Lithuanian Immigrants Research Articles

The Descendants of Lithuanian Immigrants in Kazakhstan: Contours of Ethnic Identity


 
 
 Research on the forced migration of Lithuanians to the east of the former Soviet Union in the 1940s and early 1950s throws up a wide range of issues. Methodologically, most of such studies are similar in terms of the sample chosen, which consists of the former prisoners of gulags and exiles who have returned to Lithuania, but it usually disregards those who stayed. Accordingly, the Lithuanian diasporas that emerged in the east after the forced migration, including in Kazakhstan, have not been studied in detail. In this article, our aim is to answer the questions of how and in what private and public contexts processes of the ethnic identification of the Lithuanian diaspora in Kazakhstan are determined, how ethnic boundaries are drawn, and what cultural and social resources are used for this purpose. As the research revealed, the conceptualisation of ethnicity implied by the Kazakhstan state that has been adopted by our informants eliminates its cultural content, or at most reduces it to forms evident in festive culture, as well as the need and possibilities for its expression. As a result, ethnic identity is constructed on the basis of what is almost the sole criterion: Lithuanian descent in the form of ‘root’ or ‘blood’. For most of our informants, ‘roots’ are just a fact of origin, as shown in the practice of entering Lithuanian ethnicity in personal documents, an officially required practice which does not have and does not presuppose any enactment of ethno-cultural differences. Ethnicity, which is seen as ‘in-rooted’ but also as culture-less and as muted by a doubling of roots among ethnically mixed families of origin, enables a whole spectrum of manipulations of ethnic identity. One such manipulation is attempting to profit from the Lithuanian ethnic identity by turning it into a resource for acquiring benefits. The practice of profiteering from the Lithuanian ethnic identity, and thus its transformation into a resource for gaining benefits in the forms of Lithuanian citizenship and a hope of being repatriated to Lithuania, is probably the most frequent factor in becoming Lithuanian by remembering Lithuanian roots and activating the Lithuanian ethnic identity.
 
 

Lietuvių moterys Didžiojoje Britanijoje Pirmojo pasaulinio karo metais | Lithuanian Women in Great Britain during the First World War

The Great War had a devastating impact on some Lithuanian immigrant families living in Great Britain. In 1917, after Britain and Russia signed a military agreement, the mobilisation was announced of foreign men living in Britain who were former subjects of the Russian tsar. The Lithuanians had to decide quickly whether to join the British army or return to Russia and fight on the Russian side. For disadvantaged immigrant families, the mobilisation of men and the loss of the main breadwinner were a major misfortune, and the British government had to provide benefits to the families of the mobilised soldiers. After the war, only a few of the Lithuanian men who had been transported to Russia were able to return to Britain to rejoin their families. The repatriation of these families to Lithuania was organised through the efforts of the British government and the Lithuanian Embassy in London. This article uses historiography and the Lithuanian weekly newspaper Išeivių draugas, published in Scotland from 1914, to describe the Lithuanian community during the Great War, and to analyse how the outbreak of the war, and in particular the Convention of 1917, affected the families of Lithuanian immigrants. The author focuses on the situation of Lithuanian women, their activities during the war, and their concern for the fate of their mobilised men and their families.

Lietuvos vyriausybės tremtyje organizavimas 1941–1943 m. JAV: Lietuvių tautinės tarybos įkūrimas

Straipsnyje, remiantis archyviniais dokumentais ir to meto JAV lietuvių spauda, aptariamas istorinėje literatūroje dar dėmesio nesulaukęs bandymas sukurti Lietuvos vyriausybę tremtyje – Jungtinėse Amerikos Valstijose iš pasitraukusių 1939–1941 metais Lietuvos piliečių. Aptariamas jų telkimas į Lietuvos piliečių sąjungą ir kilusios problemos bei JAV lietuvių organizacijų (ypač Amerikos lietuvių tarybos), Lietuvos atstovų JAV ir prezidento A. Smetonos pozicijos tuo klausimu. Atskleidžiamos Lietuvių tautos tarybos sukūrimo peripetijos, veiklos užuomazgos ir sunykimas.

Uncertainties of Transnational Belonging: Homeland Nationalism and Cultural Citizenship of Lithuanian Immigrants in the USA

Uncertainties of Transnational Belonging: Homeland Nationalism and Cultural Citizenship of Lithuanian Immigrants in the USA

Antroponimia, diáspora y migración: los descendientes de lituanos en Brasil

There are Brazilian works on Lithuanian immigration in Brasil, but the phenomenon of imgration from an anthroponimic point of view has not been studies yet. Although limited, this research contributes to fill this research gap. On a Socionomastic basis, a corpus made up of a sample of 55 personal names of members of the closed group of Facebook “Eu sou brasileiro e descendente de lituanos” (Iam Brazilian and descendant of Lithuanians”. The main hypothesis of the research is that in a migratory context, when it is need to name a descendant, immigrants parents have at least two alternatives which represents the extrems of a spectrum: adaptation to the naming system characteristics of the receiving country or conservation of the naming system characteristics of the country of origin. The descendants, in turn, when they need to name their children may or may not follow the decicions made by their parents. In the sample analyzed, while the first names followed Brazilian anthroponimic tendencies, the surnames were changed following adaptations also registereded in other countries where there were or there are Lithuanian migrants: loss of letters that are exclusives to Lithuanian orthography and, in surmanes, absence of typical endings for female beares. Keyword: Lexicology; Onomastics; Antroponomátics; Lithuanian migration.

Second-generation Lithuanian Immigrants in Norway: Between Lithuania and Norway?

The article is based on the findings of a field study conducted in Norway from 2008 to 2017. The focus group consisted of second-generation Lithuania migrants living in Norway. Transnationalism is one of the most promising concepts in anthropology in addressing contemporary migration. Transnationalism argues the changing nature of contemporary migration (when compared with the previous waves of migration in history). Contemporary migration is seen as intensive and simultaneous being “here” and “there” (in the country of origin and the host country). However, the identity construction in the second-generation migrants is seen as different if compared with the first generation. Critics of transnationalism see the second generation of migrants as a weak chain theoretically. According to them, previous concepts of assimilation and integration could be employed again in understanding identity construction of the second generation. A short analysis of the data from the field study of the second generation of migrants from Lithuania in Norway raises the question of whether transnationalism is inappropriate to explain the processes in the second generation of migrants. Surprisingly, it is evident that contrary to the claims of the critics of transnationalism, the second generation of migrants does not directly assimilate into the host society (Norway), and Lithuania remains a significant resource of identity. Even if second-generation migrants see themselves strongly connected with Norway both practically and emotionally (active participation in Norwegian society), at the same time Lithuania is considered more as a domain of emotions. In most cases, second-generation migrants seem to be active participants in Norwegian society. They understand Norwegian society better (if compared to the first generation), so it is natural that they want to be formally recognised as Norwegian citizens. To them, Lithuania is a country of holidays, grandparents, and entertainment. However, even in this case, we encounter a certain tension between being a Norwegian and a Lithuanian. The respondents speak of a certain duality or hybridity of identities when one does not want to be entirely Norwegian or entirely Lithuanian. However, although people note that both identities are equally important, they choose to become Norwegian citizens, because Norway is the country where they live and they feel better informed about its current affairs.

Transformation of the Lithuanian St. Casimir’s parish in London from 1990 to 2010

The essential part of this article is a reconstruction of the conflict that occurred from 2003 to 2005 in London between the Lithuanian rector and the parish council. It illustrates the practices of controlling the laity that Roman Catholic priests and hierarchs were used to. It is a case study in which a Lithuanian matter is used to illustrate global processes. In the 1990s the Lithuanian Catholic community in London found itself in crisis. Its major components were the inability of the Marian Fathers to find a suitable replacement for Father Jonas Sakevičius, his failure to attract the newest Lithuanian immigrants to participation in religious life, and the self-isolation of the parish council in just the old-timers’ portion of the community. Father Petras Tverijonas, who in 1999 by chance became the new Lithuanian parish rector, immediately connected with the new immigrants and began a new program of activities drawing them into church life. For several years he adhered to the centuries-old traditional agreement between church rector and parish lay council whereby the rector’s new initiatives needed the approval of the lay leadership. Seeking to gain greater influence with them, he managed to refresh the council’s make-up by having younger new immigrants admitted as members. Differences in age and mentality led to distrust and conflict. Tensions erupted in 2003, when the parish council’s old-timers protested against having the church hold concerts and performances for children. The elderly part of the council also rejected a plan for renewing the church’s interior, calling it an attack on the symbiosis of nationality and religion. These were the two main elements of a conflict that lasted for several years. During it, actions on both sides became more radical and support in the higher church hierarchy was sought. [...]

Nostalgia for the Lost Homeland as Part of Identity in Alė Rūta’s Works

The article examines the representation of nostalgic memory of the lost homeland, Lithuania, in the Lithuanian diaspora writer’s, Alė Rūta’s (1915-2011), trilogy called “The Destiny of the Exiled”, which consists of the novels Pirmieji svetur (1984; Eng. - The First Abroad), Daigynas (1987; Eng. – The Seedling Plot), and Skamba tolumoj (1997; Eng. Echoes from Afar). These novels describe the multilayered problems of Lithuanian immigration into the U.S.A. and life of the immigrants there. Alė Rūta (Elena Nakaitė-Arbienė) is a well-known Lithuanian author, most of whose works (novels and collections of short stories and poems, all written in the Lithuanian language) have been published by the publishers of Lithuanian diaspora in the United States of America. The trauma of the loss of the native land results in the transmitted nostalgia in her novels. The author both mourns over the lost homeland and shares with the readers her grief over this loss and longing for seeing it again. In doing this, Alė Rūta echoes the nostalgic voices of many immigrants, who left their native country at different periods. The article also discusses the issue of preservation of ethnic identity, which is constructed on nostalgic and often melancholic memories of the past, and explores different types of nostalgia, which forms a core of Alė Rūta’s trilogy.

LIETUVIŲ IMIGRANTŲ VAIKŲ INTEGRACIJOS PROBLEMOS NORVEGIJOJE [INTEGRATION PROBLEMS OF LITHUANIAN IMMIGRANTS' CHILDREN IN NORWAY

The regaining of Lithuania’s independence has broadly opened its borders to emigration of compatriots. Various reasons make Lithuanians leave their homeland and look for happiness abroad. Recently, more and more people are discussing about Lithuanian families’ immigration to Scandinavian countries, and in particular to Norway. Therefore, the problem of this article is based on the notion, that the families of Lithuanian emigrants and their children who are in a foreign country, in a foreign social environment, must adapt and integrate. However the problems they face require not only help of family members and other relatives, but also state intervention and assistance which is not is always effective or insufficiently implemented to provide full benefits to immigrants. On the other hand, it can be assumed that immigrants are not sufficiently interested to get the benefits from the assistance and services that those institutions can provide. Therefore, this study examined the main problems of the integration of Lithuanian immigrant children in Norway and what actions of Lithuanian immigrants are leading to successful integration of their children. Experiences of the study of the integration of Lithuanian emigrant families and children in Norway revealed that at the beginning of integration, despite immigration positivity’s (a better education system, better perspectives for the future of children), problems such as language barriers, negative attitudes towards them, ignorance of the functioning of the social system are encountered. These problems could be avoided by the need to learn the Norwegian language quickly, using relatives, friends and neighbors and local communities, actively communicating and cooperating with educational institutions, participation in public life and the support of certain state social institutions. Keywords: emigration / immigration, immigrants, integration problems, help for immigrants.

Transnational Chicago: The Local and Translocal Networks and Loyalties of Post-Socialist Lithuanian Immigrants

AbstractThe processes of post-socialist transformation, especially large-scale migration from Eastern Europe to the Western hemisphere, are creating an ‘expansion of space’ from the local to the supra-local. This process involves the expansion of personal-, familial- and friendship-based networking practices which acquire significance as transnational mobile livelihoods and as significant dimensions of urban dynamics in global cities like Chicago. What are the networks, attachments and social bonds of Eastern European migrants in Chicago? Ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Chicago in 2013 among recent Lithuanian immigrants brought out the importance of a cultural identity of East European-ness involving contested loyalties and limited integration. While living locally, Lithuanian immigrants are expected both to be bound to the ethnic community and to be immersed in the multicultural life-style of the mega city. However the research has shown that livelihoods and social relations among ‘one's own people’ are involved in trans-ethnic networks and that the bonds of intimacy and the alliances among ‘one's own people’ run through homeland roots and patrimonial linkages rather than through the citizenship loyalties of the state (the United States and/or Lithuania). The circle of ‘one's own people’ implies extensive reciprocity and social networking among ‘friends’ and co-workers based on ‘one's own resourcefulness’ a kind of social capital. Thus, ‘sharing important acquaintances’ ought to involve ‘doing favours’ and livelihood experiences transplanted from oversees are practised in Chicago as ‘local’ life-styles and are used for transnational networking, securing in the process the social status of those involved.

The Deconstruction of National Identity in Lithuanian Literature: Marius Ivaškevičius’ Plays

A heating national identity that makes use of romantic myths from the Golden Age of Lithuania creates the necessary “emotional glue” that can bring harmony to a social group. A coherent narrative of national history together with collective memories are inseparable from the ideology of nationalism that flourished in East Central Europe in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Benedict Anderson). But we also have to emphasize that the impact of patriotism on a society can be compared to the ambivalent deconstructionist idea of the pharmacon , suggesting that medicine used in too great a dose may become poison. Therefore, the deconstructionist’s suspicion of national mythology and static national identity does not weaken national health, as may appear at the first glance, but may actually strengthen it. The two plays by Marius Ivaskevicius, Madagaskaras ( Madagascar ) and Isvarymas ( Expulsion ), still find a great resonance with readers and theatre audiences and are the subject of this article. I will consider how the deconstruction of national identity is based on the transformation and rewriting of national myths in Ivaskevicius’ plays. The deconstruction of identity, as I call it, emerges as a result of the interplay between opposing types of static heating and dynamic cooling identities. Having rejected extreme notions of national identity (i.e. these which are overly optimistic or utterly pessimistic) we enter into the field of the intricate semantics of identity, which leads us to the acknowledgement that nothing at all is self-evident and permanent, and everything depends on the perspective of each era. Madagascar (2004) is a symbolic memory text where the author not only rejects the Lithuanian myths concerning national identity but also renews them from the contemporary point of view by adding lots of irony. Mocking the past and the idea to create a “reserve Lithuania” on the island of Madagascar allows him to speak of the ongoing national identity crisis: the old myths are no longer valid in our rapidly changing world and we cannot find a clear-cut answer to the question of who we are. In the next play, Expulsion (2011), the author keeps investigating the same problem of national identity: “ From the geographical point of view, London is located on an island. But if we were to abandon geographical thinking, all of us are islanders. Humanity still consists of islands called nations. ” (Ivaskevicius) In the postmodernist global world there is no such thing as total isolation and islands are indeed interconnected by the seas rather than remaining isolated entities. This applies equally to postmodernist nations and peoples. The play depicts the dramatic integration of Lithuanian immigrants into an alien culture. Benas, the protagonist of the play, and some other young Lithuanians are brought to London as cheap illegal labour. However, the golden grindstone of the free market crushes them all. In order to survive, they must adapt in an alien culture. But are there limits to how much they are actually able to adapt? The writer describes only the destructive cases of integration and sets very relevant social and moral problems about the integration of poor emigrants from the Eastern Europe into rich Western societies. Critics like to call Ivaskevicius an anthropologist of the nation and writer of relevant political drama (Vaidotas Jauniskis, Ramunė Baleviciūtė, Valdas Vasiliauskas, Kristian Lupa). We must not perceive the crisis and deconstruction of the national identity in Ivaskevicius’ plays as merely a rejection (or destruction) of past national creation myths, but rather as their ironic recreation, because, in this time of dynamic globalization, our modern national consciousness and culture needs them.

XIX A. PABAIGOS–XX A. PRADŽIOS JAVLIETUVIŲ EMIGRANTŲ DOKUMENTAI: RAŠYTINĖ ATMINTIS

Lietuvos nacionalinė Martyno Mažvydo biblioteka,Gedimino pr. 51, LT-01504 Vilnius, LietuvaEl. paštas: j.steponaitiene@lnb.ltAt the end of the 19th century the first surge of Lithuanian immigrants flowed to the United States of America. Economical and political reasons forced Lithuanians to look for a “better life” in the strange country which could give a possibility to earn for substantial meal, better shelter, to pray in native language and cluster in fellow clubs. Settling in the free country, Lithuanians undertook active public and cultural activity, associated in societies, issued newspapers and published books.The objective of the article is to review the main groups of printed and archival heritage of Lithuanian emigrants of the end of the 19th century – the beginning of the 20th century, and to evaluate significance of the said heritage for Abstractresearch of this period. Special attention is given to manuscript documents preserved in the Rare Books and Manuscripts Department of Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania. The said documents, cherishing printed and written memory, are important in several aspects: they witness integration of Lithuanians into the life of multinational America, accepting of American terms-words, relation with their own Lithuanian-historical-Christian roots and Lithuania. At the end of the 19th century one fifth of the nation left Lithuania. They created new life for themselves, accepted different experience and living, committed to their being in various ways, even though not all sources, documents could be preserved.

Juozas Eretas (Joseph Ehret): veikla Lietuvai, sugrįžus į Gimtinę

The article reviews the life and activities of Joseph Ehret (18/10/1856–13/3/1984) after his return home to Switzerland. During the years 1919 through 1940 he worked in Lithuania, his second motherland, gained its citizenship, but was forced to leave it by the Soviet occupants. Having returned home, prof. J. Eretas proceeded with his Lithuanian activities which unfolded in his public and academic endeavours. He joined the activities of the Lithuanian immigrant community in Switzerland. In 1954 he was entrusted with the responsibilities of a member of the honorary court. Witnessing his wife Ona Jakaitytė’s inability to put down roots in Switzerland and her homesickness, he sought to create the Lithuanian atmosphere in their home, meaning only the Lithuanian language was spoken in his so much treasured family and while away from home, the children used to write letters to their parents only in Lithuanian. Joseph Ehret’ affection for Lithuania and the reasons why he had moved away were disclosed by him in his public lectures in which he tirelessly raised the issue of Lithuania’s freedom. He successfully refuted the prevalent opinion in Switzerland that the Lithuanian refugees were committed followers of Hitler because they had run away from the “kind uncle” Stalin. The professor’s articles published in foreign languages in various magazines consolidated Lithuania’s image in the West that the occupied country will be free in the future. Concerned about the fate of the Lithuanian state and the Lithuanian exile, Joseph Ehret wrote “A Trilogy of Exile”, a study about the lost Balts, Baltic nations and their fate, about the Lithuanian language and its archaic wealth. The study presented his vision of Lithuania’s way out of this situation. Joseph Ehret was an academician of the Lithuanian Catholic Academy of Science (1936) and its honorary member (1979). He stood at the starting point of the academy’s revival in the West (Roma). His lecture on Stasys Salkauskis acted as a mediator between Vladimir Solovyov’s philosophy and the philosophical trends of the West and contributed to the LKMA’s emergence on the international level. Resorting to his numerous reminiscences, in his three monographs he immortalized the celebrated members of the Catholic academy. He viewed the academic, political and cultural life of the country and the nation through the distinguished persons of Lithuania such as Stasys Salkauskis, Kazys Pakstas and Prelate Pranciskus Juras. The reminiscences of Dr Vaclovas Dargužas (6/1/1920 – 22/10/2009) and Julija Eretaite – Kollar, daughter of the professor, included in the article, are offered to the academic public for the first time. Presented for the first time, the bibliography of publications about Joseph Ehret in Lithuania will serve as an important source for the investigators considering the ways and forms of perpetuating the professor’s memory. Prof. Joseph Ehret’ participation in the life of the Lithuanian community in Switzerland can be a stimulus for the contemporary immigrants to become actively involved in the Lithuanian activities of the exile. His personal life is an excellent example for all those Lithuanian immigrants who have started mixed families and who are now talking loud about the importance of preservation of Lithuanian identity, but do not care to teach their spouses or even their own children some Lithuanian. At least a few greeting expressions in Lithuanian would be welcome for the start. The ideas raised by prof. Joseph Ehret have not lost their importance at the present day. His name is known by the Lithuanians not only in Lithuania, but in Switzerland as well. Article in Lithuanian

Portraits of televised memory: Lithuanians on television (1966-1978)

This paper aims to introduce the reader to Lithuanian televised memory as reconstructed in the first free international Lithuanian long-lasting media project, the Lithuanians on Television program. This program was shown every Sunday evening at 8:30 P.M. from April 25th 1966 onwards to 1978-1979, when it had to shut down due to financial pressure. Lithuanians on Television told visual stories of Lithuanians living in Chicago and elsewhere. In this paper we will explore what the surviving Lithuanian-American visual stories are able tell us about the factors at work in Lithuanian communities and about the important questions raised therein. We will take a look at the personality and archive of Anatolijus Šlutas, the creator of Lithuanians on Television. The paper presents the problematics of the visual sources and the main influences on the creation of the program. It discusses the contents of the program, and analyzes its goals and the results achieved. It singles out the aims and objectives of the program, as well as their implementation. The paper fastens on the most delicate cultural problems of the Lithuanian community as found in these broadcasts. The cultural bonds of the program and the Lithuanian community are presented, as well as the legacy of the broadcasts, which left clear footprints in the lives of Lithuanian immigrants.

Reclaiming European Heritages of Transatlantic Migration

This article provides a fieldwork-based case study for the application of identity empowerment through heritage as a research perspective for the analysis of East European transnationalism seen in Lithuanian immigration in the U.S.A. Two patterns of reclaiming European heritages, 'diasporic' and 'recognitionist', are discussed. The 'diasporic' pattern among more recent migrants embraces a transatlantic heritage in which culture stands for the nation. It is instrumentalised as a claim to retain essential Lithuanianness, and reinforced by the moral imperative to return to the homeland. The 'recognitionist' pattern is exemplified by descendants of earlier East European immigrants, and is focused on family roots, as well as on ethnic history and culture. Transatlantic roots and ethnic heritages of the Lithuanian 'Texas pioneers' are reinforced by belonging to the local United States as migrants strive to achieve re-inscription of that heritage as one that has long been rooted in the local history of Texas.

Identity Politics and Migration

The Centre of Social Anthropology (CSA) at Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) in Kaunas has coordinated projects on this, including a current project on 'Retention of Lithuanian Identity under Conditions of Europeanisation and Globalisation: Patterns of Lithuanian-ness in Response to Identity Politics in Ireland, Norway, Spain, the UK and the US'. This has been designed as a multidisciplinary project. The actual expressions of identity politics of migrant, 'diasporic' or displaced identity of Lithuanian immigrants in their respective host country are being examined alongside with the national identity politics of those countries.

Transnacionalinis identitetas ir paveldas: lietuviškumas diasporoje

Manipuliavimas bet kuriuo ir bet kurio paveldo – ypač tautinio – aspektu vyksta ne tik ir ne tiek tautinės valstybės viduje, bet nė kiek nemažiau ir už jos ribų. Emigrantus, pabėgėlius, deportuotuosius ir kitus persikėlusius ar perkeltuosius sieja ne tik socialinė atmintis apie „namų šalį“, bet ir transplantuoti, reprodukuojami bei sumeistraujami tautiniai paveldai. Šio rašinio tikslas – nubrėžti kai kurių socialinių strategijų, socialinių tinklų, įvaizdžių ir diskursų kontūrus, bendrais bruožais aptarti su konkrečiu etniškumu/nacionalumu sukibusio tapatumo kultūrines praktikas, kitaip sakant lietuviškumą – kaip savitą lietuviškos kultūros ir paveldo formą; t. y. kaip „lietuviškumą“ įsivaizdavo ir įsivaizduoja, konstravo ir tebekonstruoja bei/ar siekia užginčyti skirtingos Amerikos lietuvių bangos ir kartos. Remiuosi 2000–2002 m. JAV Vidurio Vakarų valstijose atliktų antropologinių lauko tyrimų duomenimis. Didžiausias dėmesys skirtas Rytų ir Pietų Ilinojaus (įskaitant Westville, Collinsville, West-Frankfort ir Herrin) bei Misurio (St. Louis miesto rytinės dalies) valstijų buvusių angliakasių bendruomenių likučiams bei lietuvių gyvenamiesiems rajonams Èikagoje (įskaitant Brighten Park ir Marquette Park).

Ethnolinguistic Chicago: language and literacy in the city's neighborhoods

Contents: D. Hymes, Foreword. Preface. Part I: Introduction and Background. M. Farr, R. Reynolds, Introduction: Language and Identity in a Global City. E.L. Judd, Language Policy in Illinois: Past and Present. Part II: Within the Family Circle. M. Morgan, Signifying Laughter and the Subtleties of Loud-Talking: Memory and Meaning in African American Women's Discourse. G.E. Cho, P.J. Miller, Personal Storytelling: Working-Class and Middle-Class Mothers in Comparative Perspective. L. Koliussi, Identity Construction in Discourse: Gender Tensions Among Greek Americans in Chicago. Part III: Community Spaces. B.J. Moss, A Literacy Event in African American Churches: The Sermon as a Community Text. R. Reynolds, Bless This Little Time We Stayed Here: Prayers of Invocation as Mediation of Immigrant Experience Among Nigerians in Chicago. S. Radloff, The Arab Accountant as Language Mediator. C. Isaacson, They Did Not Forget Their Swedish: Class Markers in the Swedish-American Community. G. Nardini, Italian Patterns in the American Collandia Ladies' Club: How Do Women Make Bella Figura? D. Markelis, Lithuanian and English Language Use Among Early Twentieth Century Lithuanian Immigrants in Chicago. J. Lindquist, Class Identity and the Politics of Dissent: The Culture of Argument in a Chicago Neighborhood Bar. J. Rohsenow, Chinese Language Use in Chicagoland. L. Miller, Consuming Japanese Print Media in Chicago. R. Gundlach, Afterword.

“Talking Through Letters”

The emphasis on the individual in Western culture has blinded us to how social relationships affect literacy acquisition and, conversely, how literacy transforms these relationships. This article deals with the literacy practices, specifically, letter writing, of Lithuanian immigrants who arrived in the United States during the end of the 19th century. For these immigrants, reading and writing were collaborative activities, not the individual, solitary acts that we often assume them naturally to be. Individuals often turned to more literate neighbors for assistance in tasks involving reading and writing, an extension of the concept of talka, the Lithuanian tradition of collective assistance. Parents also frequently engaged the help of sons and, especially, daughters in writing letters to relatives in Lithuania. Letter writing thus not only fostered solidarity between immigrant and their relatives in Lithuania but also between Lithuanian immigrant parents and their increasingly literate, Americanized children.

The Enigma of Ethnicity: Another American Dilemma

In The Enigma of Ethnicity Wilbur Zelinsky draws upon more than half a century of exploring the cultural and social geography of an ever-changing North America to become both biographer and critic of the recent concept of ethnicity. In this ambitious and encyclopedic work, he examines ethnicity's definition, evolution, significance, implications, and entanglements with other phenomena as well as the mysteries of identity and performance. Zelinsky begins by examining the ways in which ethnic and have been defined; his own definitions then become the basis for the rest of his study. He next focuses on the concepts of heterolocalism -- the possibility that an community can exist without being physically merged -- and personal identity -- the relatively recent idea that one can concoct one's own identity. In his final chapter, which is also his most provocative, he concentrates on the multifaceted phenomenon of multiculturalism and its relationship to ethnicity. Throughout he includes a close look at African Americans, Hispanics, and Jews as well as such less-studied groups as suburbanized Japanese, Cubans in Washington, Koreans, Lithuanian immigrants in Chicago, Estonians in New Jersey, Danish Americans in Seattle, and Finns. Reasonable, nonpolemical, and straightforward, Zelinsky's text is invaluable for readers wanting an in-depth overview of the literature on ethnicity in the United States as well as a well-thought-out understanding of the meanings and dynamics of groups, ethnicity, and multiculturalism.