Rethinking everyday integration spatially: How do young Russian-speaking adults negotiate their belonging in the shrinking ethnocentric geography of Latvian society?

Descripción del proyecto

Integrar a los jóvenes que hablan ruso en el paisaje etnocéntrico de Letonia

La invasión rusa de Ucrania ha aumentado la preocupación por las lealtades de la numerosa población de habla rusa de Letonia y ha subrayado la urgente necesidad de su integración en la sociedad letona y europea. Con el apoyo de las acciones Marie Skłodowska-Curie, el proyecto SPAGINTEG explorará cómo los jóvenes de habla rusa de Letonia dan forma a sus propias experiencias más allá de las narrativas impulsadas por el Estado. Examinará cómo estos jóvenes se desenvuelven en la vida cotidiana en una sociedad etnocéntrica, aportando nuevas perspectivas empíricas al estudio de la integración de las minorías en contextos multiétnicos. La investigación incluirá trabajo de campo etnográfico y abordará cuestiones más amplias de identidad postsoviética y política de minorías en la región báltica.

Objetivo

SPAGINTEG is a two-year fellowship at the Institute for Russian and Eurasian Studies (IRES) at Uppsala University, Sweden. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had a dramatic aftermath beyond the battlefield. Specifically, it has resurfaced concerns about the allegiances of a large Russian-speaking population in Latvia and the pressing need for their integration into Latvian and European society. The project speaks to the gap in the studies about the everyday integration of young Russohpones in Latvia by foregrounding their agency in defining and enacting integration through their lived experiences beyond the state-centric narratives. Drawing on the critical debate in the field of minority integration and spatial studies the proposed research takes an original approach by focusing on spatial dimensions of how young minoritised Russian speakers pave their everyday trajectories through the ethnocentric geography of the Latvian society. Beyond the empirical contribution, the project contributes to the critical literature on minority integration in multiethnic societies, as well as to the policy on minority integration in Latvia and the wider post-socialist context. The main outputs of the research will include two academic articles and a policy recommendation report, which will be disseminated targeting scientific and general public, as well as the third sector. The success of the project, as well as the fellow’s further formation as an independent and prominent scholar, will be ensured through the professional guidance of colleagues at IRES in the area studies, cultural anthropology and geography, supplemented by pertinent training, teaching, and supervisory experience. The fellow will bring her interdisciplinary and innovative perspective on the area studies, rooted in the knowledge of political studies, expertise doing ethnographic research in post-Soviet contexts, as well as a critical perspective on the area studies and the minority politics in the Baltic region.