Complex Issues of Identity in the Former Soviet Union Countries
The HSE Institute for Social Policy held an event entitled ‘Demographic Challenges of the 21st Century’ on 13 June 2017. At the event, Lauren Woodard, PhD candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, presented her report ‘Politics of Return: Resettlement of Compatriots Programme in Primorsky Territory’. Here she talks to HSE News about the event, her research, and her interest in the complex issues of identity in Russia and the Former Soviet Union.
— How did you come to study migration and national identity in Russia and Central Asia?
— As a college student, I majored in Russian Studies and took classes in Russian history, literature, and language. Russian is a really hard language though, and I knew that to really learn it, I needed to study and live in Russia. As a result, I spent my senior year of college studying in Russia, in Moscow and St. Petersburg. I became fascinated with the Soviet Union's collapse and how ordinary people adapted to such a big change in their country's government and economy. I was especially interested in what it was like for those outside Russia who were ethnic Russians or Russian-speakers. After I graduated college, I received a Fulbright grant to study Kazakhstan's language policies and national identity building project. I lived in Kazakhstan for a year, conducting interviews with youth across the country on family history, language preferences, and how they identified themselves, as Kazakhstani, Kazakh, Russian, etc. In 2012, I began graduate school in Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, where I study development, migration, and national identity from the perspectives of everyday, ordinary people.
— I was intrigued by your interest in studying nostalgia as well. Can you please share with us what the main purpose of it is and the methods that you use?
— When I lived in Kazakhstan I interviewed many young ethnic Russians and Russian-speakers whose families were from Russia originally, or whose parents or grandparents studied in Russia during the Soviet Union. Although they were often proud Kazakhstanis, sometimes it was hard for them as Russian-speakers who did not speak Kazakh. Before 2014, Kazakhstanis made up approximately 30% of compatriots who immigrated to Russia through the Resettlement of Compatriots Program (in 2014 and 2015, those from Ukraine made up the majority of the program). When I started conducting interviews with compatriots in 2015, I asked why they decided to move to Russia, and many people answered with their family history. I'm not sure that nostalgia is exactly the right word, but I'm interested in how non-economic factors, like family history, ties with Russian language and culture, or affiliation with Russia as one's historic homeland, influence people's decisions to immigrate. I use interviews and life histories with compatriots to examine how people construct ideas of Russia as their homeland. I also conduct discourse analysis of websites used by Russian agencies to promote the Resettlement of Compatriots Program, and review Russian scholarly publications and news items about the program. I analyze these sources, including TV shows, magazines, and news clips, for how people talk about the ‘homeland’. What is the homeland (rodina) that people feel affinity with? Since most people are moving from post-Soviet countries, often the homeland they imagine is different than Russia today, 25 years after the Soviet Union's collapse, and I'm interested in how people navigate those changes.
— The Compatriot Resettlement Programme in Primorsky Territory is a new programme and is not very well-known in Russia. What are your major findings? How do you collect your data? What prospects does the programme have?
— The Resettlement of Compatriots Programme began in 2007 in Primorsky Territory. Initially, the Programme wasn't very popular, and only 3,354 compatriots moved there between 2007 and 2013, much less than the administration had hoped for. However, in 2014, with the crisis in Ukraine, many refugees moved to the region and the Programme became more popular. As a result, between 2014 and 2016, approximately 8,730 compatriots moved to the region. Most are from Ukraine, Tajikistan, or Armenia, but some come from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Moldova. Primorsky Territory has a unique group of compatriots: Old Believers from South America.
I examine the Programme by conducting interviews with compatriots, government officials in the Department of Labor, and locals from Primorsky Territory. I also collect relevant media coverage and conduct participant observation, which is an anthropological approach involving observing how people interact with one another. I was pleasantly surprised by how successful the programme seemed in the Primorsky Territory. While of course there are problems, including long lines at the MVD/FMS, most of the people I interviewed successfully got citizenship within three to five months, as promised by the Programme. Most were also happy with their decision to move and seemed well adapted to their new homes.
— I assume you have been to Primorsky Territory. What are your personal impressions of the place?
— Yes, my husband and I lived in Vladivostok for six months this past year, and we loved it! Vladivostok is such a cool city, right on the water, and Russian Island where the Far East Federal University (DVFU) is located is beautiful. We also travelled around the Territory, so that I could conduct my interviews. It's a really unique part of Russia, and we enjoyed being so close to Asia.
— Do you have any favourite books on Russia, which you can recommend our international audience for better understanding national identity and history of the country?
— Yes, I do. In English, I recommend Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More by Alexei Yurchak and Crisis and the Everyday in Postsocialist Moscow by Olga Shevchenko. I also recommend Privatizing Poland: Baby Food, Big Business, and the Remaking of Labor by Elizabeth Dunn and Lost in Transition: Ethnographies of Everyday Life After Communism by Kristen Ghodsee. Although they're not about Russia, they offer insight into how people experienced the collapse of state socialism and adapted to a new system of government and economy. I also recommend Sergei Miroshnichenko's BBC documentary series, ‘Born In the USSR’. In 1990, he filmed and interviewed a group of children across the Soviet Union about their lives. Since then, he has returned every seven years to interview them again. Through the series, you can see how the children and their countries have changed.
Anna Chernyakhovskaya, specially for HSE News service
See also:
'Motivation for Pursuing Big Goals in Life': What is Taught in 'Population and Development' Master's Programme
In 2023, the Master's Programme 'Population and Development' was ranked among the top educational programmes at HSE University. The HSE News Service explains what makes this programme special, and why specialists in population issues should study Python, housing policy, and public administration.
Elderly People, Crisis, and Robots
Across the globe, countries are witnessing dramatic shifts in the relative proportions of younger and older generations in their demographic makeup. Even in African states, signs of an emerging demographic decline are becoming evident. By 2050, two thirds of people aged 65 and over will be living in low- and middle-income countries. While an ageing population poses a significant challenge to national economies, it can also serve as an impetus for development, especially in the realm of technology. What is the extent of global population ageing, what challenges arise in this context, and whether humanity is capable of addressing them are some of the key questions, explored by IQ.HSE, based on a paper published in Sociological Journal by Leonid Grinin, Anton Grinin, and Andrey Korotayev at the HSE Centre for Stability and Risk Analysis.
Search Query: How to Study Migration with Google Trends
Experts have calculated that the number of international students in Russia has grown six times over the last decade, and researchers say that many of those who are studying today would like to stay in the country. This, alongside issues such as why Google Trends are worth looking into, were covered at the HSE XXIV Yasin International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development section on demography and labour markets.
Two Russian Regions Cooperate in Migration Studies as Part of Mirror Labs Project
What does Kaliningrad Oblast, an exclave Russian territory, have in common with Perm Krai, a region in the Urals? How do researchers use digital humanities methods to study migration? Sergei Kornienko, Leading Research Fellow at the Group for Historical Research (HSE University-Perm), heads the Mirror Lab project ‘Migration as a factor of social transformation of Soviet regions during the post-war reconstruction period: an analysis through digital humanities’. In this interview for The HSE LooK, he talks about this collaboration.
Long-awaited Long-term Care
The number of older persons and their life expectancy are on the rise in many countries worldwide. As they age, some people need assistance with daily living activities, something their family is not always capable of providing. This creates a demand for professional long-term care that integrates medical and social services. How Russia can benefit from other countries' experience of providing public long-term care is discussed in a report* presented by the HSE Centre for Social Policy Studies at the XXIII Yasin International Academic Conference on Economic and Social Development hosted by the HSE University.
Where the Babies are Booming: Which Russian Regions Have the Highest Birthrates?
The birthrate across Russia is not uniform: in some areas, people have children earlier in life, and in some, later. These contrasts reflect various populations’ differing demographic outlooks and the dynamics of their respective regions, as well as the extent to which their residents adhere to traditional norms of reproductive behaviour. On the whole, almost no large areas with high birthrates remain in Russia. Here, IQ.HSE studies current trends based on an article by demographer Artur Petrosyan.
Deadly Habits: Why Women Live Longer Than Men
In developing countries, the gap in life expectancies between men and women has been shrinking for a long time—but it has not disappeared completely. In many cases, gender-related differences in mortality in the 45–69 age group account for almost half of this gap. However, in Eastern Europe, early mortality in men aged 50 and under accounts for over a third of it. Demographer Marina Vergeles examined the situation in more than 40 countries and shared her conclusions with IQ.HSE.
Demography and Social Policy: First Readings in Memory of A.G. Vishnevsky Held at HSE University
The Human Capital Multidisciplinary Research Center, together with the Vishnevsky Institute of Demography and the International Laboratory for Population and Health, organized the first demographic readings in memory of HSE University Professor Anatoly Vishnevsky, the first director of the Institute. The experts in attendance discussed a wide range of topics, including family policy, how to improve the conditions of low-income people, and how to correct market and employment setbacks.
Think Before You Drink: Why Women Live Longer Than Men
Women are more likely to live to old age because they are less prone to indulge in bad habits than men. A whole range of social, biological and other factors—such as women being more likely to visit the doctor and exercise—also play an important role. Experts from HSE University and RANEPA analyzed the effects of various factors on the reduction in men's life expectancy, which varies based on habits and ideas about male behavior in different countries.
Shrinking Vorkuta: Depopulation and Decline of Russian Arctic Cities
In Soviet times, relocation to northern monocities was seen as an attractive option, with high pay and good perks, along with a well-developed infrastructure, perceived as offsetting the harsh climate. The situation is different today, with some cities on the verge of vanishing into extinction. A prominent and rather striking example of this process is Vorkuta in the Komi Republic. A team of researchers from the HSE and Politecnico di Milano, having examined the progressive shrinkage of this once booming monocity, concluded that the case of Vorkuta could suggest effective approaches to managing urban depopulation in the Russian Arctic.