HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES LATVIA Volume 23, Issue 1 (Spring-Summer 2015) University of Latvia CONTENTS From the Editor .......................................................................................... 3 Andrejs Veisbergs Formation of the Image of Latvians in Anglophone Sources (16th-20th centuries) ..................................................................................... 4 Kristīne Rotbaha Latvian Legal Folklore: Briefly Researched. Forbidden. Forgotten? ......... 24 Brigita Zepa, Evija Kļave, Inese Šūpule Russian-Latvian Language Conflict in Urban Settings in Latvia ............... 42 Pēteris Zvidriņš, Atis Bērziņš Dynamics of Ethnic Structures in the Baltic States .................................. 65 Roger A. Ritvo, Edite Bauska, Sintija Broka, Peteris Bukovskis, Laimdota Jarmusevica, Kristine Zelenivska Public Attitudes toward Cultural NGOs in Latvia: Implications for Business, Government and NGO Partnerships in an Emerging Civil Society ................................................................................................ 75 Ivars Kassalis Economic Performance of the Riga Port Cluster ....................................... 87 Edgars Rožāns The Socioeconomic Impact of Economic Freedom ................................... 105 The Authors ................................................................................................ 126 FROM THE EDITOR Dear Reader, This is the first issue for 2015 and we expect to be able to publish the next issue in autumn-winter 2015. The authors are mainly both PhD students and established academics. The articles are a heterogeneous set and cover a number of fields in the social sciences. Of particular interest is one article, which is the result of a collaboration between a visiting scholar from the USA and final year Bachelor degree students from the University of Latvia. We hope you enjoy this issue and are looking forward to the next issue. Best wishes Viesturs Pauls Karnups General Editor 4 FORMATION OF THE IMAGE OF LATVIANS IN ANGLOPHONE SOURCES (16th-20th CENTURIES) Andrejs Veisbergs Dr. Habil. Philol. Abstract This article reviews the portrayal of Latvia and Latvians in English sources from the beginning of the 17th century until today with a focus on the early sources. These are mainly travellers’ writings, memoirs and fiction that address Latvia and Latvians as characters. While in the early works the authors focus on the territory, town and non-Latvian elite life and Latvians as the local population are often not even mentioned, later the depiction of Latvians is often quite knowledgeable and prescient. Certain continuity can be seen in characterising Latvian musical genius, the importance of women, oppression and hatred against Germans and Russians, as well as such character traits as indecision, subservience, apathy, and thieving. As a charming curiosity one can mention the obsession and divergence in estimating the height of Latvians. As fiction characters Latvians are predominantly shown as negative – destructive and dangerous individuals. The (amusing/strange/imagined) stereotype of Latvians often moves from one source to another – a perfect example of Umberto Eco’s “faction”. One should remember that formation of the image proceeded parallel to the formation of the Latvian identity and nation. Keywords: Latvia, Latvians, identity, image, stereotype, travels, oppression, violence, culture, musical genius. Images and stereotypes The notions of national identity, national images and stereotypes are multifaceted and diffuse. Most of the definitions of stereotypes emphasise the fixed and oversimplified judgment, “a fixed, overgeneralised belief about a particular group or class of people.”1 Thus, national stereotypes are beliefs about the characteristics of a category of people (traits, culture, habits, likes, dislikes, behavioural descriptions). Stereotypes have traditionally been viewed as resistant to change, highly consensual, and unfavourable2. The issue of whether stereotypes reflect reality is controversial. The link may be there, but “a stereotype is an exaggerated 1 M. Cardwell, Dictionary of Psychology. Chicago IL: Fitzroy Dearborn 1996. 2 Y. H. Lee et. al eds., Stereotype accuracy: Toward appreciating group differences. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association 1995. Andrejs Veisbergs. Formation of the Image of Latvians in Anglophone Sources .. 5 belief associated with a category.”3 Other studies show a lack of correspondence of national stereotypes to aggregated personality traits4. There is also the view that stereotypes about the character of other nations are accurate, while stereotypes about their own nation are not.5 A recent multinational study of the Baltic rim countries seems to testify to the latter.6 National stereotypes of the “other” may emerge as a result of a direct contact between neighbouring nations or nations cohabiting in one territory. But they may emerge as a result of sporadic, occasional contact, and in some cases also without much contact altogether. There was hardly any direct contact between Latvians and English speakers before the 20th century. The relatively few travellers mainly contacted the local rulers or elites who were not Latvian. Thus information was often intermediated, or locals were superficially observed and conclusions made. Some of them are amazingly prescient, some are casual, and some are factually mistaken (mixing of nations, places, language items). The specificity of the Latvian situation lies in the fact that the observations in time proceeded parallel to the emergence of the nation, nation-building and identity establishment in general. There is hardly any Latvian auto-stereotype before the middle of the 19th century when the National Awakening started. Thus it would be unfair to look for exact stereotypes in early observations, these are mostly floating images. The Latvian image moves from non-existence to that of “non-Germans”, then to local boors, then Letto-Lithuanians, then Lett(e)s and finally Latvians. Images that emerge from stereotypes are often stable and decontextualized7: a single shooting incident in London at the beginning of the 20th century created an image of Latvian anarchists that stuck in the public mind. Some (wrong) facts have shown to be very stable, resistant, and frequently multiplied. A further problem is created by the term “Balt”, which initially refers to Baltic Germans/barons, but today often means Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians. Thus some characteristics of 3 G. W. Allport, The nature of prejudice (25th Anniversary ed.). New York: Basic Books 1978, p. 191. 4 A. Terracciano et al., “National character does not reflect mean personality trait levels in 49 cultures”. Science, 310, 2005, p. 96-100. 5 R. W. Robins, “The nature of personality: Genes, culture, and national character”. Science, 310, 2005, pp. 62-63. 6 A. Realo et al., “Mechanisms of the National Character Stereotype: How People in Six Neighbouring Countries of Russia Describe Themselves and the Typical Russian”. European Journal of Personality. 23, 2009, pp. 229-249. 7 D. Moore, Les Représentations des langues et de leur Apprentissage, Paris: Didier 2003, p. 16. 6 Humanities and Social Sciences: Latvia (Volume 23(1)) Balts are inadvertently transferred to Latvians. Stereotypes can change8, but it may often take decades to change their content.9 This accounts for the anthropological confusion: Latvians are frequently portrayed as giants or dwarfs, and both ideas reoccur. There is a similar diversity about their origin: India, S(c)lavs, Lithuanians. The 18th century image of Latvians is that of an oppressed peasant. The 19th century stereotype is that of soft, childish, docile, emotional, stealing, drinking people. In the 20th century softness and stealing have disappeared and some ruthlessness has appeared. However, from early sources until today the importance of music and poetry is highlighted. Also the prominence of women in life is accentuated. The fictional characters of the 20th century are mostly SS-men, KGB men, and men of great evil, ruthlessness and determination. Latvian self-image Latvian national identity even today is very unclear and vague. Vita Matīss thinks that “a Latvian does not have his own value criteria” and it is easier.10 To a large extent this can be explained by the history of the nation: it has mostly been determined by representatives of other nations with their aims, aspirations and methods. Formulations of their identity by Latvians themselves are most contradictory and broad: low self-esteem, pride in being Latvian, spite, egotism and individualism, envy, diligence, treachery, peacefulness, serenity, introvertness, reserve, quarrelsomeness, stinginess, sturdiness, singing, closeness to nature, as well as some particular activities and phenomena, like the burning of the last year’s grass, Midsummer night celebrations, song festivals, birch sap tapping, mushroom picking, storks, “white roads” (unpaved roads), theatre worship, and cemetery culture.11 A study of Latvian images and stereotypes even within the Anglophone sources comprises several dimensions: in time – from the first references until today; in space – from the point of view of representatives of Britain, USA and others. The third dimension would be the sources – travel descriptions, history books, memoirs, studies about Latvia, newspaper and media information, official and unofficial internet information and finally 8 D. Bar-Tal, “Formation and Change of Ethnic and National Stereotypes: