Polish young people in Latvia: between Polish and Russian identity, a dilemma of the identity of students in Polish schools in Daugavpils and Rēzekne

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the results of field research into the Polish minority in eastern Latvia conducted in the autumn of 2016. The focus of the research was the sense of national identity felt by young people of Polish descent in Latvia and their ties with Poland, in particular as evidenced by the pupils of two Polish schools in Daugavpils and Rēzekne. The methods used were survey questions and memory maps. The findings indicate that the local Polish minority is strongly Russified, especially in their language of everyday communication. Paradoxically, however, the Polish school students express deep emotional ties with Poland.

KEYWORDS:

• Latvia
• Latgale
• Polish minority
• national identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The difference in the number of survey participants was due to the survey conditions imposed by the school principals. While the school in Daugavpils allowed the research team to have complete freedom and access to all selected classes, the school in Rēzekne permitted the survey to be conducted on a much smaller group of students. The article, however, includes the results from both schools. The survey from Rēzekne was included in the end due to a relatively large number of participants, the value of the obtained materials (including in the context of comparisons with the Daugavpils school) as well as the objective absence of the possibility to conduct research in conditions analogous to those at the Daugavpils school due to the school’s decisions and the timeframe of the research trip.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Rada Konsultacyjna ds. Studenckiego Ruchu Naukowego [50/II/2016] and the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland.

Notes on contributors

Marcin Wojciech Solarz

Marcin Wojciech Solarz is Professor of Political Geography in the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland. He is the author of i.a. The Language of Global Development: A Misleading Geography, Routledge: Abingdon & New York 2014, 2016 and The Global North-South Atlas: Mapping Global Change, Routledge: Abingdon & New York 2019. He is the editor of i.a. New Geographies of the Globalized World, Routledge: Abingdon & New York 2018 and Atlas of Poland’s Political Geography: Poland in the Modern World, Trzecia Strona: Warszawa 2018.

Małgorzata Wojtaszczyk

Małgorzata Wojtaszczyk PhD is Lecturer in the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland.

Magdalena Skorupska

Magdalena Skorupska is PhD student at the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland.

Ada Górna

Ada Górna is PhD student at the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland.

Krzysztof Górny

Krzysztof Górny is PhD student at the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland.

Anna Hofman

Anna Hofman is MA student at the College of Inter-Faculty Individual Studies in Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Warsaw, Poland.

Małgorzata Tryfon

Małgorzata Tryfon is MA student at the Faculty of Geography and Regional Studies, University of Warsaw, Poland.