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Subject-subject or subject-object relationships?

Subject-subject or subject-object relationships?. The practicalities of doing qualitative research in Russian-speaking migrants in London Darya Malyutina UCL Department of Geography. Some history. Russian migration to the UK in its current size is a recent phenomenon

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Subject-subject or subject-object relationships?

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  1. Subject-subject or subject-object relationships? The practicalities of doing qualitative research in Russian-speaking migrants in London Darya Malyutina UCL Department of Geography

  2. Some history • Russian migration to the UK in its current size is a recent phenomenon • Since the beginning of the 20th century – intellectuals, politicians, and revolutionaries • Migration increased after the break-up of the Soviet Union • Diaspora established and started to grow rapidly 10-15 years ago

  3. Figures • Exact number of migrants from the FSU in London and the UK – still unclear! • In London – estimated between 300,000 and 500,000 • Top nationalities for UK visa applications: Indian (19%) Nigerian (8%), Pakistani and Chinese (each 7%), and Russian nationals (6%) • Year 2007: 258,000 Russian people given a leave to enter to UK (Home Office, 2008; Danzelman, 2009) Of those, 82,500 (business visitors, students, work permit holders, spouses of UK citizens) are most likely to stay for long and become members of the diaspora

  4. Infrastructure • The Embassy, two Orthodox churches, at least one newspaperexist for more than half a century • Cultural organizations (The Russian Speaking Community Council, Pushkin House etc.), cultural production and promotion organizations like Eventica and Ensemble Productions • At least 13 schools • Around 10 newspapers and magazines • More than 20 restaurants • More than 100 shops • …and a lot of law firms

  5. Settlement and social stratification • “…no area of compacted habitation” (Russian Embassy) • Disperse character of settlement, largely class-defined • Presence of all social layers and occupational categories in the community

  6. Case study 1Relationships between migrants: bar ethnography • Initial insight into the social life of Russian-speaking community: ethnographic study of a Russian bar. • Aimed to show how sociality and friendship ties are sustained and reproduced in a definite place relevant to migrants’ community.

  7. Case study 1Methods and objectives • February-June 2009 • Method: participant observation • Focused on the following areas: • the bar environment; • the history of the bar; • relationships of various types: a) between owner and staff; b) among bartenders; c) between staff and customers; d) among customers (Russian-speaking staff and customers were regarded separately from non-Russian speakers).

  8. Case study 2Networks and friendship in the migrant community • Friendship and networking - important source of social capital and help maintaining social cohesion • Aimed at exploring the more general networking process among Russian-speaking migrants in London

  9. Case study 2Methods • January-July 2010 • Narrative interviewing of a sample of Russian-speaking migrants selected by snowball technique (25 people) • Respondents tell stories about how they got acquainted with all London-based Russian-speakers whose numbers they have in their mobile phonebooks • The biggest possible variety of respondents’ social statuses

  10. Problems of access and establishing relationships Examples: • perception of the researcher as a KGB agent; • impossible to chase the person working as a butler for Berezovsky’s family; • non-motivated refuse from a very secretive lawyer

  11. Problems of sustaining relationships • Ethnography implies a high degree of involvement into the life of community • “Sometimes there is nothing to talk about with you. You are all about your science and books” • Hypocrisy in relationships for the sake of research?

  12. Problems of “tangible” character • i.e. physical risks • Alcohol consumption – very topical for our research • “I will give you an interview, but only if I am smoking at the same time. And if you are smoking with me.”

  13. Problems of the attitude to respondents • Are these people my friends or objects for study? • Some moments and patterns of communication become natural for your personal everyday life and fall out from your interest as a researcher • Too personal perception of certain interactions may bias your analysis

  14. Problems of researcher’s involvement and identity • “Looking-glass self”: created through the imagination of how one's self might be understood by another individual • Who am I – researcher or part of the group? • Fragmentation of personality

  15. He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you. Friedrich Nietzsche

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