Table Of ContentMaterial Cultures, Migrations, and Identities
Material Cultures,
Migrations, and Identities
What the Eye Cannot See
Anna Pechurina
LecturerinSociology,LeedsBeckettUniversity,UK
©AnnaPechurina2015
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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
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