Webbläsaren som du använder stöds inte av denna webbplats. Alla versioner av Internet Explorer stöds inte längre, av oss eller Microsoft (läs mer här: * https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/windows/end-of-ie-support).

Var god och använd en modern webbläsare för att ta del av denna webbplats, som t.ex. nyaste versioner av Edge, Chrome, Firefox eller Safari osv.

Bild på Rustam

Rustamjon Urinboyev

Docent

Bild på Rustam

Smartphone Transnationalism in Non-Western Migration Regimes: Transnational Ethnography of Uzbek Migrant Workers in Russia

Författare

  • Rustam Urinboyev

Redaktör

  • Rano Tuareva
  • Rustamjon Urinboyev

Summary, in English

There is an extensive research that explores the reproduction of transnational communities and relations, with a particular focus on locality, identity and culture. However, the existing research emanates from the case studies of immigrant communities in Western-type democracies, while we know little about migrant transnationalism in non-Western migration regimes such as Russia, where migrant workers are subjected to numerous human rights abuses and cannot publicly and overtly engage in transnational practices. Moreover, the role of new media, such as smartphones and social media, in migrant transnationalism remains under-researched. Given the socio-political and cultural differences between Western and post-Soviet societies, we cannot assume that the methodological tools and theoretical perspectives developed in Western contexts are necessarily applicable to Russia, where the repressive socio-political environment, the lack of democratic culture and arbitrary law enforcement leave little room for migrant legalization, transnational activism and collective mobilization. The above considerations inform my position in this chapter, which is intended to contribute to the debates on migrant transnationalism and informality literature in two distinct ways. I present the results of extensive multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork undertaken in Moscow, Russia, and Ferghana region, Uzbekistan. My case study looks at Uzbek migrants in Moscow and their families and communities in Shabboda village in Ferghana. Unlike in Western countries, where migrants establish relatively functional transnational communities, there is little in the way of ‘Uzbek transnational community’ in Russia due to the restrictive legal environment and anti-migrant sentiment. Even though Uzbek migrants’ transnational activism is hardly visible in public places, I argue that rapid improvements in communication technologies (e.g. smartphones and social media) have enabled Uzbek migrants to stay in touch with their home societies, as well as create permanent, smartphone-based translocal communities in Moscow, usually centred around migrants who hail from the same mahalla or village in Uzbekistan. The existence of this smartphone-based transnational environment helps migrants cope with the challenges of musofirchilik (being alien) and avoid or manoeuver around structural constraints such as complicated residence registration and work permit rules, social exclusion, racism and the lack of social security.

Avdelning/ar

  • Rättssociologiska institutionen

Publiceringsår

2021-05-27

Språk

Engelska

Sidor

89-113

Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie

Routledge BASEES series

Dokumenttyp

Del av eller Kapitel i bok

Förlag

Routledge

Ämne

  • International Migration and Ethnic Relations
  • Law and Society

Status

Published

Projekt

  • Migration, Shadow Economy and Parallel Legal Orders in Russia
  • Migration and Legal Cultures in Post-Soviet Societies: Ethnographic Study of Uzbek Migrant Workers and Their Families
  • Legal Cultures and Business Environments in Central Asia
  • The Multilevel Orders of Corruption - Insights from a Post-Soviet Context

ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt

  • ISBN: 978-1-032-01014-4
  • ISBN: 978-1-003-17676-3