Far Eastern Borderlands: Informal Networks and Space at the Margins of the Russian State

在一个日益全球化的世界中，边境地区为研究社会经济变化的方向和速度提供了一个非常有趣的切入点。 该项目是对俄罗斯东北部的楚科奇和东南部的普里莫尔两个后苏联边境地区的比较民族志研究。 前苏联的这两个地区特别令人感兴趣，因为主要人口是少数民族，在社会和地理上被多数社会和政治结构边缘化，但在当代地缘政治形势下，他们占据了与两个经济政治超级大国中国和美国的边界。 作为研究的一部分，PI将调查商品流动，全球流动性，边界空间和非正式经济等问题，以及这些问题如何影响当地社会结构和占据这一多孔边境景观的人们的文化身份。 使用多种方法：该项目将利用参与者观察、档案研究、非正式访谈和调查以及谷歌地图地理可视化工具来促进对实际空间社会模式的了解，从而能够更深入地分析两个边境地区的个人非正式网络和社区社交网络以及空间上的经济做法。

In an increasingly globalized world, borderlands provide a very interesting point of investigation of the direction and pace of socio-economic change. This project is comparative ethnographic research of two post-Soviet border zones, Chukotka in the North East and Primore in the southeastern region of Russia. These two regions of the former Soviet Union are of particular interest because the main populations are ethnic minority peoples marginalized both socially and geographically by the majority social and political structure yet in the contemporary geopolitical situation, they occupy the borders with two economic-political super powers, China and the US. As part of his research, the PI will investigate such issues as commodity flow, global mobilities, border space, and informal economies and how these affect local social structures and cultural identities of the people that occupy this porous borderland landscape. Using multiple methodologies: participant observations, archival research, informal interviews and surveys and a Google map-based geo-visualization tool to facilitate an understanding of social pattern in physical space, the project will be able to analyze individual informal networks and community social networks, as well as spatially embedded economic practices, in both border zones in greater depth.