The Baltic Russophone Identity in Flux: Political Behavior, Boundary Making, and Media Practices

Session Submission Type: Panel

Abstract

For the last 30 years, the Russian-speaking residents of the Baltic states have been entangled in a relational framework that scholars have conceptualized as quadratic nexus, linking kinstates, national minorities, resident states, and international institutions (cf. Brubaker 1996; Smith 2002; Pettai 2006; Cheskin 2015). Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 shook the quadratic nexus.

Cultural identification with Russia has never been a clear-cut choice to Baltic Russophones, but now it also becomes a morally problematic choice. Social pressure to condemn Russia and support Ukraine in all possible ways remains high in the Baltics. This poses unprecedented existential challenges for Russophone communities. Specifically, this applies to Latvia and Estonia – countries with the largest share of Russian-speaking minorities in the European Union. Both countries illuminate many unknowns regarding the current Russophone identity.

The goal of this panel is to examine the identity dynamics of Latvian and Estonian Russophones in the light of Russia’s invasion. The panel will particularly focus on boundary making, political behavior, and media practices. How has the perception of Russia and “nationalizing states” (Latvia and Estonia) changed among Russian-speakers and how has it shaped their sense of belonging? How to conceptualize Russian speakers who avoid positioning themselves towards Russia’s invasion of Ukraine? What do the media repertoires of Baltic Russian-speakers during Russia’s invasion reveal about their identity? These are some of the questions that will be addressed in the panel by three conceptually related papers.

Short Bio

Inta Mieriņa is an associate professor at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Latvia, senior researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Latvia and director of the Centre for Diaspora and Migration Research. She has extensive experience in research that has focused on migration. Mieriņa’s background is in political sociology, and her publications have appeared in Social Science Research, The Sociological Review, European Societies, Europe-Asia Studies and elsewhere. She is also a co-editor of a book on the Latvian diaspora communities published in 2019 by Springer. Her most recent research has examined the subjective experiences and integration of minorities and migrants in Latvia.

Piret Ehin is Professor of Comparative Politics and Deputy Head for Research at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies, University of Tartu (Estonia). She holds a PhD in Political Science from the University of Arizona (2002). Her research interests include democracy, elections and voting behavior, political support and political attitudes, as well as European integration and Europeanization. Her work has appeared in the European Journal of Political Research, Journal of Common Market Studies, Cooperation and Conflict, Politics, Government Information Quarterly, Journal of Elections, Public Opinion and Parties, and the Journal of Baltic Studies.

Mārtiņš Kaprāns is a senior researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Latvia. Over the previous decade, he has been involved in several large-scale research projects on Baltic labor migrants, Russian-speaking communities in the Baltic states and ideological polarization in Baltic societies. His most recent articles are published in Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Journal of Baltic Studies, Memory Studies, and Europe-Asia Studies. In 2023, he published a book about Latvian migrants in Great Britain (University of Latvia Press).

Jānis Juzefovičs is a senior researcher at the Riga Stradiņš University (RSU). His research interests focus on the study of media audiences in the Baltics. Before joining the RSU, Juzefovičs worked on a University of Tartu research project examining the civic identity and transnational media practices of the Russian-speaking populations in Latvia and Estonia during times of geopolitical uncertainty. His most recent articles are published in Global Media and Communication, East European Politics and Societies and Cultures, Political Geography, and Europe-Asia Studies. He is the author of Broadcasting and National Imagination in Post-Communist Latvia: Defining the Nation, Defining Public Television (2017, Intellect).

Sub Unit

• History, Memory, and Identity

Discussant

• Mārtiņš Kaprāns, University of Latvia

Individual Presentations

• Questioned loyalties, mixed attachments: What future for the Russian minority in Latvia? - Inta Mieriņa, University of Latvia

• The impact of war in Ukraine and the ensuing ban of pro-Kremlin news providers on media use and trust among Baltic Russian-speakers - Jānis Juzefovičs, Riga Stradiņš University

• Societal Integration of Latvian Russian-Speaking Populations: Feminist and Bourdieu-Based Approaches - Nathan Colvin, Old Dominion University