Construction of a hybrid diasporic identity among Latvia’s modern diaspora in Sweden

• In Event: Diasporic Identities

Abstract

This ethnographic research investigates the creation and construction of hybrid identities among the modern Latvian diaspora in Sweden. Latvia´s diaspora is a special case of diaspora due to the historical factors, such as Latvia in the past being part of the Soviet Union and subjected to Russification for many decades. Nowadays Latvia´s diaspora consists of two main identity-based groups – Latvian and Russian speakers. They have been existing in somewhat parallel information and cognitive spaces and not sharing the same narrative of their collective memory.
The concept Third space [Bhabha 1994; 2007; Rutherford 2018] integrates in this research when exploring different strategies to adapt while having diasporic identity. Schema theory [D´Andrade 1992] is applied in this research to reveal the complexity of identity construction. Schemas, being initially individual, become collective and create stereotypes and division between groups – between Us and Them [D´Andrade 1992; DiMaggio 1997; Sökefeld 2018].
Another theory used is the signs of identity, developed by Ehala [Ehala 2018], which is used when exploring authenticity within identities.
The main conclusions drawn from this ethnographic research are that hybrid diasporic identity is a reality within the contemporary diaspora and reflects complex structured identities in diaspora in general. There are features uniting both Latvians and Russian speakers, such as, their shared nostalgia towards Latvia, sense of uprootedness and sense of being out of place. There is an acute need to define and re-create oneself when living out of homeland, and that applies to both groups - Latvian and Russian speakers.

Short Bio

Mg. art. Mara Simons
Mara Simons is PhD candidate at Latvian Academy of Culture. She is based in Uppsala, Sweden, where she teaches Latvian language. She has a background in journalism and PR. Her research interests are culture studies withing anthropological framework. At the moment her research has a focus on diasporic identity, specifically doing ethnographic research in Sweden on Latvia´s diaspora, which consists of Latvians and Russian speakers. She is looking into complex interwinings of collective memory of both groups of Latvia´s diaspora and exploring changes happening within identity formation in Sweden.
Orcid: 0000-0001-5695-2201

Author

• Mara Simons, Latvian Academy of Culture