no iepriekšminētā par latviešiem
Constructions of place and homeland—and specifically constructions of nature and closeness to nature—are especially critical
in understanding national identity in Latvia because Latvians embrace neither a belief in religious election nor a strong sense
of an ancient, glorious age of heroism, which, according to Smith, along with homeland constitute the other two critical
“ethno-symbolic resource repertoires” of nationalism. Indeed, the myth of “seven hundred years of slavery” under the feudal
yoke is much more powerful than that of a distant golden age. As Edmunds Bunkše contends, “The dominant element in Latvian
culture is nature, not history; not stories of deeds and events (although these are not lacking) but evocations of being; of life
in particular nature-culture settings.”
(c)Z. S. Schwartz