Boundary work in the UK: identity discourses and practices of Latvian migrants

ABSTRACT

This article explores the identity formation of Latvian migrants who have moved to the United Kingdom in large numbers over the last 20 years. Latvians are forced to reconfigure their cultural and social belonging in the new multicultural society. Identity formation is seen in this article as boundary work that contingently excludes and includes various cultures and social positions. The article is based on semi-structured interviews and cross-sectional surveys. By combining qualitative and quantitative data, the article focuses on transnational positioning and in-group relations of Latvian migrants. Likewise, relations with migrants from other countries and the imagined locals, or ‘genuine Englishmen,’ are examined in the light of boundary-making. The results, among other things, illustrate how structurally embedded discourses and practices help Latvians rationalize the maintenance and the crossing of symbolic boundaries.

KEYWORDS:

• Boundary
• class relations
• migrant hierarchies
• in-group cohesion
• transnationalism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

1. Interviews were mostly conducted at interviewees’ houses in Peterborough, Bourne (Lincolnshire), Doncaster, Leeds, Wakefield, Bradford, Burnley, Rishton (Lancashire), Castleford, and London.

2. Latvians in the UK, https://www.facebook.com/latviansinuk; Latvieši Anglijā forum, https://www.facebook.com/groups/238879802870301/.

3. From the first set of questions ‘Please describe the extent to which you feel that you belong,’ seven categories are used in this analysis: (1) Latvian residents, (2) people of your nationality, (3) people from Latvia who live abroad, (4) people living in your neighborhood, (5) residents of the host country, (6) residents of Europe, and (7) all residents of the whole world. From the second set of questions ‘How closely do you feel connected to … ’ all six categories were used: (1) place where you spent your childhood, (2) place (city, village, parish) where you lived in Latvia before leaving, (3) Latvia as a whole, (4) the city/town where you currently live, (5) the United Kingdom, and (6) Europe.

4. More detailed information on the infrastructure of cultural life in the UK is available in the virtual exhibition ‘Latvians in Great Britain’ (Latvieši Lielbritānijā) (2020) created by the National Archives of Latvia and the Latvian National Council in Great Britain, see http://www.itl.rtu.lv/latviesi_uk/?page=700.

5. For example, Latvians in the UK have shared on Facebook the Channel 4 program ‘Benefits Street’ or the video story ‘The day immigrants left 2010,’ see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqo-7rtGwOU&t=1175s

Additional information

Funding

The work was supported by the Latvian Council of Science[Grant Number lzp-2023/1-0227].

Notes on contributors

Martins Kaprans

Mārtiņš Kaprāns is a senior researcher at the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, University of Latvia. He received his PhD in Communication Science from the University of Latvia in 2012. Over the previous decade, he has been involved in several large-scale research projects on Baltic labor migrants, Russian-speaking communities in the Baltic states, ideological polarization in Baltic societies, ethnic stereotypes and prejudices in Latvia, and historical politics in Baltic countries and central Europe. His most recent articles have been published in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Journal of Baltic Studies, Memory Studies, Europe-Asia Studies, as well as in numerous international collections.