“Nested Liminalities”: Death, Migration and Pandemic among Georgians in Russia

Abstract

Based on an ethnographic fieldwork among Georgian migrants in Russia, the paper focuses on the management of deceased bodies abroad during the pandemic of COVID-19. More precisely, the paper identifies three levels of liminality, which contribute to the “making of death” in this context: that of death, that of migration, and that of the pandemic. The paper looks at the material and emotional expectations and constraints that surround the repatriation of corpses, including the technological solutions, and what these rituals do for the migrants. We see that during repatriation the bodies go through the process material, linguistic and affective re-appropriation, which enables mourners to transition out of liminality. The paper also shows how death reactivates reciprocal networks and obligations in the homeland that might be disrupted by migration. Death rituals and their technological adaptations enable both the mitigation of some of the liminalities and the revitalisation of local networks.