Migracje edukacyjne w doświadczeniu przedstawicieli mniejszości litewskiej w Polsce

ENThe dissertation is devoted to educational migrations of the members of the Lithuanian minority living in the Sejny region to Polish and Lithuanian cities. Its purpose is to show the significance and transformations of ethnicity formed in the peripheral community after leaving for studies to the centres of both the foreign homeland and the country of birth. The work focuses on the individual dimension-the interviewees’ biographical experiences and the meanings attributed to them. In the last part, I also discuss the consequences of the analysed phenomenon from the perspective of a minority group. The dissertation is based on multi-sited ethnography research conducted in 2012-2018 in the Sejny region and large Polish and Lithuanian cities. The primary way of collecting data were in-depth interviews with biographical elements, complemented by casual conversations, observations and the analysis of existing materials. In the analysis of the material, I referred to many theoretical concepts which explained various aspects of the processes I was interested in. Ethnic theories constituted the widest frame, but I also reached for interactionist theories of social identity, biographical approach, migration concepts, centre and periphery, and transnationality. The Lithuanian minority in Poland has so far been presented in the literature as a close-knit group with a homogeneous identity, strongly associated with the territory.These assumptions referred to the functioning of the group at a time when contacts of its members with the foreign homeland were limited. The revival of the Lithuanian state and creation of a system of incentives for minority members to pursue higher education in Lithuania initiated the process of undertaking studies in Vilnius and Kaunas. At the same time, some people took up studies in large Polish cities, where the educational offer also increased. These trips were often the first phase in the process of permanent settlement. The discussed migrations meant for the respondents a significant change in two dimensions - the transition from the countryside to the city and the confrontation with a different model of ethnicity. The dissertation undermines the homogenous image of the group, examining the relationship between ethnicity and biographical strategies after leaving the local community. It shows that despite the coherent cultural transmission provided at the stage of ethnic socialisation, the meaning attributed to ethnicity in further biography can be different - its content and role in the overall identity structure changes. I reconstruct various ways of experiencing migration. I show how different ways of interpreting the dissimilarity which the interviewees encountered after the migration led to the adoption of various adaptation strategies. I analyse the decisions made after graduation, and in the case of settlement in a Polish or Lithuanian city - long-term identity strategies.The specificity of migration of national minority members means that ethnic and political borders do not overlap, and often in the opinion of the respondents are ambiguous and fluid. However, the category of "homeland" remains important for them, organising their way of thinking. Ethnicity, on the other hand, becomes a resource which can facilitate mobility and helps to overcome the limitations associated with the peripheral location of the group of origin. In the group dimension, I analyse how the functioning of the Lithuanian minority, which should be considered not as a strictly territorially limited group but a community encompassing several locations, is changing. I identify the development of transnational practices and the importance of social remittances for the transformation of the community in the Sejny region. The dissertation proves that it is worth abandoning the study of minorities as close-knit groups within a state and focus on the connections between their members which go beyond the ethnic and national borders.