Post-socialism Meets Postcolonialism: African Migrants in the Russian Capital

• Published in: Anthropological journal of European cultures 2009-09, Vol.18 (2), p.87-105
• Main Authors: Bondarenko, Dmitri M., Googueva, Elena A., Serov, Sergey N., Shakhbazyan, Ekaterina V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African culture; African diaspora; African studies; Cultural anthropology; Diaspora; Diasporas; Emigration and immigration; Globalization; Migrant communities; Migrants; Postcolonialism; Racism; Russia; Russian culture; Socialism; Socialist Societies; Sociocultural Factors; Western Europe
• ISSN: 1755-2923; 1755-2931
• DOI: 10.3167/ajec.2009.180206

While Western Europe has a long history of facing and studying the issues of immigration, this phenomenon is still recent for the ex-socialist states and has not been studied sufficiently yet. At the same time, the 'closed' nature of the socialist societies and the difficulties of the 'transitional period' of the 1990s predetermine the problems in communication between the migrants and the population majority, the specific features of the forming diasporas and of their probable position in the receiving societies. The study of African migrants in Russia (particularly in Moscow) recently launched by the present authors consists of two interrelated parts: the sociocultural adaptation of migrants from Africa in Russia on the one hand, and the way they are perceived in Russia on the other. One of the key points of the study is the formation or non-formation of diasporas as network communities, as a means of both more successful adaptation and identity support.