Multi-sited Lives in Transnational Russia: Questions of identity, Belonging and Mutual Care

Abstract
The project consists of three interrelated studies that share a common methodology and put an emphasis on actors' perspectives. It will make a significant contribution to ethnographic research on transnational organization, communities and networking beyond national borders, in particular on understanding dynamic processes of identity formation. It will also focus on the impact of transnationalism on individual interaction, families, and the welfare of children. The project will produce important information to the growing body of state authorities in the field of public policies, education and health and various kinds of interaction between these and the common people.

The project combines the experience of anthropologists with long-term experience in studies of ethnic processes and mobility. The theoretical approach combines insights from transnational anthropology and multi-sited and multi-temporal ethnography that are pertinent for studying complex societies. The team starts with the basic assumption that Russia in flux needs to be seen in the context of globalization and from a transnational perspective. The fact that the borders between Finland and Russia have shifted several times has given rise to common cultural history and produced specific social groups on both sides of the common border: Finns in Russia and Russians in Finland, among others. Consequently, this study looks at the Finnish Russian borderland as a transnational space that is the outcome of long-term historical processes. Geographical and cognitive mobility across the borders has taken different forms, ranging from peaceful coexistence and cooperation to warfare and image construction.

Project leader: Academy Professor Ulla Vuorela, University of Tampere, Department of Sociology and Social Psychology; 33014 University of Tampere, tel. +358 (0)9 19123312, fax +358 (0)9 19123315, ulla.vuorela(at)helsinki.fi, www.minnaproject.net

Researchers:
Helena Jerman, University of Helsinki, helena.jerman(at)helsinki.fi
Petri Hautaniemi, University of Helsinki, petri.hautaniemi(at)helsinki.fi
Olga Davydova, University of Joensuu, olga.davydova(at)joensuu.fi
Tatyana Yarovaya, University of Tampere, tanya.yarovaya(at)mail.ru

Project description