Post-Soviet Transnational Urban Communities: Odessites, Petersburgers and Bakuvians at Home and Abroad
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Dissertation Post-Soviet Transnational Urban Communities: Odessites, Petersburgers and Bakuvians at Home and Abroad Sevil Huseynova Philosophische Fakultät I Institut für Europäische Ethnologie der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Präsidentin: Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. Sabine Kunst Dekanin: Prof. Dr. Gabriele Metzler Gutachter: Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Kaschuba Gutachterin: Prof. Dr. Regina Römhild Datum der Verteidigung: 23.11.2018 ZUSAMMENFASSUNG Die Dissertationsarbeit ist der Erforschung des Phänomens der Transformation der urbanen und lokalen Identität im Rahmen des Migrationsprozesses nach dem Zerfall der Sowjetunion gewidmet. Eine erhebliche Migrationswelle russischsprachiger Migrant*innen aus postsowjetischen Städten hat sich in den europäischen Ländern niedergelassen. Die Forschung wurde auf drei Ebenen und in vier Städten durchgeführt (Berlin, Sankt-Petersburg, Odessa und Baku). 1. Einer der wichtigsten Fokusse der Forschung ist die vergleichende Geschichte der Entwicklung der drei Städte – Sankt-Petersburg (Russland), Odessa (Ukraine) und Baku (Aserbaidschan), die als Räume im Kontext urbaner Gesellschaft und Habitus konstruiert wurden. Diese drei Städte haben verschiedene, aber auch besondere Rollen in der Geschichte des Russischen Reichs und der Sowjetunion gespielt. Der wichtigste geschichtliche Zeitraum ist mit der Europäisierung des Russischen Reichs verbunden. Es sind nämlich diese vier ausgewählten Städte, in denen die Deutschen eine wichtige Rolle spielten (ebenso wie die Franzosen, Italiener und andere Einwanderer europäischer Länder), die zu verschiedenen Zeiten s die größten Stätten dieses Prozesses wurden. Dieser Faktor bestimmt weitgehend die Spezifität des urbanen Habitus (Lebensraum). 2. Der zweite Fokus liegt auf der urbanen Gesellschaft der Bürger*innen Sank- Petersburgs, Odessas und Bakus. Zur Zeit hat die jeweilige Gesellschaft in ihren Heimatstädten, nachdem sie massive Auswanderungen und den Zustrom von Menschen aus anderen Städten oder ruralen Räumen erlebt hat, einen Teil ihres Einflusses sowie ihrer dominanten Position verloren. Aber in diesem Kontext der Verluste, haben die Mitglieder der urbanen Gesellschaft, auch durch die rasante Entwicklung der digitalen Kommunikation die Möglichkeit erhalten, transnationale Netzwerke zu entwickeln. Institutionen, die eine besondere Rolle bei der Schaffung solcher Netzwerke spielten, sind zu städtischen Clubs geworden, die 1990-1991 in St. Petersburg, Odessa und Baku gegründet wurden. Die Spezifität der Gesellschaft und des urbanen Habitus wurde parallel zum Studium der städtischen Klubs untersucht. 3. Der dritte wichtige Fokus liegt auf den sozialen Netzwerken der Bürger*innen von St. Petersburg, Odessa und Baku in Deutschland, u.a. in Berlin. Sowie auf der Institution – „Urban Clubs“, die von Aktivist*innen der urbanen Gesellschaft im Rahmen der Jüdischen Gemeinde Berlin, Anfang der 2000er gegründet wurden. Die Praxis der Netzwerk- und Vereinsgründung ermöglicht es Migrant*innen, auf symbolische Weise ihre gewohnten Lebensbedingungen zu rekonstruieren und bestimmt so die Besonderheit ihrer Integration in die deutsche Aufnahmegesellschaft. Eine solche Studie erlaubt es, die innere Vielfalt einer sich als „russischsprachige Juden“ definierenden Gruppe zu beschreiben. Zusätzlich trägt sie auch dazu bei, die Diskussion über die Prinzipien der Integrationspolitik in Deutschland anzuregen. 1 ABSTRACT This dissertation is devoted to the study of the transformation of urban local identity in the context of migration processes after the collapse of the USSR. The study was conducted in four cities and countries, and it may be outlined, as follows, by its three most important areas of focus. 1. It offers a comparative history of the development of St Petersburg (Russia), Odessa (Ukraine) and Baku (Azerbaijan) as socio-cultural spaces, within which urban communities were created and urban habitus was designed. All three cities played distinctive and influential roles in the history of the Russian Empire and later in the USSR. The most important period in their history is connected with Europeanisation of the Russian Empire. These cities, at different times, became the largest hearths of this process, in which Germans (as well as the French, Italians and residents of other European countries) moved to St Petersburg, Odessa and Baku in the 18-19th centuries. This history largely determines the specificity of the cities’ urban habitus, respectively. 2. Research is focused on the urban communities of Petersburgers, Odessites and Bakuvians, which are presently experiencing mass emigration and an influx of population from other cities or rural areas. These communities remaining in their hometowns have lost some influence and status, but in the context of this loss, and due to the rapid development of digital communications, members of these urban communities have also created transnational networks. The city clubs established in St. Petersburg, Odessa and Baku in 1990-1991 have played a special role in creating such networks. Specifics of the communities and their urban habitus have been studied in parallel with the research concerning urban club activities. 3. Social networking practices of members of these urban communities are studied, with focus on immigrants in Germany, and Berlin in particular. Club creation practices allow migrants to symbolically reconstruct familiar living conditions and define the specifics of their integration into the host community (in Germany). Such research makes it possible to describe the internal diversity of the group defined as Russian-speaking Jews, and contributes to discussion about integration policy principles. 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is based on my doctoral thesis at the Humboldt Institute for European Ethnology, Humboldt University in Berlin. First of all, I would like to thank my research supervisor, Professor Dr. Wolfgang Kaschuba. As director of the institute, he created and maintained an atmosphere of warmth and consistent support, without which this book could hardly have been completed. My special thanks to Prof. Dr. Regina Roemhild, who kindly agreed to be my second research supervisor, and whose valuable comments helped me enormously in dealing with many of the complex issues that arose in the course of my research and work on the book. Thanks to both of their mentorship, I remain largely unfamiliar with the bureaucratic aspects of my thesis work in Germany. I should add that this book is the culmination of several projects – foremost, the DAAD (German Academic Exchange Service) program, through which I was able to move to Berlin for my thesis work. Five years prior to arriving in the German capital in 2010, I was a fellow of the Scholarship Program for Young Researchers at the Heinrich Boell Foundation's South Caucasus Regional Office, examining the everyday life of Armenians in post-Soviet Baku. For this formative opportunity, which continues to shape my interest in urban communities, I thank Walter Kaufmann and Nino Lejava. I extend my thanks as well to Viktor Voronkov, the Director of the Independent Sociological Research Center in St. Petersburg, and expert in the Boell Foundation scholarship program. With his help, and with the support of the same Boell Foundation, I was plunged into the City on the Neva for the first time as a researcher, in the spring of 2007. Throughout this research, the CISR St. Petersburg was my second home, and Voronkov was always ready to share his memories of his hometown. And for the chance to closer acquaint myself with the everyday life of Leningraders/Petersburgers in the late Soviet decades – and for her unfailing friendliness and help– I would like to express my deep gratitude to Elena Zdravomyslova. My research, to a large extent, has been carried out within the walls of the ZWST, the Jewish Community of Berlin, and in the city clubs of Odessa, St. Petersburg and Baku (both in Berlin and the hometowns). For the openness and willingness to share their memories and thoughts with me, I would like to thank the leaders and members of these organizations and clubs: Joseph Vardi, Elmira Ashrafova, Adik Bayramov, Michael Misozhnik, Evgeniya Livschits, Elena Lourie, Semen Aledort, Michael Kom, Leonid Rukman, Olga Orlova. And, of course, I express my deep gratitude to all my interview partners, the many wonderful people whose memories transported me into the fascinating atmosphere of three unique cities, and allowed me to feel a bit like a member of the urban communities of St. Petersburg, Odessa and Baku. It only remains to dedicate this dissertation to my family. Their support has taken a variety of forms and their faith in me has been an ongoing source of motivation to continue this work. 3 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................6-14 CHAPTER I: Imagined Urban Communities: Theoretical Approaches and Methodology Research Cases.........................................................................................................15-16 Category of ‘Identity’………………………………………………………………16-18 Ethnicity and Nationality: from Soviet to post-Soviet……………………………..18-21 Urban communities in the context of diasporal discourse………………………….21-26 Transnationality and Translocality…………………………………………………27-28 The styles in which the post-Soviet urban communities are imagined…………….29-31 Social Capital and Urban Habitus………………………………………………….31-37 Urban communities and the work of imagination………………………………….37-42 Individuality of Cities: the