An Ethnologist in the Face of Migration Challenges: Evidence from Antanas Mažiulis’s Letters

Abstract

Focusing on the experience of the Lithuanian diaspora in the mid-twentieth century, the article explores the challenges that forced
migration poses to the formation of community and the preservation of personal identity. As evidence of individual experience, letters become the foundation for studies that seek to understand how an individual adapts emotionally and culturally to a new environment without losing connection with his or her origins. The study is relevant within the fields of cultural, migration, and identity studies, in which increasing attention is directed towards subjective narratives and autobiographical sources.