ORAL HISTORY: MIGRATION AND LOCAL IDENTITIES - Academia

Migration as a Catalyst for ValuesRevolution. This lyrical tribute to a beloved homeland circulates easilyin time and space by virtue of a simple substitution in the refrain:Šeit ir Latvija, šeit ir Bobrovka Here is Latvia; here is Bobrovka 2Šeit ir mūsu tēvu zeme. Here is our father’s land.By substituting “Bobrovka” for “Gaujmala” (a locality in Latvia),villagers locate their Latvia—their fatherland—in a place they namein Russian.The historical narration in the next scene touches lightly uponrupture: the forced collectivization and purges of 1937-39. 3 Songsindex the growing diversity of the village population, especially theinflux of ethnic Russians. On stage, women for the first time conversein Latvian and Russian and sing Estonian, Russian, and Latgaliansongs. The scene ends with “Nāk rudentiņš” (a song by an exile Latvianmusical group from Boston) about an uncertain future.The concluding scene sums up the past 100 years and anticipatesthe future as a kind of return to the past. To paraphrase the script,which contains numerous references to kernel stories, “It’s a new time,with new perspectives. Some hurts have healed; tears have washedothers away; some wounds still ooze. But someone is said to be buildinga new house a bit farther from the village, again calling the landone’s own.” On stage a woman is speaking on the telephone, sendinggreetings to those in Cēsis. Mūsu stāsts ends on a universalizing note,452In this song, I have personally heard the location adapted to post-WorldWar II refugee camps (see Carpenter, 2006), Brazil, Germany, and countlessspecific sites in North America, from cities with sizable Latvian populationsto Latvian summer camps.3My translated transcript from the video production: “Came the times thatchanged everything, that disrupted life. Latvian language could no longerbe taught. Latvian teachers were arrested. 1939 brought the news thatall the homesteads had to be moved to one site. Again, the Latvian musttake his belongings, now also his house and go! Go live with others, go liveelsewhere. Begin to live anew and to wait again. And then—war. Whichbrought pain to everyone. Changed life in Augšbebri. Men left for the war.Though it seemed life had just started, it was time to say goodbye. Men leftand didn’t return. Women, wives wait, wait.” The scene ends with a womanreceiving a letter and the group singing a folk song, “Es karāi aiziedams”(As I went off to war).