Lithuanian Forced Migration Diasporas in the East and their Identity: the Cases of Trans-Volga and Kazakhstan (DIARYTA)
The project is coordinated by the Vilnius University
The start of the project: 2020 – 07 – 01
The end of the project: 2022 – 12 – 31
The aim of the project is to analyse the resources and practices of retaining of ethnic identity of the Lithuanian forced migrants’ diasporas in Trans-Volga and Kazakhstan through the prism of collective memory, linguistic self-awareness and language practices, as well as enculturation and socialization of target groups from social anthropology, sociology and sociolinguistic perspectives.
Scope of the research: 1) life-history and semi-structured interviews taken from the Lithuanian diaspora people of Saratov area setlements (Chiornaya Padina et al.) and Karaganda; 2) interviews of former deportees and / or their descendants who have returned to Lithuania from exile; 3) published sources on places of exile; 4) visual materials related to the Lithuanian heritage in former exile places; 5) archive materials of 1963, 1994 and 2013 expeditions to Chiornaya Padina. Also qualitative research methods of descriptive and participant observation, verbal and visual discourse (narrative) analysis and document analysis will be used.