Finding “Home”: Differentiation Within Migration Flow as a Factor Determining Identity Formation in the Far East of Russia

Abstract

This article examines the issue of migration to Russia, breaking through the image of the ‘migrant-gastarbeiter’ formed in governmental and public discourse. To address this issue, the authors focus on the social identification of migrants from Central Asia to the Far East of Russia. The choice of the region for study is because the Far East of Russia itself was formed as a region of migrants. Therefore, rather than representatives of the host community (from various ideological positions), migrants or descendants of migrants are studying migration. This allows a border position to be achieved which enables one to see both the host community, composed of ‘traces’ of migration flows, and the migration flows arriving in the region today. The choice of migrants originating from Central Asia is associated with the fact that this flow has only become relatively massive in recent decades. The processes of identity transformation (or lack thereof) for participants in this flow can almost be traced in real-time. Based on collected empirical data (informal interviews and observation in the cities of Khabarovsk, Vladivostok, and Birobidzhan), the article constructs a scale, defined by the desire to adapt as much as possible
to the new space while retaining significant elements of ethnocultural identification associated with the point of departure. The positions of different groups on this scale are identified. Factors determining the desire to enter the new community or retain the previous identity are revealed and analyzed, the role of the ethnic community in this process, the significance of the peculiarities of the ‘point of departure’ (capital city/rural settlement), and participation or non-participation in state resettlement programs, are described. The article also describes the core of the ethnic community, emphasizing the special significance of transmigrants in the community’s activities, and analyzes the peculiarity of their social identification between the point of departure and arrival.