Material cultures, migrations, and identities : what the eye cannot see PDF
Preview Material cultures, migrations, and identities : what the eye cannot see
Material Cultures, Migrations, and Identities Material Cultures, Migrations, and Identities What the Eye Cannot See Anna Pechurina LecturerinSociology,LeedsBeckettUniversity,UK ©AnnaPechurina2015 Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission. Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency, SaffronHouse,6–10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS. Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages. Theauthorhasassertedherrighttobeidentifiedastheauthorofthis workinaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988. Firstpublished2015by PALGRAVEMACMILLAN PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited, registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke, HampshireRG216XS. PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC, 175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010. PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld. Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates, theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries. ISBN 978-1-349-56613-6 ISBN 978-1-137-32178-7 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-137-32178-7 Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe countryoforigin. AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. AcatalogrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress. Contents ListofTables viii Acknowledgements ix Introduction 1 Thefivewavesofmigration 6 Bookoutline 8 Part I DiasporicHomes, Identities, and Communities 1 TheMeaningofDiasporicHomesandIdentities 15 Theconceptof‘imaginedcommunities’ 15 Imaginedcommunities/transnationalismanddiasporas 15 Explanationofterminology:Fromnationtonation-ness 22 ResearchintoRussiannessandRussianidentity:Key assumptions 26 2 ‘New’WaysofAccessingDiasporicHomesand CommunitiesinSocialResearch 29 Thestudiesofdiasporicidentityandhomemaking 29 Multidimensionalconceptofhome 30 Diasporicobjects:Thenationaltasteofhome 34 Casestudy1:DiasporicobjectsofRussianmigrantsin theUK 38 Casestudy2:Diasporicclothingpracticesandfashion 45 Part II Researching Russianness: ADiscussionof Methods 3 ResearchingRussianness:ADiscussionofMethods 63 Theinterviewmethodandhowitcanbeadaptedto homestudies 63 Studyinghomesvisually 66 Studyingthesensoryhome 70 v vi Contents Summary 73 Ethicalissuesofcommunity-basedethnographic researchofhome 74 Studyingone’sowncommunityandthe insider/outsiderdilemma 74 Protectingparticipants’identityinethnographic researchofhome 79 Tokeeportoleave?Participants’identitiesandthe analysisofvisualdata 82 Conclusion:Theethicsofethnographic community-basedresearch 84 Part III InterpretingResearchResults: Objects andHomes inImmigration 4 ObjectsandIdentities:ResearchingMigrants’Lives throughHomePossessions 89 LookingfortheRussian‘theme’/‘apieceofRussia’inthe home 89 Remindersofplaces 91 VisualimagesofRussia 92 Functionalthings 92 SpatialorganisationofRussianobjects 93 Modernisinghomesinimmigration:Folk,Soviet, post-Soviet 93 Themultiplicityofthemeaningsofthings 96 RussiankitschinRussianhomes 97 Waysofbeing:‘acceptors’and‘refusers’ 100 Thechangeablemeaningsofsymbolicitems 103 5 FoodandCookingPractices 114 Thekeycharacteristicsandmeaningsoffoodwithin Sovietandpost-Sovietculture 119 Nationalfoodinimmigration 125 6 Conclusion.InterpretingResearchResults:Diasporic ObjectsorDiasporicHomes? 132 Casestudy3:Alla’s‘museum’ofRussianness 133 TheatmospheresofRussianness 137 Contents vii Researchingidentitythroughthematerialcultureofthe homeandhomemakingpracticesanditspotentialfor futureresearch 141 Appendix:ListofParticipants 148 Theelderlyparticipants 148 Recentmigrants 149 Thesettledmigrants 150 Notes 156 Bibliography 160 Index 170 Tables 2.1 Femaleparticipantsinterviewedin2011–2013 48 viii Acknowledgements This monograph brings to completion a project on which I have workedintensivelysince2006andwhichbeganattheUniversityof Manchester as a PhD thesis on Russian migrants’ homes. There are several people who more than others recognised and supported my effortfromthestarttotheend. IamgratefultomyPhDsupervisorProfessorCarolSmartforhelp- fulcriticalandsupportiveguidancethroughthedoctoralprocessand forherinvaluablecommentsonthestructureofthismonograph. I am also grateful to the anonymous reviewers of the early drafts fortheirconstructivecomments. For more recent consultation, I would like to thank Natalia Makarov,DrKathyBurrell,andDrElenaKatz. I would like to express my gratitude to the Centre for Applied SocialResearch(CeASR)atLeedsBeckettUniversityforfinancialhelp with the copy editing of this book. I cannot thank my copy edi- tor Ben MacDiarmid enough; he bravely agreed to deal with all my grammaticalmistakes(includingthoseonthispage). Parts of this book have been published elsewhere. Original titles andsourcesofpublicationareacknowledgedasfollows: ‘Positionality and Ethics in the Qualitative Research of Migrants’ Homes’,publishedinSociologicalResearchOnline,19(1)4(2014). ‘Russian Dolls, Icons, and Pushkin: Practicing Cultural Iden- tity through Material Possessions in Immigration’ in Laboratorium: RussianReviewofSocialResearch,3(3)(2011),pp.97–117(URL:http:// www.soclabo.org/index.php/laboratorium/article/view/266). I am indebted to many colleagues and my great female friends who supported me intellectually and listened to my ideas: Olga Gurova, Alina Withers, Marina Korotkikh, Elena Minina, Louise Wattis, Natalia Smalley, Elena Anastasieva, Karina Orlova, Eugenie Stapert,BethanHarris,andmanyotherswhohelpedinvariousways duringthecompletionofthisbook. I am heartily grateful to all the Russian-speaking participants in this study. I had the pleasure and privilege of meeting them and ix
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