МЕЖДУ ЛОКАЛЬНОЙ И ЕВРОПЕЙСКОЙ ИДЕНТИЧНОСТЬЮ: АНАЛИЗ ЭТНИЧЕСКИХ ГРУПП (РУССКИЕ, ПОЛЯКИ, БЕЛОРУСЫ) В ЛИТВЕ

• Authors: Matulionis Arvydas Virgilijus , Frejute-Rakauskiene Monika , Šliavaite Kristina

Title variants

EN

BETWEEN THE LOCAL AND EUROPEAN IDENTITY: AN ANALYSIS OF ETHNIC GROUPS (RUSSIANS, POLES, AND BELARUSIANS) IN LITHUANIA

• Languages of publication: EN LV RU

Abstracts

EN

The paper overviews and analyses some data collected in Lithuania in the framework of the international research project ENRI-East (“Interplay of European, National and Regional Identities: Nations Between the States Along the New Eastern Borders of the European Union”, www.enri-east.net) in 2008-2011 by a consortium of 11 teams of scientific institutes of England, Slovakia, Austria, Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Hungary, Germany and Lithuania. The project was coordinated by the Center for Comparative Eurasia Studies and Surveys (CEASS-Center) of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Vienna (IHS-Vienna) and primarily funded by the European Union’s Seventh framework Programme under an FP7-SSH Grant Agreement #217227. This paper is mainly based on results of qualitative research conducted in the framework of the project among Belarusians, Poles and Russians in Lithuania, i.e. ethnic groups settled next to the borders with their historical homelands. The qualitative biographical indepth interviews were conducted in accordance to the methodological guidelines developed by ENRI-EAST team. In each ethnic group (Belarusians, Poles, Russians) 12 interviews were conducted with members of three generations (young (from 16 till 22), middle (from 35 till 50) and older generation (from 65 and older). The majority of interviews were conducted in Russian language. The Russian and Belarusian informants are mainly from Vilnius city. The informants from Polish group were interviewed in Vilnius city and Vilnius region. The interviews were conducted in July-August of 2010. The main criteria for selection of informants is their age group (generation), gender and identification with particular ethnic group. In the paper the authors discuss how informants construct their identities with Lithuania, historical homelands (Russia, Poland or Belarus) and Europe or EU. The qualitative research revealed that for informants of all generations identification with the locality, city (Vilnius), country of residence (Lithuania) is more important than with Europe or EU. Nevertheless, the identity with Europe or EU is built by most of informants of all generations. The informants of younger generation of all ethnic groups express more enthusiasm and are more positive regarding Lithuania’s integration into the EU.

Keywords

EN

ethnicity,; European Union,; local and European identity

• Publisher: Daugavpils University, Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Journal: Sociālo Zinātņu Vēstnesis
• Year: 2013
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 18-41

Contributors

author

Matulionis Arvydas Virgilijus

author

Frejute-Rakauskiene Monika

author

Šliavaite Kristina

Identifiers

ISSN

1691-1881