The Boundaries of the Djamaat: The Particular Features of Dangestan’s Translocal Communities in the Context of Migration Flows Within the Russian Federation

Abstract

This paper analyses the contemporary structure and functioning of Dagestan’s rural communities in a context of internal Russian migration, particularly to the cities of Western Siberia. The concepts of transnationalism and translocality are deployed as a theoretical framework to analyse the migrant and his social world without detaching ourselves from the donor community, the djamaat. It is argued that the Dagestan rural community, in the course of the migration processes of recent decades, can no longer be viewed merely as a local social entity. A new translocal community has emerged, organized on the principle of the 'Global Village', that consists of migrants, their family members and non-migrants remaining in the home villages. Translocal migrants, existing simultaneously in several geographically separated points, continue to construct their identity and their social networks, a process that fosters a sense of belonging to a Dagestani village. The donor rural community is an important space where migrants can demonstrate personal successes and new entrepreneurial and philanthropic economic activities. Migrants invest not only in their own households but also help their native villages as a whole through entrepreneurial activity and financial support. In addition, the key moments of life remain rooted in the village. Migrants prefer to find a marriage partner from their home village. The home village is also seen to be the only acceptable burial place for deceased migrants. A major role in the consolidation of a translocal djamaat is played by Internet resources such as social networks and messenger programmes, which construct social networks and maintain communication among fellow countrymen in real time. This preference for preserving ties to one’s rural locality even after resettlement out of the village and the Republic of Dagestan, as well as the maintenance of translocal links, allow us to speak of a new social entity: the translocal community.