Rethinking everyday integration spatially: How do young Russian-speaking adults negotiate their belonging in the shrinking ethnocentric geography of Latvian society?

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has had a dramatic aftermath beyond the battlefield. Specifically, it has resurfaced concerns about the allegiances of a large Russian-speaking population in Latvia and the pressing need for their integration into Latvian and European society. The project speaks to the gap in the studies about the everyday integration of young Russohpones in Latvia by foregrounding their agency in defining and enacting integration through their lived experiences beyond the state-centric narratives. Drawing on the critical debate in the field of minority integration and spatial studies the proposed research takes an original approach by focusing on spatial dimensions of how young minoritised Russian speakers pave their everyday trajectories through the ethnocentric geography of the Latvian society. Beyond the empirical contribution, the project contributes to the critical literature on minority integration in multiethnic societies, as well as to the policy on minority integration in Latvia and the wider post-socialist context.

Lena Hercberga is a postdoctoral researcher at IRES and will present her two-year MSCA-granted research project at the seminar.