Suchergebnisse

The ideologies, beliefs and practices associated with new cult places in post-Soviet Latvia are discussed. When social movement for the restoration of an independent nation state started at the end of the 1980s, new pantheistic cult sites gained a certain topicality. In relation to such sites esoteric New Age style ideologies and practices were constructed. Pokaiņi forest - a remote place in Latvia, abundant in stone piles and big stones, has been interpreted as an ancient sanctuary of global significance, as a cosmological and healing centre. Latvian scholars - archaeologists, geologists and folklorists - are treating Pokaiņi as a site with traces of ancient agricultural activity, and its popularity is attributed to the 'use of good management'. The historical perspective of the Pokaiņi phenomenon and modern interpretations of its perception are discussed in the context of revitalisation movements. The analysis of the complex socio-cultural situation of Latvia in the turn of the twentieth and the twenty- first century reveals the reasons, facilitating the emergence and significance of Pokaiņi and similar phenomena in post-Soviet Latvia.

Livs are one of the Baltic Finnish ethnic groups; their historical location is in the north-western part of Kurzeme and Vidzeme Regions in Latvia. According to the 2011 census in Latvia, 250 individuals defined themselves as Livs. This marks a significant rise in their population, compared to 48 individuals in the 1970s. Linguistically, Livs are Finno-Ugrians, thus differing from Latvians who represent the Indo-European speaking family. Ethnological data of the 19th and 20th century provide evidence that Livs have been predominantly bi-lingual, gradually leaving their own language in the second place and therefore natural inheritance of the language diminished as a result, until it was broken, supposedly in 2013. Nowadays we can observe a strong tendency to restore Liv culture and linguistic tradition. The present-day statistics indicate about 200 speakers of the Liv language. Field research shows that members of the Liv community recog- nise the increase of prestige and popularity of their language, nevertheless the main language experts today are researchers and those interested in ethnic identity matters. This might serve as evidence that the language tradition is revived rather than naturally inherited within the Liv community. What is the motivation to restore the language tradition in the 21st century, if the instrumental linguistic function of ethnic minorities has become clearly marginalised and only symbolic aspects have remained topical? This issue will be examined in the paper.

Liquid modernity is a concept proposed by Zygmunt Bauman that denotes modern tendencies in the development of the global capitalism economy. One of the main processes characterizing liquid modernity is human mobility, which in its turn results in a fragmented and indefinite identity and in the marginalization of local belonging. Mobility, especially in the form of long-term emigration, has become one of the major demographic problems Latvia has experienced. To provide solutions to the problems caused by emigration, in 2013 the Government of Latvia adopted an action plan to support re-emigration. The main idea of the plan refers basically to economic aspects. Obviously, it is not only economic factors that stimulate expatriates to return back home; psychological, emotional and symbolic aspects are no less significant. One of the most powerful symbols of re-emigration is home. The concept of home occupies one of the most important places in the process of self- categorization. It helps to organize self-knowledge and to recognize one's own place in the surrounding environment (spatial and social, as well as mental) of emotions and memories. What is home in the era of liquid modernity? The observations made during the fieldworks in Riga, Valka and in the Svētupe region (2013–2016) showed that home is one of the most stable concepts in the construction of Latvian identity and the concept "my father's home" still exists in Latvian worldview as a mytheme and as a symbolic equivalent of the beginning, of harmonic existence and "source of happiness and strength".