Lithuanian National Identity

Lithuanian Identity

          National identity, as defined by Anthony Smith (1991, p. 41), is “a named human population sharing an historic territory, common myths and historical memories, a mass, public culture, a common economy and common legal rights and duties for all members.” The idea of national identity roots in nationalism (Smith 1991, p. 73): an “’ideological movement for attaining and maintaining autonomy, unity, and identity on behalf of a population deemed by some of its members to constitute an actual or potential nation,” or simply put, pride in one’s nation. Nationalism, and beyond that, national identity, can be seen as a technique of comparison to other nations; it is a means of establishing a country’s differences and taking pride in those individual characteristics. To Lithuania specifically, it is a group of people who identify as Lithuanian, reside in the land called Lithuania, and speak the Baltic language of Lithuanian. The beginnings of the development of Lithuania’s national identity can be most easily followed post-communism and Soviet rule, which came to its demise thirty years ago. For being so young, it has put in extensive effort to come as far as it has; however, it still has yet to clarify and reestablish its own name and identity for itself in a similar way to other countries of which have been standing for as long as history has been logged.

          The idea of being a nation was, and still is, a foreign concept to the country of Lithuania. There was no official capital city that had yet been established when the country had finally been considered independent. There were not enough literate people in the country to spur a liberalized uprising to challenge the very conservative system in place (Rindzeviciute 2003, p. 78-79). In fact, the development of its own ideas was much easier said than done. Lithuania, being geographically in the middle divide between eastern and western European culture, found it much more difficult to not be influenced by the multitude of cultures bombarding them with their own ideas of culture and national pride. In other words, put in an analogy by Vytautas Alanatas, a Lithuanian journalist and editor, Lithuania was a country in “geopolitical quicksand and therefore badly needing a strong national bonding feeling… ‘in order to prevent one or another one of [its] neighbors… would not be seduced to ‘culturize’ [it]” (Alantas cited in Rindzeviciute 2003, p. 79). Lithuania has not yet concluded its internal battle of establishing what it stands for and believes in. But perhaps that is what signifies Lithuania from its neighbors. Perhaps its lack of individuality is what individualizes it apart from its already deeply-rooted neighbors.

          A crucial identifying factor of Lithuania is the uniqueness of its language: Lithuanian. Lithuanian is a Baltic language, a sub branch of the Indo-European language family, the language family that encompass almost all of the European languages that are spoken today. In fact, Lithuanian is often seen as the closest language to Proto-Indo-European, the ancestral tongue from which all Indo-European languages stemmed from (Hogan-Brun 2005, 345). It was an extensive process, however, for Lithuanian to be as solidified and individualized as it is now. There were very large and significant political, social, and cultural impacts that took place on the language, after having been ruled quite frequently throughout history by other super states, namely, Poland, Germany, and Russia. Those who lived in the city most commonly spoke the languages of the larger nations in charge because those nations were usually the ones doing business with the then-state of Lithuania. Even when Lithuanian became the official language of Lithuania in the late eighties, there was a written requirement for all residences to learn Russian for economical and international business purposes. It was not until “the international recognition of Lithuania’s restored independence in 1991” that Lithuanian could stand alone as a language, removing the requirement for all citizens to learn Russian (Hogan-Brun 2005, p. 352). Today, Lithuanian is the most common language spoken in the country, and many people identify with Lithuanian being their first language, if not, their only language. It is now prevalent enough for the recognition of different dialects by region. It is now significant enough to be used officially in political dialogue and mainstream media. Though it took many years of research and development for the language to be officialized and recognized, it is finally a feature that contributes to the individualism of Lithuania, thus bringing difference and solidifying the country’s beginning stages of developing a national identity.

          Alongside the idea of national identity being a term to differentiate a country from another, comes the idea of “othering,” a proposition that is further explored by Anna Triandafyllidou (1998), a professor at the European University Institute. Significant others, in reference to national identity, are those who contribute to isolating the nation by attempting to influence the country away from its defined identity. To Lithuania, Russia was considered an internal minority due to conflicts regarding Russian military transport through Lithuania. According to Lopata and Sirutavičius (1999), “the question of military transit through Lithuania is not an issue of direct discussion, it remains in the back of Lithuanian minds as a potential source of contention.” There are many more issues Lithuania is left to deal with in regards of building themselves up as an individual nation that non-destructive international relations are not at the top of the list of priorities.

          National identity has always meant the unity of large people groups, but there is no black-and-white answer to which standards people find unity and belonging under one name. National identities change. They change frequently. Perhaps the change was induced by a new ruler or perhaps the change was naturally introduced by changes in country borders. To Lithuania, national identity has yet to be clarified. Lithuania did not have the hundred years of history to build up a reputation the way Greece might have. Lithuania did not have autonomy until only thirty years ago, unlike a country like Great Britain, of which has remained an autonomous nation for as long as the existence of logged history. National identity? It has yet to form a definition in Lithuania. But that is not to say it is not in the works. Perhaps the world will be hearing all about its individuality and its newly-found identity much sooner than later.

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