Latvian Emigrants in the United States: Different Waves, Different Identities?

This chapter studies the relationships and interaction among the Latvian emigrants from different migration waves in the United States. It specifically examines reasons for the inability of the existing and politically and culturally active Latvian diaspora community in the United States to integrate newcomers from Latvia. The diaspora community is formed mostly of migrants who left Latvia after World War II. The research is based on a mix of two sources of information and methods – qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with the ‘new’ Latvian emigrants in the United States in 2014, who began arriving there in 1991 and quantitative data analysis of The Emigrant Communities of Latvia survey. The study illustrates that the migrants from the most recent emigration wave distance themselves to a large extent from the previous migration wave. Additionally, the most recent migrants do not have strong social ties or active networks with Latvians back home and, therefore, cannot be considered as being a part of a transnational community, which is a characteristic of the previous Latvian migration wave. Instead, the migrants from the most recent wave base their belonging on the notion of having roots in Europe in terms of cultural heritage and identity. For this reason, they are to be considered as so-called ‘nomadic’ migrants, although this differs substantially from the way the concept is used in the academic literature so far – there is no return point back home, as they only look forward.

The Nexus Between Higher Education Funding and Return Migration Examined

Asymmetrical international student mobility poses a challenge to the governments of countries sending students abroad to ensure their return home after graduation. Financial assistance tools such as student loan forgiveness are viewed as a solution to this challenge. Drawing on evidence in the case of Latvia, this chapter contributes to the literature testing the policy assumption that sending governments can influence the return migration decisions of international students by cancelling their student loans. This chapter presents The Emigrant Communities of Latvia survey data on higher education funding sources among international students from Latvia and the relationship between these sources and their return intentions. Using qualitative interview data, this chapter examines the effectiveness of student loan forgiveness in influencing the return migration decisions of global graduates from Latvia. The chapter concludes that the existing student loan forgiveness policy does little to prompt return migration.

The Complex Identities of Latvians Abroad: What Shapes a Migrant’s Sense of Belonging?

Building on the data from The Emigrant Communities of Latvia survey, this chapter aims to reveal and describe the complex nature of the sense of geographic and social belonging of those who became emigrants. It will explore the factors affecting the maintenance of their identity and consider transformation processes among migrants. The starting point of this chapter is the assumption that the ‘sense of belonging’ is affected by a variety of different objective and subjective factors, and that identity is multi-faceted. Instead of facing a trade-off between feeling close to the home country or host country, or developing a supranational identity, different combinations of types of a ‘sense of belonging’ can be distinguished among Latvian migrants. Using cluster analysis, the author distinguishes four separate groups of emigrants based on their attitudes and self-identification. Among the findings is that most respondents feel closer to Latvia than their host country. However, people who left Latvia during the years of the Great Recession and its aftermath, and who left for economic reasons, are the most alienated from their home country. Among the factors important in shaping this sense of belonging are subjective life satisfaction and having friends and family back at home.

Manoeuvring in Between: Mapping Out the Transnational Identity of Russian-Speaking Latvians in Sweden and Great Britain

The proportion of the Russian-speaking population in Latvia increased dramatically during the Soviet period from 12% in 1935 to 42% in 1990 due to organised labour migration within the Soviet Union. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, especially since the end of the 1990s, many Russian-speaking Latvians have migrated to Western countries. Very little is known about the national identities of these Russian-speaking Latvians. By analysing 30 life histories of Russian-speaking migrants from Latvia in Sweden and Great Britain, this study aims to analyse the transnational identities of Russian-speaking Latvians abroad. The analysis shows that the migrants’ own migration patterns in addition to the migration history of their families create interlinked and sometimes conflicting layers of transnational identity. Drawing on the interviews, three main processes in the identity formation were distinguished: aspiring to a Latvian identity, claiming an unrecognised Russian-speaking Latvian identity and developing transnational ‘non-belonging’.

Growing Up to Belong Transnationally: Parent Perceptions on Identity Formation Among Latvian Emigrant Children in England

As a result of the wide availability of social media, cheap flights and free intra-EU movement it has become considerably easier to maintain links with the country of origin than it was only a generation ago. Therefore, the language and identity formation among children of recent migrants might be significantly different from the experiences of children of the previous generations. The aim of this paper is to examine the perceptions of parents on the formation of national and transnational identity among the ‘1.5 generation migrant children’ – the children born in Latvia but growing up in England and the factors affecting them. In particular, this article seeks to understand whether 1.5 generation migrant children from Latvia construct strong transnational identities by maintaining equally strong ties with their country of origin and mother tongue and, at the same time, intensively creating networks, learning and using the language of the new home country. The results of 16 semi-structured in-depth interviews with the parents of these children reveal that the 1.5 generation Latvian migrants are on a path of becoming English-dominant bilinguals. So far there is little evidence of the development of a strong transnational identity among 1.5 generation migrant children from Latvia. Instead, this study observed a tendency towards an active integration and assimilation into the new host country facilitated by their parents or occurring despite their parents’ efforts to maintain ties with Latvia. These findings suggest that rather than the national identity of the country of origin being supplemented with a new additional national identity – that of the country of settlement – the identity of the country of origin becomes dominated by it instead.

Cultural and Media Identity Among Latvian Migrants in Germany

This chapter explores how transnational media and culture impacts on the identity formation of recent Latvian migrants in Germany. In the context of the EU, Germany opened its labour market to the new EU countries rather late, when compared to other ‘old’ EU countries. This has had an effect on the composition of the group of Latvian migrants going to Germany, and their identities. In the light of this, this chapter examines how Latvian migrants in Germany feel and experience their belonging to Latvia and its culture. It analyses the social and communicative practices crucial for the development of belonging, including the rootedness in the country where they live and the cultural references that are important for them. The evidence for the analysis in this chapter comes from in-depth interviews, open media diaries and network maps of Latvian migrants in Germany. The chapter situates the description of evidence in the framework of cultural identity concepts and discusses the role of culture and media in the process of building migrant identity. The chapter argues that culture is shaping the transnational self-perception of Latvian migrants in Germany – as it provides collective narratives of imagined common frames of references, and confirms feelings of belonging and distinction.

‘I Am One of Them’: Exploring the Communication of Identity of Latvian Migrants on Social Networking Sites

This chapter analyses how ethnic transnational identities are manifested and negotiated on the social networking sites used by Latvian migrants. Although migrants as well as other people use various personal media, including Skype, chat apps such as WhatsApp and telephones, social networking sites stand out with the diversity of functions in migrant communication. This includes one-to-one exchanges, group communication and the ability to locate and connect with users who may or may not be familiar offline. We argue that social networking sites and particularly thematic groups on these sites that migrants create and join serve as forums or bulletin boards where they exchange practical information and are able to communicate with other Latvians who live nearby – and that these uses have implications for the communication of identity. The empirical data in the chapter comes from 20 semi-structured interviews with Latvian migrants who live in a variety of countries and were recruited for the study on social networking sites, as well as survey data, all of which were collected within the research project The Emigrant Communities of Latvia: National Identity, Transnational Relations and Diaspora Politics. The results demonstrate that migrant interactions on social networking sites do not necessarily lead to the homogenisation of migrants’ conception of what ‘being a Latvian’ means. The increased ability to maintain associations with diverse online and offline social circles provides a migrant with a variety of identity elements to associate with. As a result, hybrid identities may emerge. A migrant can identify with the host society yet still reject some of its characteristics – and choose Latvian alternatives instead.

Return Migration Process in Policy and Practice

This chapter focuses on return migration processes in Latvia, integrating analysis of return migration policy and the experiences of return migrants. The analysis considers the extent to which return policy activities correspond to the needs and expectations of the target group, and addresses the role of this policy in the process of making the decision to return. The data used for the analysis are policy planning documents, The Emigrant Communities of Latvia survey and in-depth interviews. The main empirical evidence of the return experiences of migrants in the chapter comes from 18 in-depth interviews with Latvian returnees from various age and social status groups, who left Latvia within a period between 1991 and 2011. This research finds that although the government’s policy corresponds to the general needs of return migrants, this policy has no impact on individual return decisions among Latvian migrants. The main reasons for return are non-economic. If economic reasons dominate the reasons for leaving – alongside a wish to see the world or get an education – then coming back is connected with homesickness, a willingness to spend more time with relatives in Latvia, a longing for Latvian nature, a desire to speak Latvian and to live in the Latvian environment. It also eliminates the risk of assimilation for their children in the society of the country they have emigrated to.

Emigration from Latvia: A Brief History and Driving Forces in the Twenty-First Century

In recent years, Latvia has established itself as one of the top two countries with the most intensive emigration among EU/EFTA member states. This chapter starts by describing the demographic context and the scale of emigration post-2000, followed by a brief history of the main population flows (migration, refugees and deportation) from and to Latvia in the twentieth century. It then offers a more detailed analysis of emigration during the first 15 years of the twenty-first century including a closer look at the four waves of recent emigration: (i) the pre-EU accession wave, 2000–2003; (ii) the post-accession wave, 2004–2008; (iii) the crisis-driven wave, 2009–2010; and (iv) the post-crisis wave, 2011–2016. For each wave, description of the economic and social context is given within a conceptual framework using insights from human capital theory, the new economic theory of migration, network theory and migration systems theory. Institutional factors are also emphasised. Together with some survey-based evidence, this leads to a set of hypotheses about the nature of the four emigration waves. Our own compilation of data from receiving countries (which reveals problems with Latvia’s official migration statistics) is used for documenting the dynamics of the scale and main destinations of this emigration. Empirical analysis of the changes in the reasons for and intended duration of emigration, its effects on the structure and demographic potential of the population and changes in emigrant profiles and selectivity with respect to human capital and ethnicity is based on a number of independent data sources, including the Latvian Labour Force Survey (2000–2015), the Database of Immigrants in OECD Countries (DIOC 2010/2011), and The Emigrant Communities of Latvia survey conducted worldwide in 2014.

Latvian Migrants in Foreign Labour Markets: Job Placement and Discrimination

The majority of migrants from Latvia move abroad intending to work, and so fall into the category of ‘work migrants’. A crucial role in their job placement is played by an increasingly complex network of intermediaries. This includes formal employment agencies, more informal, social network-based mediators and even illegal service providers. Despite the agencies providing job placements abroad being subject to regulations, fraud and the mistreatment of jobseekers has emerged as a cause for concern. Even when there is no ill will from the intermediaries, immigrant workers often suffer discrimination from their employers, sometimes leading to a re-evaluation of their return migration plans. This chapter explores the employment conditions of Latvian migrant workers. It analyses the operation of private employment agencies offering employment abroad and, in more general terms, sheds light from the Latvian migrant workers’ perspective on their treatment by employers. In doing so, this analysis demonstrates that almost a fifth of those respondents who used the services of private employment agencies had experienced unfair treatment. Moreover, at least one in three Latvian migrant workers encountered some form of discrimination at work, and around one in six were in a precarious and vulnerable position due to the nature of their employment contract. The chapter concludes with recommendations for further studies and policy development.