Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 2
·
November 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
51
Lithuanians in Norway: Between ‘Here’ and ‘There’
1
Darius Daukšas
(Vilnius University)
This article draws on findings from fieldwork on Lithuanian immigrants in Oslo. The main focus is on the
construction of identity of immigrants from Lithuania in Norway using transnationalism as a theoretical approach. It
is argued that immigrants’ sense of belonging to Norway is influenced by the
Norwegian context
where the concept
of
we
(Norwegians) is defined using ethnic categories, meanwhile
others
are seen as different in terms of their
ethnicity. This context creates difficulties for Lithuanian migrants regarding integration in the Norwegian society.
However, despite the fact they come from the Eastern Europe, the ‘
white race’
of Lithuanian migrants allows them
to be less identifiable as immigrants, and think that their position in the hierarchical structure of migrants is superior
compared to others. The fact that immigrants retain their Lithuanian citizenship illustrates the relationship of
transnational
nation with the state (although the migrants from Lithuania permanently reside in Norway, they remain
part of Lithuania through maintaining their citizenship and continuous participation in the political life of Lithuania).
Key words
: immigration, Norway, Lithuania, ethnicity, citizenship
‘Yes Sir we are legal we are,
though we are not as legal as you.
No Sir we're not equal no,
though we are both from the EU.
We build your homes and wash your dishes.
Keep you your hands all soft and clean.
But one of these days you'll realise
Eastern Europe is in your genes’
(Excerpt from Lithuania’s song for the 2010
Eurovision Song Contest in Oslo
)
Lithuanian immigrants are a relatively new group in Norway. Research suggests that sporadic
immigration of Lithuanians to Norway began and gradually gained momentum in the 1990s, with
only a few isolated cases observed before that date (in sharp contrast with such historically
popular destinations as the US and UK).
2
Norway is now Eastern European migrants’ favourite
Scandinavian destination (IMDi-rapport 2008: 77).
1
This article is a part of Darius Daukšas‘ Postdoctoral Fellowship at Vilnius University. The Postdoctoral
fellowship is funded by the European Union Structural Funds project ‘Postdoctoral Fellowship
Implementation in Lithuania’ as part of the Measure for Enhancing Mobility of Scholars and Other
Researchers and the Promotion of Student Research (VP1-3.1-ŠMM-01) of the Program of Human
Resources Development Action Plan
.
2
This discussion is based on two fieldworks conducted in 2008 (in Oslo and Halden) and 2012 (in Oslo).
The survey from 16 March–13 April 2008 was conducted as part of a project called ‘Retention of
Lithuanian Identity under Conditions of Europeanisation and Globalisation: Patterns of Lithuanian-ness in
Response to Identity Politics in Ireland, Norway, Spain, the UK and the US’ (Scientific supervisor: Vytis
Čiubrinskas; project funded by the Lithuanian National Science and Studies Foundation). A total of 25
Lithuanian immigrants living in Norway were surveyed during the research. The survey from 4 June–3
