This paper examines how marginalized local communities in Latvia’s historical land of Selonia construct and represent subaltern identities through narratives of intangible heritage, revealing how memory, landscape, and tradition sustain cultural resilience and regional self-identification.
Paper long abstract
This paper explores the construction and representation of subaltern community identities in Latvia through the narratives of local intangible cultural heritage communities. Drawing on the case of the historical land of Selonia, the research investigates how marginalized local communities construct, interpret, and transmit their sense of belonging and place identity amid cultural-historical and administrative transformations. The study employs a narrative analysis approach to examine how oral stories, memories, and symbolic expressions, rooted in landscapes, family histories, and traditional practices, form metanarratives that reflect both resistance to dominant regional discourses and the search for authenticity. The Selonian communities, often positioned as peripheral in Latvia’s regional development, embody characteristics of subaltern identity through self-representation that challenges-imposed hierarchies and reclaims cultural distinctiveness. Their narratives reveal a dynamic interplay between heritage, land, and identity, where nature acts as a living agent of memory and renewal. By examining these narratives as acts of cultural resilience, the paper highlights how marginalized voices contribute to reimagining the symbolic and sacred dimensions of place, thus offering insight into the broader processes of cultural continuity, empowerment, and self-identification in postcolonial and regional contexts.