Russian-speaking Migrants Research Articles

Russian-speaking migration to Latin America: new trends

The article considers new trends of migration from the former Soviet Union to Latin American countries. The main channels of Russian-speaking migration are highlighted: marital, fertile, labour, digital nomadic migration, forced migrants. The statistical data of Latin American countries and the data of sociological survey of Russian-speaking migrants in Brazil and Argentina are analyzed. Estimates on the size of the Russian-speaking population in key Latin American countries are given. The role of Internet communications in the adaptation and consolidation of Russian-speaking migrants in the context of the idea of forming a “Russian-speaking social space” is highlighted. The article also describes the key barriers (administrative, cultural, linguistic) faced by migrants from the former Soviet Union in the process of integration into the host societies of Latin American countries.

Creating social ties around and through children: how parenthood impacts the structuring of the Russian-speaking community in Switzerland

ABSTRACT Based on 40 interviews with Russian-speaking migrants living in Switzerland, this study focuses on the sociability of migrant parents. The sociability of individuals evolves according to their feeling of integration and their needs. One element that triggers a change in individuals’ social networks is the transition to parenthood as it induces new needs and an adaptation of the social network. Many participants highlighted a greater interest in developing relationships with other Russian speakers when they became parents. My findings show the role of parenthood in building and maintaining community ties. This article first presents how communities of practice based on the transmission of the Russian language and the exchange of information between Russian-speaking parents are created around children. Parenthood is constitutive of the development of ethnic communities through the setting up of meeting places for children and parents. The analysis then focuses on the ways in which these community links develop. This paper details three strategies of community sociability adopted by parents according to their needs and their objectives for transmitting the Russian language, highlighting the agency of the different actors in these social relations.

Self-identified barriers to health services among migrants 50 years of age or older: population-based survey study of Russian speakers in Finland

BackgroundThe compounded effect of a migratory background and ageing increases the risk of unequal medical treatment opportunities. The aim of this article is to investigate the social determinants of barriers to health services.MethodsThe study uses population-based survey data of Russian-speaking migrants (50 + years) residing in Finland (n = 1082, 57% of men, mean age 63 years). Multiple correspondence analysis was performed as a dimension reduction procedure on six barriers to health services. Multiple ordinary least-squares linear regression was used for the predicted score of the barriers as an outcome variable.ResultsMost of the sociodemographic characteristics were not associated with barriers to health services, except gender, as women tended to face more disadvantages. Migration-related factors, such as the need for interpreters for health services and experienced discrimination, were associated with an increased likelihood of reporting barriers to health services. Using the internet as a primary source of health information was associated with more access barriers to health services.ConclusionsMigrants 50 years of age or older face multiple barriers to health services. Given that the healthcare needs increase with age, addressing this issue becomes crucial, necessitating improved access to health services for older migrants.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ ЗАНЯТОСТИ И ТРУДОВОГО ПОВЕДЕНИЯ РУССКОГОВОРЯЩИХ ЖЕНЩИН, ПРОЖИВАЮЩИХ В ЗАРУБЕЖНЫХ СТРАНАХ

The object of the study is the work and employment behavior of Russian-speaking women living in foreign countries. The subject of the study is a set of socio-economic relations that develop in connection with the work and employment behavior of this category of women. The information base for the study is scientific publications, materials from Russian-speaking communities, and indepth structured interviews conducted by the authors. The prerequisites for the term “relocant” and its main differences from the terms “emigrant”, “refugee”, and “expat” are analyzed. Women are classified according to their moving reasons and status in the new country. Two groups of women who left before and after February 2022 have been identified and characterized. The study reveals that the main social interactions during professional fulfillment take place in the Russian-speaking environment, and also that the unofficial employment of Russian-speaking women generally prevails over the official one. The most common areas of employment for Russian-speaking women are described. Features of employment behavior when Russian-speaking women move to other countries have been identified: the desire to start their own business, increase creativity in the workplace, etc. Sources of support for this category of women, including Russian-speaking women's communities, and a classification of such communities have been studied and developed. Based on the research results, the authors conclude that Russianspeaking women successfully join foreign businesses, compete with local entrepreneurs, and find completely new niches for their business projects, but often their employment remains unofficial. Recommendations are made that special support communities for Russian-speaking migrants in receiving countries on the part of local authorities and the public, as well as various Russian speaking communities, would be useful.

Who Are You—Right Now? Cultural Orientations and Language Used as Antecedents of Situational Cultural Identification

A defining feature of biculturalism is the experience of switching back and forth between different cultural ways of being and acting in the world. This work investigates antecedents of this switching process using a cultural adaptation of the Day Reconstruction Method, in which participants divide the previous day into episodes and then rate these episodes on various criteria. We hypothesized that episode characteristics (specifically, language used) and stable personal dispositions (specifically, mainstream and heritage cultural orientations) would independently and interactively predict migrants’ cultural identification during an episode. We examined three types of identification among Russian-speaking migrants to Canada ( N = 109): mainstream (“Canadian”); heritage (“Russian”); and mainstream–heritage hybrid (“Russian-Canadian”). Results of multilevel regression analyses supported our hypotheses overall. A more positive orientation to a given cultural group and the use of that group’s language(s) were associated with stronger identification with that group during an episode. Language Use × Cultural Orientation interactions were evident for heritage and hybrid situational identification. The positive association between heritage orientation and situational heritage identification was stronger during episodes when the heritage language was not used than when it was used. A positive heritage orientation was associated with greater situational hybrid identification only during episodes when a mainstream language was used. The results are consistent with the perspective that acculturation is a multifaceted, contextual, and dynamic process whereby people acquire and flexibly use multiple cultural repertoires to meet both their general goals and the cultural demands of specific situations.

On Formation of Translation Competencies among Russian-speaking Migrants from Koryo-Saram Diaspora in South Korea

On Formation of Translation Competencies among Russian-speaking Migrants from Koryo-Saram Diaspora in South Korea

Migration Atlas of the Russian Federation: A View from Argentina

The review of the Migration Atlas of the Russian Federation, prepared by a group of authors of the Institute for Demographic Research and the North Caucasus Federal University, analyzes the joint work of demographers, sociologists, geographers and cartographers of two scientific organizations. The authors analyze the historical and modern statistics of migration processes in the Russian Federation, its main directions, countries connected with the Russian Federation in migration channels, communities of Russian-speaking migrants formed abroad and their economic interaction. The authors pay considerable attention to several aspects that often dropped out of sight of researchers. Among them are the ethnic composition of migration processes, features of spatial settlement, processes of pendulum migration, the impact of migration infrastructure on the processes under study, features of international migration management.

Conceptualizing Russian Food in Emigration: Foodways in Culture Maintenance and Adaptation

Abstract Food preparation and consumption is an essential part of culture. Leaving their homeland and finding themselves in a society with eating habits different from theirs, migrants face a dilemma of adapting their diets to those customary in their new place of residence or trying to maintain their food habits. Relying on the ethnographic method and applying thematic and critical discourse analyses, this article explores how Russian-speaking migrants discuss changes in their foodways and what role Russian food stores play in the life of immigrant communities. Material for analyses was drawn from fieldwork conducted in Finland, Germany, Israel, and Switzerland. It includes in-depth interviews, immigrants’ essays, and group discussions. We also studied culinary discussion groups on Facebook and documented linguistic landscape related to food consumption in the diaspora. Among the salient themes in the discourse dealing with eating habits abroad are food nostalgia, trying out familiar recipes with new products, evaluating traditional dishes of the host society, and re-evaluating Russian cuisine, searching for the right food in the new country and trying to showcase the best of one’s own cooking to other people. Immigrants’ discourse about food and the labels on the food products available in “Russian” stores outside Russia reveal frequent use of paroemias and quotations and allusions to Soviet and post-Soviet popular culture. Russian-speaking immigrants’ reflections about their old and new foodways reveal that they are an integral part of search for a new hybrid self-identity.

A voluntary-sector meeting place as a site for interpreting and ‘doing’ integration: a case of later-life Russian-speaking migrants

While a great deal of research has been conducted on implications of integrative policies targeted at migrants, later-life migrants and their relational and spatial negotiations and enactments of the policy-driven discourse of integration, and the dynamics under which it is interpreted remains understudied. Older migrants are presented as ‘special cases’ in the Finnish integration policy and are discussed mainly in relation to their social and health care needs. Integration is the model and aim for migrant settlements in Finland, however the aim to integrate possesses intrinsic value. Therefore, they need to make sense of what integration is for them in their everyday lives. This paper focuses on the interpretations and mundane enactments of ‘integration’ in a voluntary sector-organised meeting place for later-life Russian-speaking migrants in Finland. By comparing the views of different actors within the meeting place (steering group, organisers and attendees), the paper presents a nuanced understanding of the dynamics under which the later-life migrants negotiate their positions in the Finnish community of value, vis-à-vis the expectations of integration. The paper argues that ‘doing integration’ as a category of practice is an emergent feature in places where it is possible to negotiate integration as a lived experience. Drawing from participant observations, interviews, and applications and reports gathered in a meeting in the capital region of Finland, the paper foregrounds the lived and contested experiences of finding a sense of belonging in dialogue with the omnipresent discourse of integration. The paper concludes that the interpretations of the policy-driven discourse of integration are context-bound and negotiated in a set of relationships.

Social Media as a Mechanism for Developing and Reproducing Migration Strategies (Using the Example of Digital Platform Profiles of Russian-Speaking Migrants in Korea)

This article analyzes texts written by users of Russian-language digital communication platforms on the topic of emigration to the Republic of Korea. The purpose of the study was to determine what meanings are attributed to the Republic in these texts, and how these images can affect the migration strategies of Russian-speaking migrants. The texts were sourced from relevant communities inside the largest social networks by the number of Russian-speaking users. The research method of choice was discourse analysis. Korea was regarded as an intersectional symbol that combines “migrant” texts into a single discourse. Its significance was determined by means of the authors of the messages constructing associations between the host country and certain situations and actions. It was established that pendulum migrants working in the country illegally, educational migrants, intermediaries, and communities of fans of Korean popular culture are most actively involved in shaping the image of Korea within the considered social media platforms. The messages posted by those users who focus on the shadow segment of the labor market portray Korea as a country that deals with visitors employed in this segment in as lenient a manner as possible. During the visa-free period, you can earn more here than in six months back home, without knowing the language and without having any skills, after which you can go home and return to Korea again once the money you earned has run out. This group describes the following strategy: you enter the country as a tourist for 60 days, and find a job on “samushil” or through an intermediary. Then return to Russia temporarily, or stay in Korea illegally, or use such mechanisms as political asylum and marriage of convenience. Educational migrants describe Korea as a developed, safe and wealthy country, with optimal conditions for permanent residency. Many describe the following strategy: get into the country on a student visa, receive an education, find a job in areas somehow related to servicing Russian-speaking migration flows. Some count on legalization through marriage to a member of the host community. Groups dedicated to Korean popular culture associate the Republic with a male idol, overconsumption, scenery and drama characters. Their users might describe either of the strategies mentioned above. A group of intermediaries reproduces the images conveyed by the texts produced by illegal migrants and k-pop communities, idealizing Korea and omitting the numerous difficulties and risks associated with staying there. Intermediaries essentially provide customers with the opportunity to become a part of this image by selling them paths of migration to and integration in Korea, which are often utilized by pendulum and educational migrants. According to G. Klein’s model of decision-making in a situation of uncertainty, it can be assumed that “migrant” social media containing these images contribute to the dissemination and reproduction of appropriate migration strategies, influencing the direction and content of migration flows between Korea and the CIS countries.

Orientalization, or sidewards assimilation of second-generation Russian-speaking migrants in Israel’s urban periphery

ABSTRACT This article explores the assimilation of second-generation migrants from the Former Soviet Union (FSU) who grew up in Israel’s social and geographic urban periphery. Their upbringing in peripheral towns and neighborhoods exposed them almost exclusively to Mizrahim (Oriental Jews), a stigmatized minority group whose members make up the overwhelming majority in those locations. We argue that their interaction with members of this group resulted in an alternative process of assimilation, which we term Hitmazrehut (Orientalization). Children of migrants, who were unaware of the historical stigmatization of Mizrahim and their culture, conceived of Hitmazrehut as their only viable trajectory of assimilation into what they erroneously perceived as the Israeli mainstream. However, embracing Mizrahi socio-cultural practices, including consumption and production of ethnic culture, religious traditions and romantic partnerships, did not lead to their downward assimilation, as the model predicts. Rather, it allowed second-generation Russian-speaking migrants to fit in and attain social and economic mobility by assimilating sidewards, into the growing Mizrahi middle-class.

Administrative Literacy in the Digital Welfare State: Migrants Navigating Access to Public Services in Finland

The digitalisation of public services brought challenges for their access and use. This article looks at the migrants as claimants of the public services to analyse the problems with the digital delivery of public services. The previous research recognised the various resources, such as digital skills and administrative literacy, needed for the successful use of digital services. However, the role of administrative literacy has not been studied in linguistically and culturally diverse contexts, such as migration. This article draws on the qualitative study of Russian-speaking migrants in Finland. By analysing the perspective of the service users, it describes in detail the requirements that people with migrant backgrounds try to meet to gain access to social protection. Findings demonstrate the multiple obstacles that burden or prevent access to entitlements.

Experiences of culture and cultural negotiations among Russian-speaking migrants: National habitus and cultural continuity dilemmas in child-rearing

How migrants negotiate and adjust to new cultural settings and how they transmit culture to their children are key questions for migration researchers. This paper explores how culture is experienced and negotiated among Russian-speaking migrants, drawing on interviews and observation data collected in Perth, Australia, and Madrid, Spain, together with online forum data and documents. Analysis reveals that long-term socio-historical processes taking place within the post-Soviet space generate certain similarities among its inhabitants. These shared features, which Norbert Elias (1996) called ‘national habitus’, include internalised dispositions and behavioural patterns evident and reproduced in everyday life, such as hygiene and healthcare practices, norms of conduct in public places, and practices and beliefs related to the control of children’s behaviour and discipline. Many migrants come to realise that they are bearers of these similarities only in the process of the migration experience. This process of recognition of their habitus, including realising the cultural nature of certain standards of behaviour perceived as ‘civilised’ and ‘rational’ in the past, and the making of decisions about what is important to keep and what is not, we refer to as ‘cultural continuity dilemmas’. Participants resolve these dilemmas in three main ways: reinforcing their cultural classification systems through condemnation or attempts to correct; adopting the new standards; or adjusting perceptions to find a compromise. In these processes, certain practices and norms may come to be recognised as Soviet in both positive and negative senses, as being acceptable, or outdated remnants of a totalitarian system. Solving such dilemmas creates a unique combination of practices, forming a common cultural hybridity and generating new awareness of cultural and national identities.

Neighbourhood Ethnic Density, Local Language Skills, and Loneliness among Older Migrants-A Population-Based Study on Russian Speakers in Finland.

So far, little attention has been paid to contextual factors shaping loneliness and their interaction with individual characteristics. Moreover, the few existing studies have not included older migrants, identified as a group who are vulnerable to loneliness. This study examined the association between neighbourhood ethnic density (the proportion of own-group residents and the proportion of other ethnic residents in an area) and loneliness among older migrants. Furthermore, we investigated whether local language skills moderated this association. A population-based representative survey (The CHARM study, n = 1082, 57% men, mean age 63.2 years) and postal code area statistics were used to study Russian-speaking migrants aged 50 or older in Finland. The study design and data are hierarchical, with individuals nested in postcode areas. We accounted for this by estimating corresponding mixed models. We used a linear outcome specification and conducted logistic and ordinal robustness checks. After controlling for covariates, we found that ethnic density variables (measured as the proportion of Russian speakers and the proportion of other foreign speakers) were not associated with loneliness. Our interaction results showed that increased own-group ethnic density was associated with a higher level of loneliness among those with good local language skills but not among those with weaker skills. Good local language skills may indicate a stronger orientation towards the mainstream destination society and living in a neighbourhood with a higher concentration of own-language speakers may feel alienating for those who wish to be more included in mainstream society.

Long Farewell: Bureaucracy of Transnational Death in (Post)-Mortal Practices of Russian-Speaking Immigrants in Finland

The article analyses the confusions around dealing with death-related bureaucracies that Russian-speaking immigrants living in Finland’s border areas have to carry out. Death of their loved ones puts migrants in contact with officials of different levels in their Finnish localities of dwelling and Russian localities of origin. The fulfilment of all bureaucratic requirements feels unfamiliar and laborious and turns to a “long farewell” in the experiences of immigrants. The study makes use of different ethnographic materials by the authors and presents them in a form of “typical story” that is compiled from diverse, but yet alike experiences of Russian-speaking immigrants. Main confusions derive from the digitalization of bureaucratic services in Finland and the need to present paper certificates in Russia, as well as the dominant role of Lutheran church in Finnish burial administration. These encounters and experiences add to our understanding of Russian-speaking migrants’ transnationalism, which seems to be highly dependent on both Finnish and Russian welfare services and authorities, as well on the deteriorating conflict between Russia and “the West”.

Crossing the Borders: Dynamic Identity Variations of Former Israeli Russian-Speaking Migrants of the 1.5 Generation

ABSTRACT This study shows the complexity of ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and national identities among individuals who immigrated to Israel from Russian-speaking countries as children, and later immigrated again as adults to the US or Canada. After immigration to Israel, these individuals exhibited various identity facets of what we term “assimilated migrants” (AM). These characteristics were subsequently revised and reconstructed during various changes in personal circumstances, particularly during periods marking decision making points around a second migration. We also describe the identity components of those we coin “pragmatic migrants” (PM), which all study informants adopted after their second migration. Finally, we focus on key decision-making stages, primarily a constitutive phase of transition (from AM to PM) in the context of the hybrid (Soviet-Jewish, Israeli, and Western) identities these informants adopt.

Migration in the Russian-Kazakhstan Border Region (on the Example of the South Urals)

After the collapse of the USSR, the contours of the new state borders crossed the areas of settlement of ethnic groups, making the issue of the nature of the frontier actual. In the Russian-Kazakh sector, this was clearly manifested in the discrepancy between the areas of settlement of the Russian-speaking population and the very line of the state border. The challenges generated by the Kazakhization policy and the difficulties of post-socialist transit stimulated the outflow of the population from the northern regions of Kazakhstan to Russia. The purpose of the article is to reconstruct the migration of the Russian-speaking population in the Russian-Kazakh border area using the example of the South Urals. The source database was made up of archival documents, information from the regional statistics committee on migration, and materials from interviews with Russian-speaking migrants from Kazakhstan. The basis of Central Asian migration to the region was the Russian-speaking population of the border regions of Kazakhstan (Russians, Tatars, Ukrainians, Germans). Two waves of migration stand out clearly: “forced” in the 1990s., and more “pragmatic” in 2000-2019 allowed to significantly compensate for the demographic losses, contributed to the influx of a young and economically active population into the region. The main areas of their exodus were Kostanay and Rudny (Kostanay region). The developed practices of cross-border cooperation and the presence of previously established communities allowed the newcomers to maintain strong ties with their “homeland”, to facilitate the recruitment of new migrants. In the course of the study, the author identified the quantitative and qualitative parameters of migration from Kazakhstan, and determined the role of the frontier in the migration processes to the South Urals.

Making Waves and Grids through Drawings: A Visual Methodology for Migrant Homes, Housing, and Moving-Home Trajectories

Abstract: This article describes the process of developing collaborative methods and the outcome for creating ex-situ digital drawings to depict the housing situations and movement trajectories of Russian-speaking migrants in Japan. The study presents a two-part methodology that was applied to ethnographic data, such as transcribed interviews, photographs, and fieldnotes. The first part focused on the emic specifics of the migrant experience of home and housing; we applied to the data a free drawing that followed a six-point extraction technique. The second part focused on the precise housing types occupied by the study participants and the participants’ moving-home trajectories over the course of their lives. Here we employed a taxonomic approach, using drawings and captions for the 14 housing types extracted from the data. The taxonomic drawings served as icons for the entire sample. This two-part methodological combination effectively communicates the research findings and respects the internal perspectives and emotions of the participants. It also provides a holistic and comparable view of the lifelong housing trajectories of migrants in Japan. The unique positioning of the drawer as a participant in this research results in a dense, collaborative approach that allows for an emphasis on indigenous categories.

Is digitalisation of public health and social welfare services reinforcing social exclusion? The case of Russian-speaking older migrants in Finland

Governments are rapidly digitalising public services to increase cost-effectiveness of the public sector. This study examines older migrants’ use of digital public health and social welfare services from the perspective of social exclusion. The study uses a mixed methods approach, drawing on representative survey data of Russian-speaking migrants in Finland and qualitative interviews with third-sector representatives who assist Russian-speaking migrants with digital service use. Our quantitative results show that a sizeable proportion of Russian-speaking older adults are excluded from digital services. In particular, those with lower socio-economic status, poor local language skills and without Finnish education are at higher risk of exclusion. Our qualitative results describe the multiple ways the exclusion from digital services intersects with other disadvantages in the everyday lives of Russian-speaking older adults. We argue that digitalisation of these services may foster social exclusion and endanger the realisation of these people's social rights.

Parental logic among Russian-speaking two-step migrants

ABSTRACT This study focuses on a selected group of two step migrants – the ‘1.5 generation’ of migrants born as a Jewish minority in former Soviet Union countries, who migrated firstly to Israel as children and were raised there as a Russian-speaking minority, and later migrated a second time to a Global North country as adults with their own children. This cohort experienced major shifts in their socio-economic status during their first migration yet were subsequently able to retain their social standing during their second migration despite the upheaval. Interviews with 18 families were conducted to explore their experiences of integration retrospectively: both as minority children in an Israeli host society and their later adult perceptions of the ways their children (have continued to) assimilate into the society of Global North host countries. We identify specific parental logics applied by this adult cohort, which may nuance the Lareau model of concerted cultivation vs. natural growth parenting. We discuss the possible implications of our study and propose future research directions.