Diaspora & Cultural Identity

I surveyed over 1,100 Lithuanian migrants worldwide expecting to find cultures drifting apart across generations. What we found was more surprising. The story we usually tell about diaspora goes something like this: a people displaced from their homeland carry its culture with them, transmit it to their children, and over generations it slowly fades as they assimilate into their host countries. The Lithuanian diaspora, consisting … Continue reading Diaspora & Cultural Identity

Eggstraordinary Art: A New Book Just Released on Egg Decorating

Once a year for at least a week, my kitchen and dining room become a frenzied artist’s workshop full of dyes, the smell of melting beeswax, and a variety of tools. I go on a hunt for white chicken eggs to ethnic shops (and chicken farms!) and buy as many as I can, and spend my days hunched over the delicate eggs, painstakingly fashioning each … Continue reading Eggstraordinary Art: A New Book Just Released on Egg Decorating

Understanding Openness to Change among Lithuanian Generations

VALUEHOST is a three-year research project funded by the Lithuanian Research Council. We explore changing Lithuanian values, with a focus on emigrants and their experiences in their host countries. In this post, I introduce some interesting findings from one of our studies on changing values at home. We have analyzed data between the years 2010-2020, from the European Social Survey database on individuals’ values. In … Continue reading Understanding Openness to Change among Lithuanian Generations