Projects per year
Abstract
A case in point is Uzbek labour migrants in Russia. Unlike Western countries (e.g. US, UK, Germany) where migrants have/had possibilities for establishing relatively functional transnational and diasporic communities, there is little in the way of ‘Uzbek community‘ established in Russia and it is a form of temporary migration where young Uzbeks (mainly men) go to Russia for a few years and return more or less permanently to Uzbekistan after being deported, getting entry ban or due to loss or unavailability of jobs. Although Uzbek labour migrants can hardly be called ‘transmigrants’, in this paper I argue that rapid improvements in technologies of communication (e.g. smartphones and social media) have enabled Uzbek migrants to stay in touch with their origin societies as well as to create some form of permanent, telephone-based ‘Uzbek mahalla‘ (community) in Moscow, which usually gathers around migrants that hail from the same mahalla or village in Uzbekistan. In other words, Uzbek migrants’ transnational place-making practices take place via smartphones and social media. The existence of such telephone/internet-based transnational environment helps migrants cope with the challenges of ‘musofirchilik‘ (being alien) and avoid or manoeuvre around structural constraints such as complicated residence registration and work permit rules, social exclusion, racism and the lack of social security. These specifics of the Russian migration regime have implications for transnational migration literature both theoretically and empirically as well as provide nuanced insights on the impact of migration on everyday life and social change in Central Asia.
These processes will be investigated with reference to ethnographic study of the everyday life and experiences of Uzbek migrants who work in construction sector in Moscow and their family members and community who stay behind in Shabboda mahalla in rural Fergana, Uzbekistan. By ethnographically attending to the experiences of Uzbek migrants and their left-behind communities, I will try to demonstrate the everydayness of material, emotional, social, and symbolic networks and exchanges that connect Shabboda mahalla (neighborhood community) to Moscow. More specifically, I will show how the bonds of ‘mahalladoshlik’ (shared mahalla origin) and mahalla-level social relations (e.g. hashar (reciprocity), trust, obligation, age hierarchies, gossips and social sanctions) are reproduced and maintained across distance, through smartphones and social media, and have identifiable impact on the outcomes of many practices that Uzbek migrants (and other actors) engage with in Moscow. This paper is based on ethnographic material gathered between January 2014 and May 2017 in Moscow, Russia and Fergana, Uzbekistan. (for a total thirteen months).
Original language | English |
---|---|
Title of host publication | Eurasia on the Move. Interdisciplinary Approaches to a Dynamic Migration Region |
Editors | Marlene Laruelle, Caress Schenk |
Number of pages | 15 |
Place of Publication | Washongton, DC |
Publisher | The George Washington University, Central Asia Program |
Publication date | 25 Jul 2018 |
Pages | 27-41 |
ISBN (Electronic) | 978-0-9996214-2-4 |
Publication status | Published - 25 Jul 2018 |
Externally published | Yes |
MoE publication type | A3 Book chapter |
Fields of Science
- 513 Law
- law and society
- Russian Studies
- 5141 Sociology
- ETHNOGRAPHY
- 517 Political science
Projects
- 2 Finished
-
MIGRANT LAW RUSSIA: Migration, Shadow Economy and Parallel Legal Orders in Russia
Urinboyev, R. (Project manager)
01/01/2018 → 31/12/2019
Project: Research project
-
MISHA: Migration, Shadow Economy and Parallel Legal Orders in Russia
Heusala, A.-L. (Principal Investigator), Aitamurto, K. (Participant), Urinboyev, R. (Participant) & Eraliev, S. (Participant)
01/01/2017 → 31/12/2021
Project: Research project
Activities
-
Translocal Ethnographies of Mobilities and Boundaries
Urinboyev, R. (Speaker: Presenter)
7 Dec 2018Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Organisation and participation in conferences, workshops, courses, seminars
-
Migration and Informality in Central and Eastern Europe
Urinboyev, R. (Chair of organizing committee)
26 Mar 2018 → 27 Mar 2018Activity: Participating in or organising an event types › Organisation and participation in conferences, workshops, courses, seminars
-
Blog: Migration, Shadow Economy and Parallel Legal Orders
Heusala, A.-L. (Participant), Urinboyev, R. (Participant) & Aitamurto, K. (Participant)
2017 → 2018Activity: Other activity types › Types for other activities - Other