Food, exile and national identity: Thematization of food in memories of Lithuanian deportees
Abstract
This project investigates the thematization of food in memories, recorded as oral
histories, of Lithuanians exiled to Siberia. It aims to fill the gap in exile studies
concerning food and national identity as well as provide an alternative to victimization
narratives in public as well as institutional discourses. At the same time, it aims to add
to the growing number of anthropologic studies in the field of food and memory,
challenging Proustian, western-focused anthropologies. Specifically, it focuses on the
way food and foodways influence the construction as well as maintenance of national
identity. By using theory concerning the relationship between food and memory, the
analysis investigates how foodways are either preserved or adapted with regards to
external changes in culture, space and language. In particular, the concepts of
gustatory nostalgias, collective memory and its importance for collective identities as
well as the potency of food as a mnemonic are used as a theoretical framework
following thematic analysis. Using oral histories as a form of data collection while
limiting the questions to food-only topics contributes towards the narrative structure.
These narratives tell surprisingly similar stories of perseverance and adaptation under
extreme circumstances. Through foodways, boundaries are established between the
gastronomic self and gastronomic others. However, the histories reveal fluid, almost
hybrid identities – that of an exile, rather than just a combination of Lithuanian and
Russian - a product of complex multicultural experiences. With regards to literature on
gendered exile, the study does not confirm any existing theories, which calls into
questioning the gendered approach. Instead, it proposes that age and class are more
determinant of the exile experience and the view of an individual as part of a community
and nation. Overall, foodways in deportation appear to assert the identity as a
Lithuanian exile, rather than just a Lithuanian.