Lithuanian Emigration after Accession to the European Union and its Impact on Lithuanian National Identity: Transnational Public Spheres and Social Remittances Author: Jessica Bryant-Bertail, Master of Public Administration / MA REECAS candidate, University of Washington

Abstract: Since Lithuania gained independence, at least 447,000 of its residents have left, a decrease of 11% from the estimated 3.6 million of 1990.  More than 108,000 have left since 2004, most of them young and educated. Lithuania’s human resource sector is in crisis mode.  The majority of Lithuanians emigrating seek work in England, Ireland or Spain, countries which allow citizens of newer EU member states to legally work, and where salaries are three to four times higher than at home.  Migration specialists estimate that wages in Lithuania would need to increase three times before most émigrés would return home.

Most research on recent emigration from Lithuania focuses only on the economic impact, weighing the benefit of émigrés’ financial remittances against the cost of the labor crisis at home.  There is little research on the impact of increased emigration on Lithuanian cultural identity.  In fact, emigration significantly affects how citizens view themselves and their country. The emigration of younger people can be especially threatening to the concepts of ethnic or national identity, because the youth represent the very future of the nation. This idea that increased emigration is a serious threat to the nation is reflected in the tone of many recent Lithuanian news articles.

This paper analyzes the relationship between increased emigration since 2004 and changing Lithuanian cultural identity, using the conceptual frameworks of transnational public spheres and cultural remittances. It compares the current transnational spheres with those formed through previous Lithuanian emigration movements – at the end of the 19^th Century and following World War II.  Proposed future research includes a Fulbright research project, which would combine a statistically representative mailed survey with qualitative interviews.  Both the survey and the interviews would include questions on the respondent’s awareness of increasing emigration in Lithuania, whether he or she believes that this emigration is temporary and whether he or she believes that the émigrés will return home.  This project aims to provide some insights on how transnational networks formed through emigration impact the identities of Lithuanians in the homeland and throughout the world.