
Rustamjon Urinboyev
Docent

Migration, Transnationalism, and Social Change in Central Asia: Everyday Transnational Lives of Uzbek Migrants in Russia
Författare
Redaktör
- Marlene Laruelle
- Caress Schenk
Summary, in English
A case in point is Uzbek labour migrants in Russia. Unlike Western countries (e.g. US, UK, Germany) where migrants have/had possibilities for establishing relatively functional transnational and diasporic communities, there is little in the way of ‘Uzbek community‘ established in Russia and it is a form of temporary migration where young Uzbeks (mainly men) go to Russia for a few years and return more or less permanently to Uzbekistan after being deported, getting entry ban or due to loss or unavailability of jobs. Although Uzbek labour migrants can hardly be called ‘transmigrants’, in this paper I argue that rapid improvements in technologies of communication (e.g. smartphones and social media) have enabled Uzbek migrants to stay in touch with their origin societies as well as to create some form of permanent, telephone-based ‘Uzbek mahalla‘ (community) in Moscow, which usually gathers around migrants that hail from the same mahalla or village in Uzbekistan. In other words, Uzbek migrants’ transnational place-making practices take place via smartphones and social media. The existence of such telephone/internet-based transnational environment helps migrants cope with the challenges of ‘musofirchilik‘ (being alien) and avoid or manoeuvre around structural constraints such as complicated residence registration and work permit rules, social exclusion, racism and the lack of social security. These specifics of the Russian migration regime have implications for transnational migration literature both theoretically and empirically as well as provide nuanced insights on the impact of migration on everyday life and social change in Central Asia.
These processes will be investigated with reference to ethnographic study of the everyday life and experiences of Uzbek migrants who work in construction sector in Moscow and their family members and community who stay behind in Shabboda mahalla in rural Fergana, Uzbekistan. By ethnographically attending to the experiences of Uzbek migrants and their left-behind communities, I will try to demonstrate the everydayness of material, emotional, social, and symbolic networks and exchanges that connect Shabboda mahalla (neighborhood community) to Moscow. More specifically, I will show how the bonds of ‘mahalladoshlik’ (shared mahalla origin) and mahalla-level social relations (e.g. hashar (reciprocity), trust, obligation, age hierarchies, gossips and social sanctions) are reproduced and maintained across distance, through smartphones and social media, and have identifiable impact on the outcomes of many practices that Uzbek migrants (and other actors) engage with in Moscow. This paper is based on ethnographic material gathered between January 2014 and May 2017 in Moscow, Russia and Fergana, Uzbekistan. (for a total thirteen months).
Avdelning/ar
- Rättssociologiska institutionen
Publiceringsår
2018-07-25
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
27-41
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Eurasia on the Move. Interdisciplinary Approaches to a Dynamic Migration Region
Fulltext
- Available as PDF - 153 kB
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Länkar
Dokumenttyp
Del av eller Kapitel i bok
Förlag
The George Washington University, Central Asia Program
Ämne
- International Migration and Ethnic Relations
- Law and Society
- Globalization Studies
Nyckelord
- Transnational migration
- Russia
- Migrant Transnationalism
- Central Asia
- Smartphones and Social Media
- Uzbek Migrants
Aktiv
Published
Projekt
- Migration and Legal Cultures in Post-Soviet Societies: Ethnographic Study of Uzbek Migrant Workers and Their Families
- Migration, Shadow Economy and Parallel Legal Orders in Russia
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISBN: 978-0-9996214-2-4