Lietuvos jaunimo etnografinis-lokalinis tapatumas XXI a.: geografinės apibrėžtys ir kilmė

The article, referring to the materials, collected by the author in 2004-2006 (respondents – the first and second year students of Vytautas Magnus University), attempts to identify the young people’s knowledge of the division of the territory of Lithuania into ethnographical areas, the ethnographical – local similarities and the criteria, referring to which such similarities were constructed. The young people clearly distinguish four ethnographical areas - Aukštaitija, Dzūkija, Suvalkija and Samogitia. The Klaipėda area is most frequently attributed to Samogitia and its cultural peculiarities are related not with the exceptional local tradition, but most frequently with the influences of the German culture, which emerge due to the historical circumstances and the geographical situation, which could be one of the reasons why the respondents fail to perceive the Klaipėda area as a peculiar ethnographical area and consider the noticed differences the results of mixing of the local Samogitian and foreign German or the Western culture as a whole. Most (82%) young people knew the ethnographical group they belong to as well as their parents’ and grandparents’ ethnographical dependence. The dissemination of such information happens naturally in the family, in the community, most frequently the information is received from the early age. Most identity related problems are faced by the young people, living in cities and towns and by the borderlines. Young people substantiate their ethnographical dependence by their origins, place of residence and their culture. The choice of the ethnographical identity and the strength of determination are influenced by the place of residence and the ethnographical composition of the family