ABSTRACT
My fieldwork in Latvia was carried out in the wake of the political disintegration of the Soviet Union and the re-emergence of the Baltic countries as independent nation states. Throughout 1990 and 1991 their pivotal role in the break-up of the Soviet Union made headline news.1 As an emigre Latvian born in Riga a few months before its capitulation to the Soviet forces, I found these events deeply moving.
