Ūkininkų prekyba ir mainai posovietiniame Lietuvos kaime

With the breakdown of the USSR the daily life in the rural areas of Lithuania went through radical changes. The entire system of collective farming was replaced by another system, based on the right to private property. Lithuania's collective farms and land were divided and distributed among the former members and private farms were emerging all over the country. In this article I look at the situation from a farm level. By using material from my fieldwork in a Lithuanian village I shall present how the Small Farmers here cope in spite the lack of resources. In the first place I will offer some background information for the distribution of land which took place in the early 1990s. I argue that the distribution of land left many villagers with so scarce resources that they could only be individual farmers by expanding the resources of the farms through co-operation. In the second place I will look at the co-operative economical system they have employed in order to make ends meet. I will argue that only the people who lack resources within their household employed strategies of reciprocity, whereas people who have sufficient resources by themselves do not engage in this system. Thereby there is a correlation between property rights and property relations. Bourdieu has classified these two kinds of sale as a 'village/market dichotomy'. The article is based on my fieldwork in a Southwest Lithuanian village in 200

"Eastern Criminals" and moral panic: on Lithuanian offenders in Danish prison facilities

In this chapter, I will focus on the case of Lithuanian detainees and follow the development of how Eastern European offenders became a new folk devil in Danish society. As pointed out by Ana Ivasiuc (Chapter 8), who writes about perceptions of Roma in Italy, we deal with both a figure who is constructed in public discourse and the people behind, who do not resemble the created figure. I will argue not only that the emphasis on the threat from Eastern Europe singles out a particular group of young men as deviant but also that this demonization and moral panic in turns helps shape not only the Danish political scene but also the ways in which inmates are perceived in prisons. [...] By providing an analysis of both society’s concern with the ‘eastern criminal’ and an exploration of Lithuanian inmates’ detention regimes in Denmark, my objective is to investigate the interrelations between public and political discourse and the direct and indirect effects it has on local-level administrations in Danish prison facilities. I then build on the assumption that prison life offers a unique vantage point from which to analyse current transformations in society, as perceptions of different groups of inmates are embedded in what James Scott (2015) calls ‘the everyday construction of borders’ through media representations, political discourses and institutional practices. Thereby I wish to point out the very real consequences a consistent devilish media image has for the group of people being portrayed in this manner. In my example, the stereotyping of Lithuanian inmates as particularly brutal and hardened has direct effects on how prison staff per se perceive them, despite the fact that their day-to-day interaction with the inmates contrasts this picture

Some reflections on age, politics and politicians in a rural community after Lithuania's EU-entrance

With a specific focus on the Farmers' Party, the Valstiečių Sąjunga in the town of Rinkiškės, this study engages with the question of the ageing state representatives in an outskirt rural community. The focus of the article is on the events prior to and after the local elections in 2007 which put the Valstiečių Sąjunga into a central position in the town of Rinkiškės, despite commonly shared knowledge about their Soviet past. Through a view on ageing, the study looks into how and in which way people, previously belonging to the local Soviet elite, are able to renegotiate their political positions in the present day environment, and thereby remain popular in the local community. The continued ability of local politicians to stay in power in the year after independence, despite their increasing age and Soviet heritage, should be seen in the light of the shift in conceptualization of the rural population. [...] Indeed, while formally engaging in a new EU context, state representatives still make use of the Soviet ways they rhetorically abandon, the abandonment being a prerequisite of keeping their position, and yet, the continued use of those ways is a prerequisite for receiving a higher salary and material benefits. Consequently, ageing politicians in the rural outskirts attempt to achieve a new and "young" political image in a constant battle against the past. Furthermore, they created a fun and easygoing envirorunent. They held many activities for their members and took part in every town festival or arrangement for the town's denizens.[...] The Valstiečių Sąjunga, in my region of research, illustrates well the dilemma of how ageing politicians have to reinvent themselves in order to maintain power in the present system. This forces them to reject the Soviet past, which helped them to get their present positions, while they seek rescue in two, for them, "safe" time periods: a romanticized "authentic" pre-Soviet peasant past, which reveals the true Lithuanian traditions, and the "modern EU". In the case of the Valstiečiai, the past is rejected through an embracement of a nostalgic recreation of the pre-Soviet peasant, within their own perception of modernity, where the EU is fitted into already existing structures of governance. In this way the Valstiečiai aim partly at communicating a more conservative equilibrium while still showing that they are capable of responding to the present circumstances. Yet, the politicians and state representatives have been able to use their Soviet past as an advantage, because they, while rhetorically abandoning the past, still continue achieving private goals through public means, which in itself is a continuation of their work strategies from the previous regime. Being close to the various flows of resources, be it goods and services during the Soviet system, be it land and machinery after independence, be it EU funds today, state representatives can benefit much better from their position than the people who are cut off from such flows of resources. State representatives in a post-socialist context have been capable of holding central positions up to the present day despite, or one could say because of, the socio-economic, political, and economic changes in societ

Kas yra kas? Kritinės pastabos apie šiuolaikinės lietuviškosios tapatybės sampratą

Straipsnyje siekiama ištirti, kaip lietuviškasis tautinis identitetas yra suvokiamas šalies ir tarptautiniu mastu. Autorė ištisą pusmetį gyveno šių laikų Lietuvos kaime. Žvelgdama į kasdienę kaimo gyventojų buitį, ji fiksavo ten tvyrančio tamsaus ir užguito gyvenimo rutiną, lygindama ją su savo (užsienietės) gyvenimo patirtimi. […] Miestiečių pamokymai nebraidžioti po kaimo purvynus šio straipsnio autorei aiškiai liudijo dviejų skirtingų Lietuvos įvaizdžių užsienyje egzistavimą. Pirmasis – „oficialus“ įvaizdis – švari, tvarkinga, šviesi ir visaip kitaip idealizuota Lietuva, viliojanti atvykti užsienio turistus. Antrasis įspūdis – „realus“ įvaizdis. Tai nualintas, pavargęs, pesimistiškai žiūrintis į ateitį nuošalaus Lietuvos kaimo žmonių gyvenimas. Visas šis kontrastas fantasmagoriškai išryškėja šalies valdininkų nuolat deklaruojamų europeizacijos, modernizacijos ir kitokių šviesių Lietuvos perspektyvų propagandos kontekste. Realūs paprastų žmonių požiūriai į tokius Euro-įvaizdžius, jų asmeniniai bei visuomeniniai vertinimai marginaliniame kaimo kontekste ir yra autorės mokslinių tyrimų objektas. Autorė pažymi, kad Lietuva pastaruoju metu vis labiau tampa „dviveidžio Januso“ fenomenu, kur realusis gyvenimas ir oficialusis jo įsivaizdavimas valdininkų kabinetuose skiriasi iš esmės. Straipsnyje teigiama, kad Lietuvos žmonių gyvenime pastebimi identitetų hegemonijos diskursai. Nepaisant Lietuvos Respublikos įstojimo į Europos Sąjungą, paprastų jos piliečių sąmonėje dažnu atveju dar yra giliai įsišakniję sovietinio mąstymo stereotipai. Kita priešingybė – spartus „naujųjų lietuvių“ klasės formavimasis. Tai mokantys „suktis“ gyvenime jauni, veiklūs kosmopolitinių pažiūrų vyrukai, savo gyvenimą aiškiai orientuojantys į maksimalios materialinės gerovės sau kūrimą, legalaus ir nelegalaus kapitalo kaupimą, ignoruojantys dvasines ar intelektualines vertybes. […] Materialinės gerovės vardan jie be jokių skrupulų yra pasirengę atsisakyti lietuviškojo identiteto, jiems nerūpi ir pozityvaus Lietuvos įvaizdžio kūrimo reikalai užsienyje. Autorė atkreipia dėmesį ir į tai, kad tokios gyvensenos formavimuisi daug įtakos turėjo ir kasdienio gyvenimo deformacijos sovietiniais laikais. Sovietinė propaganda nuolat akcentuodavo „naujosios visuomenės“, „naujojo žmogaus“ kūrimo idėjas. Toks žmogus turėjo parodyti „naujojo gyvenimo“ sovietinėje sistemoje privalumus, iki kurių „supuvusio Vakarų kapitalizmo“ atstovams dar labai toli... Toks „naujasis žmogus“ sovietinėje visuomenėje ir buvo suformuotas homo sovieticus pavidalu. Tai žmogus, kantriai dirbantis mistinės visuomenės gerovės sukūrimo vardan, ir vardan tokios gerovės atsisakąs bet kokių asmeninės gerovės siekių (žr. Čiubrinskas, 2000). Nauji posovietinio gyvenimo modeliai liudija siekius kuo greičiau atsisakyti minėto sovietinio gyvenimo idealų ir ieškoti kitų gerovės kūrimo būdų. Pastebimas inversinio pobūdžio gyvensenos kontrastų sukeitimas. Vietoje ankstesnės priešpriešos „modernus, šiuolaikinis homo sovieticus – archajinis, atsilikęs kapitalizmas“ atsiranda kita priešprieša: „modernus, šiuolaikinis (kapitalistinis) naujasis lietuvis – archajinis, atsilikęs homo sovieticus“. Čia aptariami kontrastai liudija istorinių gyvensenos pasikeitimų paradoksus, būdingus posovietinės Lietuvos žmonių gyvensenai – jų kasdienybei ir geresnio gyvenimo vizijoms.In this article I look at popular forms of self-representation in Lithuania, which are born out of a period of time where EUrope, EUropeanization and modernization are getting increasingly important. I argue that such discourses tend to exclude certain parts of the population and thus show a limited part of a complex picture. As I argue with an example from rural Lithuania, all Lithuanian citizens still respond to the many changes which came about with the EU and incorporate new features in their everyday life. They are, sadly enough, not the ones who get to formulate what it means to be Lithuanian in present day society

Grey zones of welfare

In this article I explore the ‘grey zones of welfare’ in rural Lithuania whereby I point to the inherent ambiguities that lies in a system where people to a high degree rely on networks and normative solutions to everyday shortcomings, rather than on the state. I argue that we in the period after socialism witness an increased degree of informal economies and social arrangements, as the formal sector of social security is perceived as unreliable. This results in a model where liberalism and individual ethics co-exist with a strong morality to support the poorest in society

[The Coffin in the attic: gifts, debts and the catholic church in rural Lithuania. Lina Pranaitytė] : recenzija

'The Coffin in the Attic' is based on Lina Pranaitytė’s anthropological fieldwork carried out in the Dzūkija region in 2008 and 2009. The book focuses on the Catholic Church and exchange practices among Catholics in rural Lithuania. Based on detailed ethnographic descriptions from her field site, Pranaitytė explores the parishioners’ relationship to the Church, to the priest, to each other, and to the dead. Pranaitytė analyses the importance of ritualised gift-giving among Catholics from a Maussian perspective. She wishes to demonstrate that conducting an analysis of Catholic practices through a focus on exchange can bring new insights into the ways we perceive Catholicism, as the Church is held together through the act of gifts and debts. This angle emphasises how tight the priest/Church/parish are bound together by the constant exchange of gifts and services, without which the Church would not be able to function. [...

Den gode skurk? - Mafia, myndigheder og menigmand i Litauen

Mafiasoen Henrikas Daktaras er af de litauiske  myndigheder udpeget som samfundets fjende nr. 1. Som le­der af gruppen 'Daktarai' (Doktorerne) portrætteres  han som forbrydelsens ansigt, der  med sin inkasso­ virksomhed, kriminalitet og selvtægt undergraver principperne for det spirende litauiske demokrati. Men mange menige litauere ser ham som en ærlig skurk, der står  i   modsætning til  korrupte og utroværdige myndigheder.  Mafiaen er  på en gang årsag  til og løsning på kriminalitet