Ammon Cheskin
- Published in print:
- 2016
- Published Online:
- September 2016
- ISBN:
- 9780748697434
- eISBN:
- 9781474418539
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9780748697434.001.0001
- Subject:
- Linguistics, Language Families
The political shocks of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis have been felt in many former Soviet countries, not least Latvia, where over 35% of the population are native Russian speakers. At a time when ...
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The political shocks of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis have been felt in many former Soviet countries, not least Latvia, where over 35% of the population are native Russian speakers. At a time when analysts and commentators are unsure about Russia’s future plans to intervene on behalf of their ‘compatriots’, this study provides a detailed political and cultural analysis of Russian-speaking identity in Latvia.By using Russian-speakers in Latvia as a specific case study, this volume also offers a fresh methodological approach to the study of discourses and discursive strategies. It outlines a coherent methodology to study the evolution of discourses over time, rather than a single de-contextualized and static time period.Drawing on media analysis, elite interviews, focus groups and survey data, Russian Speakers in Post-Soviet Latvia situates the identity strategies of Russian speakers within the political, cultural, and economic transformations of the post-Soviet era. By assessing political, cultural, and economic links with their home state (Latvia) and their potential kin-state (Russia), it offers important insights into the complex identity positions of Latvia’s Russian speakers, and how these positions have evolved in Latvia since the late Soviet period.In a time when many will question the loyalty of Russian speakers to their various ‘host states’ this book provides a timely, scholarly account of ethnicity and ethnic politics in Latvia. It also offers a methodological framework that allows for the mapping of trends in discursive strategies, exploring how they evolve through time.Less
The political shocks of the 2014 Ukrainian crisis have been felt in many former Soviet countries, not least Latvia, where over 35% of the population are native Russian speakers. At a time when analysts and commentators are unsure about Russia’s future plans to intervene on behalf of their ‘compatriots’, this study provides a detailed political and cultural analysis of Russian-speaking identity in Latvia.By using Russian-speakers in Latvia as a specific case study, this volume also offers a fresh methodological approach to the study of discourses and discursive strategies. It outlines a coherent methodology to study the evolution of discourses over time, rather than a single de-contextualized and static time period.Drawing on media analysis, elite interviews, focus groups and survey data, Russian Speakers in Post-Soviet Latvia situates the identity strategies of Russian speakers within the political, cultural, and economic transformations of the post-Soviet era. By assessing political, cultural, and economic links with their home state (Latvia) and their potential kin-state (Russia), it offers important insights into the complex identity positions of Latvia’s Russian speakers, and how these positions have evolved in Latvia since the late Soviet period.In a time when many will question the loyalty of Russian speakers to their various ‘host states’ this book provides a timely, scholarly account of ethnicity and ethnic politics in Latvia. It also offers a methodological framework that allows for the mapping of trends in discursive strategies, exploring how they evolve through time.
