| Abstract [eng] |
Research of questions of nationality, ethnicity and national identity is not new within world’s scholar area. It has been in the field of attention of numerous foreign academics - A. Smith, B. Anderson, M. Castells, J. C. Phinney, H. Tajfel, J. W. Berry, X. Chryssochou and many others – especially in the countries with wide ethnic variety of population (the USA, Canada, Australia, the Great Britain, etc.). Questions of national identity were forcibly forgotten in Lithuania during the years of Soviet occupation (2nd half of XX century), but local academics regained interest in them after Lithuania became independent again in 1990. Since the national identity (individual and collective) has been analysed in various aspects by V. Leonavičius, D. Antininė, V. Liubinienė, R. Trimakas, A. Valantiejus, P. Subačius, V. Legkauskas, R. Grigas, I. Trinkūnienė, V. J. Černius, S. Kraniauskienė, V. Čiubrinskas, etc. Most of the authors agree, that national identity is best exposed when an individual (or a social group) is placed in a culturaly heterogenous context. One of the core ideas of this Master’s thesis is a research of Lithuanian emigrants’ national identity: what is the content of migrants’ identity how is it constructed and how does local cultural environment affect it. Another important issue is to find out if Lithuanian migrants tend to practice national self-education (if they consciously seek to maintain the features of national identity). Considering previously done scholar studies in Lithuania and abroad in the field of national identity, concepts of nationality, national identity, national self-education and relations among them are analyzed in this Master’s thesis. The generalized theoretic model of national identity structure has been developed. It was later used as theoretical base for creating a questionnaire for further empirical research. The hypothesis that most Lithuanian migrants tend to maintain their national identity and at the same time accept local culture was formulated. This hypothesis was confirmed by research results (N = 583). |
