Event

Russian nationalism and xenophobia: the regional dimension

Most studies of contemporary Russian nationalism – be it the state-sponsored version or the kinds espoused by the opposition or more marginal fringe groups – are devoted to the federal level discourse. At this seminar, we aim to bring in the regional dimension.

21 September 2015

10:00 Europe/Oslo

Language: English

NUPI

Seminar

Themes

Two case studies carried out within the NEORUSS project will be presented:

The Frontier of the North: Russian Ethnic Nationalism in the Komi Republic
Anastasia Mitrofanova, Chair of Political Science, Church–State Relations and the Sociology of Religion, Russian Orthodox University of St John the Divine, Moscow

The nationalist organisation ‘The Frontier of the North’ unites ethnic Russians and Komi in the Komi Republic. Unlike most other regionally based organizations, it has made it to the national headlines thanks to its ability to address emerging local concerns using direct action techniques. At the same time the activities of the organisation also reflect a relatively new trend in Russian and European nationalism: the organisation distances itself from electoral politics and concentrates on social activities such as sports, musical events, etc. rather than on ideology and political programmes.

Regional Faces of Every-Day Xenophobia in Russia: Comparing Moscow and Krasnodar
Natalya Kosmarskaya, Senior Researcher, Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow

What are the regional specifics of public attitudes towards various ethnic groups among labour migrants in Russia? The presentation draws on case studies of two regions with large migrant communities: Moscow, where Central Asian migrants are both most numerous and most visible, and the city of Krasnodar, a city where representatives of various peoples hailing from the adjacent North Caucasus republics have lived for decades. Kosmarskaya will present results from in-depth interviews with the ‘old residents’ of the two cities to explore differences and similarities in attitudes towards ‘the migrants’.

This is the twelfth and final round of our ‘New Russian Nationalism’ seminar series, a series of quarterly presentations on various aspects of Russian nationalism and part of the research project ‘Nation-building, nationalism and the new “other” in today’s Russia’, a joint project between NUPI and the University of Oslo funded by the Research Council of Norway under the NORRUSS programme.

Programme 10.00 - 11.30:

Anastasia Mitrofanov: ‘The Frontier of the North: Russian Ethnic Nationalism in the Komi Republic’
Natalya Kosmarskaya: ‘Regional Faces of Every-Day Xenophobia in Russia: Comparing Moscow and Krasnodar’
Q&A