Migration studies, 2019

Seminar "Migration studies" (Higher School of Economics) is designed as a platform for presentation by scholars engaged in migration studies their academic research, as well as for the discussion among experts. The seminar is focused on an interdisciplinary approach and unites specialists from different fields: economists, sociologists, geographers, historians, anthropologists who deal with this problem. The seminar is open not only for academics, but also for all those interested in the migration studies.

Seminar Organizer: Ekaterina Demintseva, e-mail: edemintseva@hse.ru

On December 2, 2019 a session of the regular seminar "Migration studies" organized by the Higher School of Economics Institute of Social Policy: Dagestani communities in the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs: formal and informal interactions with the receiving and sending societies, Ekaterina Kapustina (European University at St. Petersburg, Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography RAS (Kunstkamera)) was held. 

The presentation is devoted to internal Russian migration from the Republic of Dagestan to the cities of the Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs. In recent decades, it is the “northern” direction of labor migration from Dagestan that has become one of the priorities, exerting a great influence on the life of the Dagestani regions involved in it. Ekaterina focuses on the specifics of the interaction of the most typical migrant social institution, a community organization (diaspora), with the authorities of the receiving and sending regions. In particular, the specificity of community relations with the city authorities of the Khanty-Mansi and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs, with the republican Dagestan authorities represented by the Ministry of National Policy and Religious Affairs, as well as with the religious institution of the Spiritual Board of Dagestan, is of interest. At the same time, a spectrum of interactions between the diaspora and the sending community on an informal basis will be presented. In the framework of the presentation, it is proposed to talk about the specific role of community as an institution, its tasks, resources and their limitations, as well as the degree of reality of the institution in relation to the phenomenon of “northern” migration from Dagestan.

The preseantation was based on the materials of the field work of Ekaterina Kapustina in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, as well as in the Republic of Dagestan (2015 and 2018-2019) under the project “Between the Community and the State” of the Basic Research Program of the Presidium of the Russian Academy of Sciences “Social and Humanitarian Aspects of Sustainable Development and Strategic Breakthrough of Russia”, subprogram “Culturally complex societies: understanding and management”.

The "Migration studies" Seminar (Higher School of Economics) is designed as a platform for presentations of their academic research by scholars engaged in migration studies, as well as for discussion between experts. The seminar is focused on an interdisciplinary approach and brings together specialists from various fields: economists, sociologists, geographers, historians, and anthropologists dealing with relevant issues. The seminar is open for all those interested in migration studies, as well as the academic community.

 

On November 14, 2019 a session of the regular seminar "Migration studies" organized by the Higher School of Economics Institute of Social Policy: The 2015 Refugee Crisis: Four Years after, where are We at?, Tawat Mahama (Higher School of Economics, Moscow) was held. 

In the summer of 2015, more than one million refugees, mostly Syrians, arrived in Europe after a trek from the Middle East, spawning one of the largest migration crises since the Second World War. While these refugees drew the ire of some governments, others were more welcoming. But all were faced with the difficulty of re-settling such a large number of people among a public increasingly critical. Four years later, where are we at? What have we learned?  This talk will take stock of the situation by analyzing it at three levels: international, regional and country level through some case studies.

The seminar was held in English

On October 24-26, 2019 an international workshop Home, mobility and translocality: Muslim identities between the post-Soviet space, Europe and Turkey was held.

The workshop was organized by the Institute for Social Policy and School of Sociology, HSE University, Moscow With support from the Heinrich Böll Foundation in Russia, Department of Labour, Social Affairs and Healthcare of the German Embassy in Moscow, and the French-Russian Research Center for Social Sciences in Moscow 24-25 October 2019 and Garage Museum.

The workshop aims to bring together post-Soviet, European and Turkish Muslim experiences of home, mobility and translocality to explore commonalities and differences between these regions through the lens of space and belonging. By drawing comparisons, the workshop also seeks to interrogate current theoretical and methodological approaches to the study of Muslim identities.

Information on the link

On April 24, 2019 a session of the regular seminar "Migration studies"organized by the Higher School of Economics Institute of Social Policy: Legal culture of the mosque visitors in Moscow and Yaroslavl region, Denis Shedov (Faculty of Law, Higher School of Economics) was held.

The seminar discussed the results of a research of the legal culture of mosque visitors in Moscow and the Yaroslavl region. The author focused on such subjects as the participation of a mosque in the organization of legal assistance to parishioners, the dissemination of information on official law, mediation practices in the framework of law mobilization (bringing the norms of official law into action). Also the subject of discussion was the victimization (acceptance of the role of the victim) of the mosque’s parishioners in cases of encounters with fraudsters when trying to independently organize the hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca) and some other issues that were relevant in the context of everyday life of the mosque’s parishioners in Russia 

The "Migration studies" Seminar (Higher School of Economics) is designed as a platform for presentations of their academic research by scholars engaged in migration studies, as well as for discussion between experts. The seminar is focused on an interdisciplinary approach and brings together specialists from various fields: economists, sociologists, geographers, historians, and anthropologists dealing with relevant issues. The seminar is open for all those interested in migration studies, as well as the academic community.

On March 14, 2019 a session of the regular seminar "Migration studies" organized by the Higher School of Economics Institute of Social Policy: Russian communities in Three Rivers (China): between political and ethnic mismatch Ivan Peshkov (Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland) was held.

Three Rivers was the Russian name for the delta of the three tributaries of the Argun (Derbul, Haul and Genhe), which was the site of a comprehensive agrarian colonization by people from the former Russian Empire. The phenomenon of the Russian Three Rivers, the frontier community of Russian old-timers in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of China, had given rise to complex patterns of the perception of these communities in present Russian culture. Today, the Three Rivers turned, on the one hand, into the territory of production of samples of “real Russian culture”, on the other - into a symbol of alarm over the expansion of China.

The seminar was devoted to the triangle of the main categories (former enemies / real Russian peasants / Orthodox mestizos who have lost contact with Russian culture) that largely determine the ways of perception of the Russian communities in China in modern Russia. On the basis of field studies conducted from 2009 to 2016 in Inner Mongolia (Chinese community of Russians), the Chita region (repatriates from the Three Rivers) and San Francisco (the Russians from Three Rivers), the relationship of external perceptions with local practices of reproducing Russian life models in cross-border areas of China will be analyzed. In addition, the following issues will be addressed: how can the memory and experience of Russian communities be aligned with the interest of Russian society in the history of “Russian Manchuria”; how do Chinese communities in China integrate into the open border model; how is the perception of Russian communities in China related to the alarming image of Chinese migration in Siberia and the Far East?

On January 31, 2019 was held a session of the regular seminar "Migration studies" organized by the Higher School of Economics the Institute of Social Policy. Ekaterina Demintseva(Higher School of Economics Institute of Social Policy), Daniel Kashnitsky (Higher School of Economics Institute of Social Policy), Dmitriy Oparin (MSU, Higher School of Economics Institute of Social Policy) presented their recent research“Emigration of highly qualified professionals from Russia in the 2010s:why are they leaving Russia today?”

The problem of emigration of qualified and highly qualified specialists, the so-called brain drain, became relevant for Russia in the post-Soviet years. Despite the fact that this process has a long post-Soviet history (about 25 years), the reasons for emigration are changing. In the 2010s, we can talk about a new wave of emigration from Russia. Emigration in recent years has become diverse. Young researchers, businessmen, journalists, human rights activists are leaving the country.

The goal of the project, that will be presented at the seminar, was to understand the reasons for the departure of specialists from Russia in recent years (from 2010 to 2017), their career development and life trajectories abroad, whether they are considering future opportunities for returning to their homeland. We also aimed to understand why professionals who worked or studied abroad are returning to Russia. One of the main objectives of the study was to classify the diversity of the causes and forms of transnational migration of highly qualified Russian specialists. More than 100 in-depth semi-structured interviews with Russian emigrants from various professional fields were conducted - academics, creative professionals, journalists, entrepreneurs, as well as interviews with those who in recent years returned to Russia.

Discussant: Youlia Florinskaya (RANEPA)