ABSTRACT
A POSITIVE SELF-IMAGE The Latvian preoccupation with definitional problems about the essence of Latvianhood, Latvietība, with what it means to be Latvian, have a long and continuing history. One reason for this lies in the painfully unflattering and uncomfortable picture of Latvian peasantry presented by earlier accounts. These contribute to the identity Latvians have formed for themselves. The issue is sharpened by competition between histories each claiming to capture the past and to authorize Latvian identity.1 One of the goals of the national awakening was to change this by providing Latvians with a habitable identity.
