Based on detailed ethnographic material, 'New Lithuania in Old Hands' analyzes the impact that European Union membership has had upon the country's ageing small-scale farmers. Addressing the highly relevant themes of European Union enlargement and the 'Return to Europe', this book describes how Lithuania's EU membership has been a far cry from the scenarios of wealth and overabundance once promised.

On the contrary, membership of the EU has in many instances resulted in a return to subsistence production, increased insecurity and a reinforcement of kinship obligations. Within the...

Based on detailed ethnographic material, "New Lithuania in Old Hands" analyzes the impact that European Union accession has had upon the country's aging smallscale farmers, and describes how the reality of Lithuania's EU membership has been a far cry from the scenarios of wealth and overabundance once promised. The text reveals that, in many instances, membership has resulted in a return to subsistence production, increased insecurity and a reinforcement of kinship obligations. Thus instead of treating the European Union as an elite project and voicing the support of various other segments of...