United in Diversity? European Identity and Ethnicity in Latvia

Abstract: European identity usually is considered in the context of other collective identities with a geographic reference – those that are regional, national and global. This focus disregards other potentially important collective identities including the relationship between European identity and ethnic belonging. In particular, little attention has been paid to ethnic-minority and non-European- ethnic groups, whose members may be becoming the new “others” in the project of European identity-building. This article explores the relationship between European belonging and ethnicity in Latvia. It compares ethnic Latvians and ethnic Russians, who are historically the largest non-European minority group within all the new European Union (EU) member states Tags: Academic