such as language can be used not only both to distinguish themselves from Russians in Russia or Latvians but also to form coherent identities and to emphasize similarities. This study suggests that ethnicities cannot be reduced to a list of set ethnic groups that are very often used in official government statistics. Ethnic identities have to be viewed as fluid and situational. Moreover, this study shows the dialectic nature of ethnicity. On the one hand, external political, historical and social processes create and recreate ethnic categories and definitions. Yet, on the other hand, the women in this study are active agents creating meaningful and symbolic ethnic boundaries.

Keywords

ethnicityRussiansLatvialanguageidentity
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 38 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 123 - 142
Copyright
Copyright © 2010 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Aasland, Aadne. ‘The Russian Population in Latvia: An Integrated Minority?” Journal of Communist Studies and Transition Politics 10.2 (1994): 233–60. Print.Google Scholar
Anthias, Floya, Yuval-Davis, Nira, and Cain, Harriet, eds. Racialized Boundaries: Race, Nation, Gender, Colour and Class and the Anti-racist Struggle. London: Routledge, 1993. Print.Google Scholar
Apine, Ilga. Ievads etnopsihologijā. Riga: Zvaigzne ABC, 2001. Print.Google Scholar
Apine, Ilga, and Volkovs, Vladimirs. Latvijas krievu identitāte: vēsturisks un sociologisks apcerējums. Riga: Latvijas Universitātes Filozofijas un sociologijas institūts, 2007. Print.Google Scholar
Barrington, Lowell W., Herron, Erik S., and Silver, Brian D. “The Motherland is Calling: Views of Homeland among Russians in the Near Abroad.” World Politics 55.2 (2003): 290–313. Print.Google Scholar
Barth, Frederick. Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organisation of Culture Difference. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget, 1969. Print.Google Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers. “Ethnicity without Groups.” Archives Europeennes de Sociologie [European Journal of Sociology] 43.2 (2002): 163–89. Print.Google Scholar
Chinn, Jeff, and Kaiser, Robert. Russians as the New Minority: Ethnicity and Nationalism in the Soviet Successor States. Boulder: Westview, 1996. Print.Google Scholar
Cohen, Ronald. “Ethnicity: Problem and Focus in Anthropology.” Annual Review of Anthropology 7 (1978): 379–403. Print.Google Scholar
Comaroff, L. John “Humanity, Ethnicity, Nationality: Conceptual and Comparative Perspectives in the USSR.” Theory and Society, Vol. 20.5. (1991): 661–87. Print.Google Scholar
Comaroff, L. John. “Of Totemism and Ethnicity.” Ethnography and the Historical Imagination. Ed. Comaroff, John L. and Comaroff, Jean. Boulder: Westview, 1992. Print.Google Scholar
Commercio, E. Michele “Exit in the Near Abroad. The Russian Minorities in Latvia and Kyrgyzstan.” Problems of Post-Communism 51.6 (2004): 23–32. Print.Google Scholar
Dribins, Leo Mazākumtautības Latvijā, Ed. Dribins, Leo. Riga: Latvijas Universitātes Filozofijas un sociologijas institūts, īpašu uzdevumu ministra sabiedrības integrācijas lietās sekretariāts, 2007. Print.Google Scholar
Druviete, Ina, and Sterelevica-Osina, Dace. “Some Aspects of the Sociolinguistic Situation in Latvia: Causes and Effects.” Contemporary Linguistics [Suvremena lingvistika] 65 (2008): 89–114. Web. 29 Apr. 2008. <http://www.ceeol.com/aspx/issuedetails.aspx?issueid=eaf17886-212b-4d36-a2ad-fe8a99db4e57&articleId=70ca767a-08eb-422a-ad01-8684a3c79b58>..>Google Scholar
Eller, Jack, and Coughlan, Reed. “The Poverty of Primordialism: The Demystification of Ethnic Attachment.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 16.3 (1993): 187–201. Print.Google Scholar
Epstein, Arnold. Ethos and Identity. Three Studies in Ethnicity. London: Tavistock, 1978. Print.Google Scholar
Eriksen, Tomass Hylland. Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives. 2nd ed. London: Pluto, 1993. Print.Google Scholar
Fein, Lisa C. “Symbolic Boundaries and National Borders: The Construction of an Estonian Russian Identity.” Nationalities Papers 33.3 (2005): 333–44. Print.Google Scholar
Flynn, Moya. “Renegotiating Stability, Security and Identity in the Post-Soviet Borderlands: The Experience of Russian Communities in Uzbekistan.” Nationalities Papers 35.2 (2007): 267–288. Print.Google Scholar
Geertz, Clifford, ed. Old Societies and New States: The Quest for Modernity in Asia and Africa. New York: Free, 1963. Print.Google Scholar
Glazer, Nathan, and Moynihan, Daniel P. Ethnicity: Theory and Experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1975. Print.Google Scholar
Hughes, James. “‘Exit’ in Deeply Divided Societies: Regimes of Discrimination in Estonia and Latvia and the Potential for Russophone Migration.” Journal of Common Market Studies 43.4 (2005): 739–62. Print.Google Scholar
Integration of Minority Youth in the Society of Latvia in the Context of the Education Reform. Research Report. Riga: Baltic Institute of Social Sciences, 2004.Google Scholar
Integration Practice and Perspectives. Research Report. Riga: Baltic Institute of Social Sciences, 2006. Print.Google Scholar
Kandiyoti, Deniz. “Identity and its Discontents: Women and the Nation.” Millennium: Journal of International Studies 20.3 (1991): 429–43. Print.Google Scholar
Kārklinš, Rasma. Ethnic Relations in the USSR: The Perspective from Below. Boston: Allen, 1986. Print.Google Scholar
Kārklinš, Rasma. Ethnopolitics and Transition to Democracy: The Collapse of the USSR and Latvia. Washington, DC: Johns Hopkins UP, 1994.Google Scholar
Kolsto, Pal. Nation-Building and Ethnic Integration in Post-Soviet Societies: An Investigation of Latvia and Kazakhstan. Boulder: Westview, 1999. Print.Google Scholar
Kolsto, Pal. “The New Russian Diaspora – An Identity of its Own? Possible Identity Trajectories for Russians in the Former Soviet Republic.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 19.3 (1996): 609–39. Print.Google Scholar
Kolsto, Pal. Russians in the Former Soviet Republics. London: Bloomington, 1995. Print.Google Scholar
Kolsto, Pal. “Territorializing Diasporas: The Case of the Russians in the Former Soviet Republics.” Millennium: Journal of International Studies 28.3 (1999): 607–31. Print.Google Scholar
Kory, William Boris. “Spatial Diffusion of the Russians in the USSR.” Ethnic Russia in the USSR: The Dilemma of Dominance. Ed. Allworth, Edward. New York: Pergamon, 1980: 285–91. Print.Google Scholar
Kronenfeld, Daniel A. “The Effects of Interethnic Contact on Ethnic Identity: Evidence from Latvia.” Post-Soviet Affairs 21.3 (2005): 247–77. Print.Google Scholar
Laitin, David D. Identity in Formation: The Russian-Speaking Populations in the Near Abroad. London: Cornell UP, 1998. Print.Google Scholar
Language. Research Report. Riga: Baltic Institute of Social Sciences, 2008. Print.Google Scholar
Lebedeva, Natalija. Sotsial'nia Psihologiia Etnicheskoi Migratsii. Moscow, 1993. Print.Google Scholar
Melvin, Neil. Russians beyond Russia: The Politics of National Identity. London: Royal Institute of International Affairs, 1995. Print.Google Scholar
Mezs, Ilmars. Latviešu valodas statistikas spogulī. Riga: Karšu izdevniecība Jāña sēta, 2004. Print.Google Scholar
Monden, Christiaan W.S., and Smits, Jeroen. “Ethnic Intermarriages in Times of Social Change: The Case of Latvia.” Demography 42.2 (2005): 323–45. Print.Google Scholar
Muiznieks, Nils. “Russians in Latvia – History, Current Status and Prospects,” Lecture – Tubingen University (Germany), 8 November 2004. Web. 30 Mar. 2008. <http://www.am.gov.lv/en/policy/4641/4642/Muznieks/>..>Google Scholar
Noteikumi par tautību klasifikatoru. Web. 29 Apr. 2009. <http://www.likumi.lv>..>Google Scholar
Pavlenko, A. “Russian as a lingua franca.” Annual Review of Applied Linguistics 26 (2006): 78–99. Print.Google Scholar
Pavlovich, Matthew. “Ethnic Impact of Russian Dispersion in and beyond the RSFSR.” Ethnic Russia in the USSR: The Dilemma of Dominance. Ed. Allworth, Edward. New York: Pergamon, 1980: 294–305. Print.Google Scholar
Payin, Emil. “The Future of Russian in the New States of the Former Soviet Union.” The New Russian Diaspora: Russian Minorities in the Former Soviet Republics. Ed. Shlapentokh, Vladimir, Munir Sendich and Emil Payin. New York: Sharpe, 1994. Print.Google Scholar
Pickering, Jean, and Kehde, Suzanne, eds. Narratives of Nostalgia: Gender and Nationalism. New York: New York UP, 1997. Print.Google Scholar
Pilkington, Hilary. Migration, Displacement and Identity in Post-Soviet Russia. London: Routledge, 1998. Print.Google Scholar
Pisarenko, Olga. “The Acculturation Modes of the Russian-Speaking Adolescents in Latvia: Perceived Discrimination and Knowledge of the Latvian Language.” Europe-Asia Studies 58.5 (2006): 753–71. Print.Google Scholar
Polese, Abel, and Wylegala, Anna. “Odessa and Lvov or Odesa and Lviv: How Important is a Letter? Reflections on the ‘Other’ in Two Ukrainian Cities.” Nationalities Papers 36.5 (2008): 787–815. Print.Google Scholar
Ponarin, Eduard. “The Prospects of Assimilation of the Russophone Populations in Estonia and Ukraine: A Reaction to David Laitin's Research.” Europe-Asia Studies 52.8 (2000): 1535–41. Print.Google Scholar
Poppe, Edwin, and Hagendoorn, Louk. “Titular Identification of Russians in Former Soviet Republics.” Europe-Asia Studies 55.5 (2003): 771–87. Print.Google Scholar
Poppe, Edwin “Types of Identification among Russians in the ‘Near Abroad'.” Europe-Asia Studies 53.1 (2001): 57–71. Print.Google Scholar
Priedite, Aija. “Surveying Language Attitudes and Practices in Latvia.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 26.5 (2005): 409–24. Print.Google Scholar
Romanov, Artemi. “The Russian Diaspora in Latvia and Estonia: Predicting Language Outcomes.” Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 21.1 (2000): 58–71. Print.Google Scholar
Shlapentokh, Vladimir, Sendich, Munir, and Payin, Emil, eds. The New Russian Diaspora: Russian Minorities in the Former Soviet Republics. London: Sharpe, 1994. Print.Google Scholar
Simonian, Renald H. Rossia i strany Baltii. Moscow: Rossijskaia akademia nauk, Institut sociologii, Academia, 2003. Print.Google Scholar
Steinberg, Stephen. Ethnic Myth: Race, Ethnicity and Class in America. Boston: Beacon, 1981. Print.Google Scholar
Thompson, Dorothy. Outsiders: Class, Gender, and Nation. New York: Verso, 1993. Print.Google Scholar
Walby, Sylvia. “Woman and Nation.” International Journal of Comparative Sociology 33 (1993): 81–100. Print.Google Scholar
Zepa, Brigita, and Kārkliñš, Rasma. “Latvija un Krievija: konkurējošas vai sakausētas identitātes.” Nacionalā politika Baltijas valstīs. Ed. Vēbers, Elmars and Kārkliñš, Rasma. Riga: Zinātne, 1995. Print.Google Scholar