Department of Ethnic Studies
Department of Ethnic Studies is a structural unit of the Institute of Sociology at the Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences.
The activities of the Institute for Ethnic Studies date back to 2002, when the Ethnosociology Division was founded at the then Institute for Social Research. Natalija Kasatkina, a well known Lithuanian sociologist, was the founder and long-time head of the division. In 2003, the unit was renamed the Division for Ethnic Studies and in 2005 – the Centre for Ethnic Studies. Since July 2010, the Institute has operated under the current name as a unit of the Lithuanian Social Research Centre. The main area of its activities is the study of ethnosocial processes.
Department of 4Ethnic Studies monitors and examines the situation of ethnic minorities, migrants and other vulnerable groups; collects and analyses the data from government institutions, non-governmental organisations and other sources about the preconditions and problems of integration in employment (employment relations), education, legal acts, housing, social security ,and health care; collects and analyses data on racist violence and crimes; and develops specialised studies on the issues of discrimination of various social groups. Since 2003, the Institute for Ethnic Studies has published the scientific journal Etniškumo Studijos (Ethnicity Studies). Department of Ethnic Studies is the national division of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) in Lithuania.
