Russian Migration Research in Transnational Discourse: Theoretical and Empirical Aspects

Transmigration has been one of the most intensely studied and promising themes in contemporary migration research. In Russian historiography, transnationalism and transmigratory processes, with a certain delay, became the focus of research attention in the 2000s, and we are currently seeing a rise in publications on these phenomena. The mentioned delay can be accounted for by some objective historical processes which were taking place in the post-Soviet space, including intensification of migration flows and change in their quantitative and qualitative characteristics. The 1990s migration from post-Soviet countries, which consisted in constant movement (the Russians’ mass return to their historical homeland; refugees trying to escape from ethnic conflicts and oppression, etc.), has now turned into temporary (transit and circular) labour and educational migration from “near-abroad” countries and beyond. According to the new UN DESA report, today, the Russian Federation (RF) ranks second in the world in terms of the number of migrants (12 million people) after the USA. Thus, integrating migrants already living in the country and regulating new arrivals is a pressing issue for Russia. The hypothesis behind the research presented here is based on distinguishing features of current migration processes in Russia. We hypothesise that Russian scholars choose different lines of research and theoretical approaches in transmigration research, compared to their international counterparts, due to the country’s geopolitical position and the nature of transmigratory flows it experiences. Due to the article’s limited volume, we cannot give a complete overview of Russian publications on transmigration issues here. Instead, we offer an analysis of transmigration scholarship in Russia, its methodological premises, and major trends in its development.