The Manipulated Consensus: Globalisation, Local Agency, and Cultural Legacies in Post-Soviet Education Reform

Abstract

At the end of the 1990s, Latvian minority education reform was characterised by extensive references to Western European models, including such concepts as ‘ethnic integration,’ ‘multiculturalism,’ and ‘bilingual education.’ Focusing on the conceptual development of the idea of ‘integration’ and its interpretation in the education sphere, this article examines the process whereby Western discourses became widely accepted locally. Emphasising the existence of a ‘hybridity’ of voices in a rapidly changing political context, this article maps out different interpretations of the new discourse by Latvian- and Russian-speakers, including their attempts to resist, modify, and create new meanings of ‘integration’ in post-Soviet Latvia.