CONFLICT OF INTERPRETATIONS OF LATGALIAN ETHNO-POLITICAL IDENTITY IN MODERN LATVIAN SOCIETY

Abstract

Latgalians are an ethnic group located in Latvia characterized could be characterized by an extremely undefined status. In the public discourse there are two narratives, that are opposite in meaning, constructing which form the ethnopolitical status of the people of Latagle and their historical memory. The first reflects the official position of the Latvian state, and is based on the non-recognition of Latgalians as an independent ethnic group. Also, interoperating the Latgalian language is viewed as a variant of the Latvian language and there is historical reference to the 1917 Latgale Congress that united Latvia. The opposite narrative affirms asserts the historical and cultural autonomy of the Latgalian people and the independence of the Latgalian language, based on the history of the struggle for the political autonomy of Latgale and the historical memory of discrimination by the Latvian majority as well. The article analyzes the fundamental factors contributing to irreparable the unavoidable uncertainty of in the construction of Latgalian identity and the impracticability of both political narratives. The limited and insufficient logic of postcolonial theory, which is regularly used to characterize ethnopolitical processes in the post-Soviet space and, in particular, in Latvia is shown in the article. It is concluded that the fundamental uncertainty factors of Latgalian identity, intensified by the action could be reinforced by the action of European integration processes, impede the possibility of political mobilization based on both nationalist state policy and the idea of Latgalian ethnopolitical autonomy.

Keywords:

Latgalians, Latgalian language, Latvia, ethnopolitics, politics of identity, historical memory