Migrants In Moscow Research Articles

Migrants from Tajikistan and their families in the Moscow agglomeration

The article is devoted to the analysis of the results of interviews and questionnaire survey of Tajik migrants in Moscow and the Moscow region. The article considers the self-assessment of family relations of migrants from Tajikistan and the material well-being of their families. Correlation factors affecting the state of family relations among migrants from Tajikistan have been identified. It is noted that the social institution of the family, in addition to the obvious functions of childbearing and upbringing, performs non-specific, but no less important economic functions related to the accumulation and transfer of property, status, organization of production and consumption, household, recreation and leisure. One of the options for implementing this function is the labor migration of family members. It has been established that migrants actively seek to maintain family relations in the case of labor migration. It is recommended that the migrant labor community needs state support to improve the economic situation of their families and reunite with them. Based on the results of the work, it was concluded that for more than a quarter of migrants, the purpose of staying in the Moscow agglomeration is to provide for their family. The respondents positively assess their relationships in the family and the ability to provide for them. Migration in most cases leads to the transformation of family relationships, as a result of which the ties in the respondents' family are not broken, and they strive to actively maintain contact with the family in an online format. Based on the conducted research and analysis of primary empirical data, the key conclusions about the nature of interaction with relatives of migrants from Tajikistan in Russia are presented.

Internal Migration from a Russian Republic: The Everyday Experiences of Kalmyk Migrants in Moscow

Abstract This paper recounts the lived experiences of internal migrants in the Russian Federation, specifically those who have moved from the Republic of Kalmykia in the country’s southwest to the capital of Moscow. Recounting exposure to racism and xenophobia, challenges in the housing and employment markets, and negotiating an evolving city, informants offer grounded interpretations of migration within contemporary Russia. In part, the conversations that inform this paper focus on the everyday experiences of Kalmyk migrants in Russia and in turn aim to fill a gap in the existing academic literature on internal migration in Russia. Most migration in Russia is internal, yet we know relatively little about the diverse nature of the experiences of these migrants at their destinations.

Labor Migrants at Risk: Formal and Informal Insurance Strategies among Central Asians in Moscow

This article studies formal and informal risk-mitigating practices among Central Asian labor migrants in Moscow. The migration context is inherently uncertain, implying that migrants may try to protect themselves against potential risks by resorting to insurance mechanisms. However, migration is a unique situation that raises a number of questions. First of all, do formal protective institutions or insurance markets exist in the country of arrival? Secondly, if state or market insurance schemes exist, are they accessible to all migrants? What do at-risk labor migrants do when they cannot rely on formal schemes? Central Asian people are used to relying on social networks and informal practices in their home country. Previous articles have shown that these informal networks may be transposed in a migratory context, suggesting that informal risk-mitigating practices can be a substitute for formal insurance schemes and act as a social safety net for precarious migrants not covered by social security or insurance contracts. In this paper, we investigate the relationship between informal and formal insurance schemes and whether these can act as a substitute or complement among Tajikistani and Uzbekistani migrants, based on a survey of 1,213 labor migrants in Moscow.

‘You Are Not Needed Here’

Abstract The aim of this paper is not to expand the argument that racism is a problem particular to Russia but to examine the transformation in the discrimination experienced by African migrants in Russia and their coping strategies. Using 32 in-depth interviews and an analysis of informal conversations with sub-Saharan African migrants in Moscow describing their experiences within the social and economic spheres of the country, the paper demonstrates the subtleness and implicit nature of racial discrimination that sub-Saharan African migrants experience in their social spaces, such as using the transport system and getting accommodation, and also within the economic sector. There is an overall feeling of being unwelcome that the African migrants perceive from the treatment received from their host community. The paper contributes to the global perspective of understanding the coping strategies used by African migrants to deal with their socio-economic conundrum in Russia.

“Experiences of African student migrants in Moscow”: Understanding the uses of digital technologies for social services during the COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has attracted a plethora of research from medical-related disciplines other than sociological and migration disciplines . While a significant number of research papers have considered the impacts of the COVID-19 lockdowns and school closures on students, their observations are not directly applicable to the over 5.3 million international students across the globe. The purpose of this study is to understand how African Student Migrants (ASMs) used technologies for social services during the COVID-19 pandemic in Moscow. This study adopted a qualitative research approach to understand the use of digital technologies for social services among 40 ASMs sampled through purposive and snowballing techniques. The findings established that, the use of digital technologies by ASMs played an instrumental role in social services such as accommodation, learning and purchasing patterns rather than social communication, religious or cultural practices, psychological and physical health, and dieting during the COVID-19 pandemic. For policy-level recommendations, tech-savvy developers, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations Educational Science and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the African Union (AU) should collaborate and create digital technologies that are suitable for social services; devise an information platform to capture basic information about ASMs that will enable them to streamline welfare stimulus packages essential to their survival in times of pandemics. This will also serve as a coping mechanism for society to prepare for new social emergencies and use digital technologies to calibrate international education and inform future policies on public health, school closures and mobility beyond borders.

Propiska regime regulating mobility and migration in post-Soviet cities

The paper sheds light on the composition of the institution of propiska regime in post-Soviet urban space as part of the post-Soviet policies of mobility control and migration restrictions. Based on the case studies of internal and international migration, comparing internal migrants in post-Soviet capital cities (Central Asia) and international migrants within post-Soviet space (migrants in Moscow), the paper highlights the implications of the propiska regime.Mobility within the boundaries of former Soviet Union as well as within the national boundaries of the most post-Soviet republics is complicated by the propiska regime. Registration entitles a holder of propiska to social welfare and other benefits, its absence throws a person out of the realm of state provisions, and welfare support, in other words this person becomes illegal. This can happen not only to international migrants for example in Moscow but also to internal migrants in Russia or in Central Asia.Furthermore, the paper highlights implications of propiska regime for state and society relations in two different contexts illegal residents (without propiska) within their own country and illegal migrants outside their country within the post-Soviet region. The propiska regime is constituted not only by the registration procedures comprising its legal provisions and the administrative tools necessary to install it, but rather by a wider taxonomy and complex institutional setting. This complex is a mixture of legal, illegal, formal and informal rules, practices of police, border security, administrative employees, propiska makers issuing fake propiskas, propiska brokers, clients, discourses and other practices.

Features of settlement and integration of migrants in Moscow and the Moscow Region

International studies prove the relationship between migrants settlement patterns and their integration. Russian researchers have studied integration for many years but not migrants settlement patterns. The authors aim at filling this gap and describing different aspects of migrants settlement in Moscow and the Moscow Region as affecting integration. The article presents a classification of migrants settlement patterns on four grounds: tenure, type of building, social circles and ways to get to work. Each type is illustrated by examples of settlement patterns and other details to provide lively descriptions of migrants everyday life. The study consisted of 65 interviews with migrants in Moscow and the Moscow Region which were based on the principles of the grounded theory. In the study, migrants were people born in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, both Russian and foreign citizens. The data show that, despite stereotypes, there is a great variety of migrants settlement patterns, for instance, in terms of tenure there are those who have their own apartments and those who rent a bed at the workplace, while in terms of social circles, there are those who live with members of their nuclear family and those who share apartments with new acquaintances from different countries. The article presents some considerations on the relationship between certain migrants settlement patterns and their integration, for instance, on the positive effect of property ownership on the structural and identity integration and on the relationship between using the employers transportation and social aspects of integration.

Sustainability of the New Economy: An Empirical Study of Bangladeshi Migrants in Moscow

Very little is known about the specifics of the challenges and the strategies of the Bangladeshi migrants use to cope with, in Russia, for studies in this regard are largely non-existent. With the aim of filling this gap, this study explores the socio-economic survival strategies of Bangladeshi migrants in Moscow. Using mixed research methods, it draws data from 385 survey questionnaire, and 10 Key Informant Individual Interviews and analyses the experiences of migrants in relation to access to livelihood and their use of social networks in Russia. The findings of this research indicated that economic reason is the main pull factor for the migration of Bangladeshi to Russia. This paper also examines the survival strategies of Bangladeshi migrants in Moscow. A number of survival strategies are identified including trade and commerce, petty business, importing, trading processing raw jute from Bangladesh, trading electronics products, physicians and working in government institutions. Migrants have been noted to intensify establishment of petty businesses in major trading centres as their major survival strategies. The findings presented in this paper established that age, sex and education are important factors in influencing the diversification of survival strategies of migrants. The study concludes that, although all the survival strategies examined seems to have improved migrants livelihoods better than in their place of origin, however none of strategy is complete in its own forcing migrants to opt for more than one survival strategy.

The Sociability of West African Migrants among Russians in Moscow

This paper focuses on the social relationships of West African migrants living in Moscow. It investigates the factors to which West African migrants are exposed that promote or limit their social involvement in the new environment in which they find themselves. Although the African community in Russia is rather small, it is gradually increasing. It is, therefore, the aim of this research to examine the effect of the host environment on their perception of the society and how they try to blend in, or not, with social activities there. The article is based on qualitative methods, namely eleven interviews and participant observation of West African migrants. This research revolves around themes such as their communicative language skills, formation of networks among the host community, and sociability. Findings from the research show that West African migrants in Moscow have been attached to their ethnic landscapes, which has limited their sociability in their host society. Since sociability is not mono-directional, the state needs to do more to create both public awareness of the need to recognize and accept the presence of other races and also to create regulations that will guide the smooth integration of migrants in the country.

Possession and exorcism in the Muslim migrant context

This paper is based on fieldwork carried out among Muslim migrants in Moscow. The research focuses on practices of ritual healing and expelling djinn in an urban post-secular environment and in the context of migration. Concerning the procedure of exorcism, both self-reflection and introspection of all the participants of the treatment are of interest to me – the mullah, his patients, their relatives and even critics of these Muslim practices. In this study, it is not my intention to delve too deeply into the analysis of what possession is or determine its causes, but rather to look at specific situations from my fieldwork through the lens of morality, authority and precarity, in order to attempt to present the experience of possession and my informants’ struggle against it in all its richness and complexity.

Muslim Orders in Russia: Trade Networks andHijamaHealing

AbstractThis article sheds light on the informal institutional settings that guide the social and economic lives of Muslim migrants in Moscow. Mosques andmedresses(Muslim theological schools) serve as central locations from which these institutions emanate, evolve, and transform. Case studies of trade networks andHijama(wet cupping) healing practices demonstrate the inner workings of such institutions. The article draws on the theoretical traditions of informal institutions and new institutionalists focusing on anthropological works on agency and institutions. These analytical frameworks and concepts help explain the mechanisms and processes involved in the institutionalization of Muslim lives in Moscow. I argue that individual agency and charismatic leadership of individual members of the community play formative roles in institutionalizing daily practices and constituting normative orders of Muslims in Moscow. The article is based on fieldwork conducted in Moscow and Perm during 2016, 2017, and 2019.

“Homeland-Rooted” or Acquired in the Receiving Society: How Does the Composition of Migrants’ “Co-Ethnic” Ties Affect Their Patterns of Integration?

Contributing to literature on composition of social ties of migrants, this article argues that “co-ethnic” ties, often included into analysis as a homogeneous entity, are either the ones obtained in the sending society, thus connecting a migrant to his relatives and neighbors from the community of origin, or the ones acquired in the receiving society and connecting people from different parts of the sending country. Basing on results of a survey of Kyrgyz migrants in Moscow, the authors show that this distinction is associated with difference in patterns, such as economic advancement, attitude toward ethnic category of belonging, and remitting behavior, which together comprise specific modes of integration for migrants. The explanations of these differences are suggested. Also, the mechanism of change of prevalent type of co-ethnic ties in migrants’ ego-networks from “homeland-rooted” to acquired in the receiving society is described.

The Spiritual Industry of Central Asian Migrants in Moscow

In this article we look at how Islamic religious services delivered by migrants from Central Asia adjust to new conditions in Moscow. We focus on the activity of establishing a particular locality for a religious practice in the context of the transfer of spirituality by migrants. The new space in which migrants function creates conditions for delocalization of their religious life and imaginaries, which makes them belong to multiple spiritual spaces. Many spiritual practices delivered by Central Asian spiritual leaders go beyond the migrant circle, entering the local market of spiritual services. They adjust to the local conditions, simultaneously influencing the religious industry of Moscow.This article analyses how spiritual products are being ordered, who the clients of spiritual professionals from Central Asia are, and how new places of spiritual industry, where rituals and healing practices take place, emerge. We consider these places to be not only physical spaces, but also ones in which new qualities are being created that combine elements of various interpretations of spirituality. Some forms of spirituality that migrants consider as their traditional practices are intermingled with new and previously unknown elements. In this sense, the local is merging with the global, creating new quality. We argue that through reinterpretation of local realities migrants and their spiritual leaders reconstruct their traditions and practices in order to be able to deliver spiritual services in Moscow for migrant clients, other Muslims, and non-Muslims. Article in English DOI: 10.25285/2078-1938-2020-12-1-106-126

Educational infrastructure created in conditions of social exclusion: ‘Kyrgyz clubs’ for migrant children in Moscow

ABSTRACT This article demonstrates how social exclusion affects the strategies that migrants and their children experience vis-à-vis the preschool education system of the host society. We use the example of two private institutions established in Moscow by Kyrgyz migrants to explore their role in helping integrate migrant children into the host society. I examine the role the Kyrgyz community plays in the life of labour migrants in Moscow, and why private migrant infrastructure is created today by people from this particular country, though eventually migrants from other countries use it as well. I find that in recent years migrants have been creating private infrastructure in Russia as an alternative to the public one. It replaces state institutions for migrants that are not accessible to them. Migrants also view it as one of the channels for entering the Russian society and state institutions. These centres do not so much help migrants’ children escape social isolation as compensate for the lack of adjustment programmes in Russian schools.

Socio-cultural attitudes of Muslims in the city of Moscow: socio-psychological aspects

The question of socio-psychological adaptation of Muslims from the countries of the near abroad in the metropolis of Moscow is raised. Describes the main ethnic, religious, and psychological characteristics of migrants who profess the religion of Islam. Possible ways of solving problems related to the successful adaptation of migrants are commented. Examples of the successful functioning of various centers, whose activities are directly related to the support of migrants in the Russian Federation. The article presents statistics of the Ministry of internal Affairs of Russia for 2018, reflecting the process of migration of residents of the former Soviet republics to Russia. Attention is focused on the processes of global migration of people, in particular Muslims from Central Asia, contributing to the development of the local population's negative attitude to visitors, in particular migrant phobia and Islamophobia. The article considers possible and acceptable algorithms of work with migrants in order to avoid such negativity and rapid adaptation of migrants in Moscow. It is emphasized that migration processes involve not only adults, but also children who need specialized support of employees of educational institutions and social services, whose activities should be aimed at teaching Russian as a foreign language, psychological and pedagogical support, familiarity with the cultural and historical heritage of the country. Attention is focused on the fact that a sense of tolerance and tolerance should be present in all people involved in migration processes. The importance of finding compromise solutions, joint efforts to solve the problems of immigrants is fixed.

Trust and Ethnic Attitudes as Elements of Regional Social Capital

Based on research conducted in eight Russian regions, trust and ethnic attitudes are analyzed as parts of regional social capital. It is concluded that in communities with a high level of ethnicity bonding (according to R. Putnam), social capital helps to sustain their cultural identity, while bridging social capital creates the conditions for the formation of the civil society. Intra-ethnic trust, ethnic solidarity, actualized ethnic identity and ethnopolitical mobilization are analyzed as parts of the bonding social capital. Inter-ethnic and generalized trust, trust in neighbors and colleagues, ethnic tolerance and readiness for the integration of migrants are considered as elements of bridging social capital. Ethnic diversity of Russian society can be converted into social capital, however, these processes occur unevenly in different regions. Ethnic solidarity is the most influential element of bonding social capital, it is made manifest from 70% in Tatarstan to 95% in Astrakhan region. Bridging social capital is more differentiated. For example, figures for such elements as trust in neighbors and colleagues and readiness for the integration of migrants in Moscow and Moscow region are much lower than in other regions. At the same time, it is in Moscow that generalized trust as the key element of the bridging social capital is actively involved in the formation of ethnic tolerance. In order for the democracy attitudes and civil structures to be successfully established in the regional communities, there should be a balance between intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic trust together with high level of confidence in the regional and local governments, as well as in the judiciary system. But the development of the civic culture is still lagging behind the cultural level of inter-ethnic trust: in all the regions under analysis, confidence in regional and local authorities is below the level of the inter-ethnic trust.

Imagined mosque communities in Russia: Central Asian migrants in Moscow

ABSTRACTThe article aims to shed light on mosque communities in Russia through the example of mosques frequented by Moscovites and by Central Asian migrants. I will make use of Anderson’s theoretical framework of ‘imagined community’ in analysing the material presented in the article. The main argument is that there are no real mosque communities and rather that the sense of community formed around mosques is imagined. There are nevertheless a variety of networks, groups and institutions within and around mosques. The article is based on fieldwork conducted in 2016 and 2017.

Expatriates and the city: The spatialities of the high-skilled migrants’ transnational living in Moscow

The paper focuses on residential strategies and patterns of highly skilled migrants from Western countries in Moscow. During recent decades, transnational migration of highly skilled workers has grown and diversified; as a consequence, residential practices and socio-spatial behaviour of this kind of migrants (the so-called 'expatriates') in the destination city diversified as well. The spatial impact of highly skilled migrants on the destination city, however, is still rather underexplored (e.g., the analysis is limited to the upper strata of expatriates). The present paper fills this gap by focusing on the 'middling' group of highly skilled transnational migrants in Moscow. The research questions the view that expatriates tend towards socio-spatial clustering and homogenization, which are both commonly associated with the rise of transnational residential compounds. We argue that, on the contrary, the housing pattern of expatriates in Moscow has a multi-faceted spatial structure and is embedded in a heterolocal model of socio-spatial behaviour. The pulling factors of expatriate residential choices are similar to those choices of local people, while some elements—typically used to explain expatriate spatial preferences (e.g., localization of international schools or jobs)—are inconsequential. This dispersed and variegated settlement pattern seems to be linked to the 'middling' and increasingly heterogeneous nature of transnational migration and the cultural differences determining the host-home context divide.

Entrepreneurial Activity of Foreign Labor Migrants in Russia: Оn the Example of Kyrgyz Migrants in Moscow and the Moscow Region

The article is on the entrepreneurial activity of foreign labor migrants in modern Russia in a case of Kyrgyz migrants in Moscow and the Moscow region. The study focuses on identifying entrepreneurial strategies of Kyrgyz migrants, which are formed as a result of the interaction of the structure of the host Russian society and some group characteristics. Conventionally, there are three stages in the development of entrepreneurship among Kyrgyz migrants: the 1990s through the early 2000s, the first half of the 2000s through the late 2000s, and the 2010s. Based on the analysis of the materials of 26 in-depth interviews with experts and entrepreneurs from Kyrgyzstan, an individual and group level of formation of entrepreneurial strategies was considered. At the individual level, most important are personal characteristics, age, satisfaction of the primary material tasks of the migrant’s family, and migration experience. A much more significant resource, especially at the initial stage, is not Russian citizenship but knowledge of the Russian language. At the group level, Kyrgyz migrant entrepreneurship is characterized by quantitative and qualitative accumulation of individual and group resources, entering the market through a free and, most importantly, accessible niche, and the transition from buying and selling to manufacturing. Particular attention is paid to the place and role of kinship and compatriot connections of migrants from Kyrgyzstan, which form the basis of ethno-migrant social networks. These ties acquire an ethnic dimension, primarily because they are a key, if not the only, resource, especially at the initial stage of business creation. Attracting these connections forms the basis of an “ethnic” entrepreneurial strategy and often leads to the creation of a business oriented primarily on “our own” or a migrant-oriented infrastructure. At the same time, entrepreneurs of Kyrgyz origin are not a homogeneous group. Depending on the clients on which the business is focused on and on “ethnic” entrepreneurial strategy, business is allocated in a way that focuses on both “our own” and the rest of the population, as well as mainly on the entire population of Moscow and the region.

Migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa in Moscow: social distinctions and life strategies

The changes since the breakup of the USSR had a significant impact on the social composition of African migrants in Moscow, as well as on their life strategies. In this article, we distinguish between two social groups of African migrants: “affluent” and “surviving”. Almost all affluent migrants are those who once came to study at Soviet universities. They have been living in Russia for at least twenty years, obtained Russian citizenship (mainly through marriage), speak Russian fluently, are very familiar with the Russian lifestyle, enjoy support from Russian family members and are respected in their home countries; they have native Russians as close friends, are happy to see their children being well integrated into Moscow city life, and are always welcome in their motherlands’ embassies in Moscow. The surviving Africans are mainly recent economic migrants and refugees, whose arrival became possible only in the post-Soviet era. For most of them, matters are complicated: they face the fact that their educational background and Russian language skills are considered insufficient, they have a poor knowledge of Russian lifestyle, and they also suffer from differences in climate; few, if any, have Russian friends, and their financial means are very limited, with little hope for any kind of support by the home country’s official representatives. The Africans from the two social groups usually use radically different life strategies to embroider themselves into the fabric of Russian society: while the affluent opt for maximum inclusion into the mainstream socio-cultural milieu, the survivors rely on cooperation amongst each other. While one group seeks integration into Russian society, the other limits itself to mere adaptation to life in Moscow.