RESEARCH OF BORDERS AND FRONTIER COMMUNITIES
(BORDER STUDIES)
Exlinea
(2005)
This research project entailed the search for and analysis of newspaper articles that appeared in "The Saint-Petersburg News" (1991-2005) devoted to the Russian-Finnish border. The goals of the project were: to reconstruct the key images of the Russian-Finnish border, to analyse mass media representations of border collaboration, and to identify the basic social problems connected with the border. The results of the project were written up in a report.
Researcher: Olga Brednikova.
Supported by the University of Joensuu (Finland).
Between Russia, Mongolia and China:
Mongolian "Shuttles" in Russian Borderlands
(2004-2005)
Coordinator: Maria Kudriavtseva.
The research aimed to study the phenomenon of "economic migration" of Mongols ("shuttles" - small pendulum merchants) on the border between Russia and Mongolia, to reveal local economic practices, and to research the process of forming the Mongolian community and the problems of its integration in the Russian border town of Kyakhta. The research used qualitative methods including observation and interviews.
Participant from CISR: Maria Kudriavtseva.
Supported by the Interregional Institutes of Social Sciences programme of the ISE Center (Irkutsk State University).
Narrating "National" at the Margins:
Seto and Cossack Identity in the Russian-Estonian Borderlands
(2004-2005)
The aim of the project was to examine the intersection of state-scale nationalisation projects, enacted through the border, and local-scale narratives and enactments of Seto and Cossack identity. This involves a three-way interaction including the two states' nationalising discourses and practices in the border zone, the way in which these state-scale discourses and practices activate Seto and Cossack narratives and enactments of place and identity in the borderland, and finally the way Seto and Cossack discourses and practices interact with one another. In each of these intersecting multiscalar networks, identity is re-narrated and re-enacted in specifically gendered ways. The study used Ghassan Hage's (1996) work on the sociospatial contexts within which "motherland" and "fatherland" discourses predominate to explore the gender dimension of Seto and Cossack narratives and performances of place and identity. The methods of the study: in-depth interviews, observation, textual analysis. The study was a part of the project "The Cultural Politics of Memory in the Estonian-Russian Borderlands" (2003-2006) and was finalised in the article forthcoming in 2006.
Researcher: Elena Nikiforova.
Supported by the CISR, the Kone Foundation and the Academy of Sciences (Finland).
Border Research: EU and Russia
(2004)
Project of the Karelian Institute at the University of Joensuu (Finland).
Coordinator: Petri Virtanen (Karelian Institute).
The aim of the project was to find relevant articles and to analyse the debate about the Russian-Finnish border as it is presented in the newspapers "Leningradskaia Pravda", "Vesti" and "Sankt-Peterburgskie vedomosti (The Saint-Petersburg News)" for the period from 1990 to 2001. The work culminated in a report.
Participants from CISR: Olga Brednikova, Elena Nikiforova.
Supported by the Interreg II Programme.
NGO and Media Framing of Cross Border Issues
(2003-2004)
Coordinator: Maria Tysiachniouk.
The goal of the project was to study the network of interrelations among environmental NGOs in China and Russia in the context of resolving transborder environmental problems. The methods included: semi-structured interviews (108 in the course of three trips), conversations and fieldnotes based on observations, and the collection of printed and electronic materials.
Participants: Maria Tysiachniouk, Svetlana Pchelkina.
Supported by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX).
Russian-Mongolian Border: Prototype of Eurasiaregion?
(2003-2004)
Joint project with the Centre for Independent Social Research and Education (Irkutsk).
Coordinator: Olga Brednikova (CISR).
The research hoped to illuminate the concept of the "borderland phenomenon" (in the towns of Kyakhta, Republic of Buryatia, and Altyn-Bulag, Mongolia) and to analyse the process of forming "Euroasiaregions" (similar to "Euroregions") as new centres for the development of outlying transboundary territories of two states. Attention was focused on the exploration of border resources and restrictions, and also on common ground for cooperation and confrontation in the organisation of borderland inhabitants' everyday life. Within the project, new overlapping/diverse structures and practices were investigated and the informal borderland economy was studied. The project used qualitative methodology: in-depth interviews, observation, and discursive analysis of documents.
Participants from CISR: Olga Brednikova, Maria Kudriavtseva.
Supported by the Ford Foundation.
"Window to Europe": Contemporary Russian Borders and Processes of Re-(De-) Territorisation
(The Case of the Russian-Estonian Boderland)
(2003-2004)
The research focused on studying "new borderland" and the processes of re-(de-)territorisation connected with national construction in post-Soviet space on the one hand, and with the processes of globalisation which had removed the borders between the states, on the other. The tasks of the research were as follows: to show the role of the state frontiers in the organisation and reproduction of social life and its localisation at the borderland, to reconstruct the meanings ascribed to the contemporary Russian frontier, and to determine basic categories for structuring the everyday life of borderland inhabitants. The objects of the research were the so-called divided cities of Ivangorod and Narva located on the Russian-Estonian border. The basic methods of the research were in-depth expert and biographical interviews, observation and discursive analysis of documents.
Researcher: Olga Brednikova.
Supported by the IISS (Interregional Institutes of Social Sciences) programme of the ISE Center, the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies (USA) with the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
New Russian Borders and Modern Cossacks Renaissance
(2000-2001)
This project focused on thešrole of new Russian borders in thešCossacks' identity construction. Special attention was paid to thešCossacks in "non-Cossacks'" regions. ThešCossacks' revival was explored in thešcontext of thešmodern contemporary border discourse. Thešstate position towards borders, thešCossacks' vision on borders and border protection, and thešpresentation of Cossacks in thešmass-media were analyzed.
Researcher: Elena Nikiforova.
Supported by thešCISR.
Transforming Social Meanings and Discursive Reproduction of Borders of Current Russia
(2000-2001)
Thešaims of thešproject: to select main discursive strategies of theš(re)production of current borders of Russia (national, political, territorial, social, symbolical etc.); to reconstruct and interpret thešsenses ascribed to thešborder; to correlate "high" discourse (ideological discourse fixed in thešstate documents and texts of thešmass-media, reproducing thešofficial concept of thešborder) and daily one. Ašretrospective analysis of transforming social meanings of Soviet and post-Soviet borders was carried out.
Researcher: Olga Brednikova.
Supported by thešEuropean University at St.šPetersburg and thešCISR.
Discursive Reproduction of Russian Borders: Rhetoric of Soviet "Iron Curtain" and Post-Soviet "Gates to Europe"
(2000)
Thešresearch was aimed at deconstruction and analysis of mechanisms of discursive reproduction of thešborder between Russia and Finland. Newspaper publications covering border issues, texts of interviews with people with thešexperience of dealing with thešborder, as well as "life stories" (so-called Petersburg folklore), were used as ašmaterial to be analyzed.
Researcher: Olga Brednikova.
Supported by thešCISR.
Frontier People: Setus and Cossacks
(1999-2001)
Thešproject was ašcontinuation of thešresearch on thešSetu ethnic group living in thešRussian-Estonian borderland, and ašstarting point in studying thešcurrent "revival" of thešCossacks. Thešproject explored ašfrontier factor in thešhistory of thešformation of two groups - thešSetus and thešCossacks.
Researcher: Elena Nikiforova.
Supported by thešCISR.
Border-Crossing in Manifest Perceptions and Actual Needs
(1999-2000)
Thešresearch conducted within Pepsi-Lake project (Tartu, Estonia) was devoted to theštransformation of social space of thešRussian-Estonian borderland as ašresult of theštransformation of political space. Thešresearch methods: participant observation, problem-oriented interviews, analysis of local press sources.
Participants: Olga Brednikova, Elena Nikiforova.
Supported by thešCISR.
Border in thešCountryside: New Cultural Scenarios
(1999-2000)
Thešaim of thešproject was to consider thešRussian-Estonian borderland as ašspecial cultural space and to analyze thešprocess of new emerging groups in thešPechora area of thešRussian borderland - Setu and Kossaks - who use thešborder as ašresource, their strategies concerning border, thešprobable scenarios of their mutual relation. Thešbasic methods of thešresearch were: participant observation, problem-oriented and biographical interviews.
Researcher: Elena Nikiforova.
Supported by thešCISR.
"Life in Borderland": New Strategies and Solidarities
(1998-1999)
Coordinator: Viktor Voronkov.
Thešproject was aimed at studying thešsocial consequences of aš"new" border between Russia and Estonia (ašcase of thešdivided town of Narva/Ivangorod); transforming social borders as ašresult of transformation of political borders, and observation of "life in borderland", i.e.: forming practices, new behavioral strategies and solidarity of people under these conditions.
Participants: Olga Brednikova, Elena Nikiforova.
Supported by thešHeinrich Boell Foundation and thešCISR.
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