Lietuvių kilmės užsienio moksleivių tautinės tapatybės ypatumai

LTReikšminiai žodžiai: (tautinė) tapatybė; Globalizacija; Lietuvių kilmės užsienio moksleiviai; Tautinė tapatybė; Užsienio lietuviai; (national) identity; Foreign schoolchildren of Lithuania; Globalization; Lithuanians abroad; National Lithuanian Identity.

ENGlobalisation is said to change the national identity, alongside other collective identities rapidly. Its “building material” comes from the common history, and thus common descent, territory, culture, language, etc. Drawing on over fifty writings by foreign schoolchildren of Lithuanian descent aged 7-16, living in Belgium, Denmark, Great Britain, Spain, the USA, Canada, Poland, Norway, Russia, Finland, Sweden, and Germany, for the competition on the topic “Lithuania in the Eyes of a Child”, the article studies the specifics of the national identity of young foreign Lithuanians: their relationship with Lithuania as their own homeland or that of their parents’, its history, Lithuanians, the Lithuanian language, etc. The foreign schoolchildren’s writings reveal their two-fold perception, the opposition of two distinct worlds - here and there. Standing for there, Lithuania is viewed as an especially desired holiday destination represented by several key elements: specific locations, distinctive nature, the national history and its symbols, awaiting family and friends, the Lithuanian cuisine.The existence of their undoubted links with their Lithuanian descent and the Lithuanian language is manifested not only by the very fact of their participation in this competition of writings in the Lithuanian language but also by numerous mentions of their own personal stories of their Lithuanian origin and of the spheres and importance of usage of the Lithuanian language. It should be noted that in their writings the young foreign Lithuanians attach importance to essentially the same aspects constituting the Lithuanian identity as those that have been indicated by native Lithuanians in their responses to sociological surveys of a similar period. [From the publication]