The Steppe that Ceases to Be Itself: Migration and Attachment to Homeland Among the Nogais in Dagestan, North Caucasus

Abstract

In Dagestan, the Nogais – descendants of the famous Golden Horde – live mostly in the Nogai Dis­trict, as well is in neighboring territories that administratively belong to Chechnya and Stavropol Krai; taken together, these territories form one geographical entity, known as the Nogai Steppe. A paradoxical situation is that despite heavy migration pressure and the fact that much of the labor force from the District works – either temporarily or permanently – in other Russian regions, the District capital – Terekli-Mekteb – is rapidly expanding. One of the reasons for this is that migrants build houses “for the future” – not to live in them now but with a view to inhabiting them once they come back after retiring. In this paper, based on ethnographic fieldwork research, I analyze how the Nogais – be it dwellers of the Nogai Steppe or economic migrants – maintain attachment to what they call “the land of the ancestors”. I argue that different forms of this attachment constitute a way of social mobilization in unfavorable political and economic conditions. Thus, they are intended to strengthen the position of the Nogais in the Nogai Steppe, in other words – to preserve its Nogainess.