2134/11702400.v1 Aija Lulle Aija Lulle Cosmopolitan encounters: highly skilled Latvians in London problematise ethnicity and ‘Eastern Europeanness’ Loughborough University 2020 Sociology Studies in Human Society Language, Communication and Culture cosmopolitan encounters skilled migration Eastern Europe Latvia London 2020-01-24 11:00:36 Journal contribution https://repository.lboro.ac.uk/articles/journal_contribution/Cosmopolitan_encounters_highly_skilled_Latvians_in_London_problematise_ethnicity_and_Eastern_Europeanness_/11702400 In this paper I analyse the cosmopolitan aspirations of highly skilled Latvian migrants residing in London. In particular, I explore the nuanced modalities of ethnicity and ‘Eastern Europeanness’ and how these inform everyday encounters with people from different ethnicities and races, and when meeting co-ethnics in a global city. These encounters are illustrated with data, drawn from 18 in-depth interviews with Latvian graduates in London. I argue that such encounters are shaped and informed by the post-Soviet heritage, emerging understandings of inter-racial encounters, hegemonic discourses of ‘East’ and ‘West’, all embedded in specific power relations.