Existential migration during the pandemic in Latvia: insight into solutions at the intersection of religious science and human geography

Abstract

Recent research trends related to the understanding of the meaning of philosophy and its use in interdisciplinary research in human geography. Therefore, the article aims to demonstrate a pilot model of an innovative methodology that forms the interface between human geography and philosophy. The terms “home experience” and “existential migration”, conceptualized by psychotherapist and philosopher Greg Madison, have been used to summarize interviews with migrants who have voluntarily chosen to integrate into another country, society, and culture in order to find a place to live in harmony with their individual being. Research on authenticity of life as a motive for migration has not developed so far, but it makes it possible to link the analysis of human experience, which is the focus of phenomenology, with empirical data sources. The mediation of human geography findings and axiological theory ensures that concepts of a philosophical nature form the architecture of a unified system of knowledge, in which empirical data are organically incorporated. In this case, they are the data from the many large-scale studies conducted in Latvia on the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, particularly of the lockdown, on the population of Latvia. They all form a single text, which is examined by qualitative content analysis and cohort methods, revealing the nature of interpersonal relations in Latvian society, which are important in solving migration issues.