Ethnographic note on nation: Narratives and symbols of the early post-socialist nationalism in Lithuania

In the late 1980s and early 1990s Lithuania experienced the nationalist upheaval, which epitomized in the break up from the Soviet Union in 1990. Narratives and symbols were constitutive of the nationalist movement. Nation - the master symbol of that time - was reproduced in relation to the symbols of the West, and the East, as well as through the different values implied in the West and the East symbolism. Nationalist naratives reconstructed history and memory, reevaluated the present of the reborn nation, and drew the paths for the transition. Symbols and narratives were significant in mobilizing popular opinion, creating models for identity and action, and expressing moral and legitimate stances. They were a primary mechanism by which ideologies and cultural stances were shaped and maintained during the nationalist upheaval. In the early 1990s the nation was redefined in the context of the Western tradition which was essential in communicating with the European countries and distancing from the former Soviet Union.