Suchergebnisse

The case study discusses how to do an ethnographic research of informal economic practices. It describes the implementation of ethnographic methods in the study of informal trade on the European Union external border between Lithuania and Belarus. Two features of informal economy make it a challenging research subject. On one hand, informal economy in a broad sense is dispersed over a myriad of taken-for-granted routinized daily practices and may be invisible for an external observer. On the other hand, informal economy is a sensitive topic as it often presupposes illicit aspects. As this case shows, the study of informal economic practices requires creative engagement with traditional ethnographic methods (participant observation, interviews) and their combination with methods from other disciplines such as history, for example. The author analyzes her first steps in ethnographic research and the strategies of building the chain of contacts in the unknown environment. She also gives experience-based advises on how to overcome the sense of frustration and hopelessness that frequently accompanies fieldwork.

1. Shuttle trade in Asmjany : contextualizing oral history research -- 2. Shuttle trade and borders in Asmjany before the disintegration of the USSR -- 3. The emergence of national borders, the flourishing of trade : shuttle trade in Asmjany in the early 1990s -- 4. Maturation of the border, professionalization of shuttle trade (1994-2007) -- 5. Persistence of the border, disappearance of trade? : shuttle trade in Asmjany after Schengen (2007-2011) -- 6. Shuttle trade and gender relations : a female world in a provincial border town.

The article is based on a qualitative study of how Polishness is constructed in personal narratives about Karta Polaka (the Polish Card, Polish Charter). The interviews with possessors of the Polish Card, a document issued by the Polish state to the citizens of the former USSR identifying themselves as Poles, was conducted in 2015 in the city of Hrodna in western Belarus. The article uses the example of Karta Polaka to show how people who apply for the Polish Card perceive, negotiate, and reconstruct the idea of Polishness that this document implies. The author suggests that the demand for Karta Polaka among citizens of Belarus cannot be explained by ethnic opportunism entirely. Pragmatic and symbolic reasoning to apply for the document often overlap. Moreover, as the author argues, Karta Polaka evokes the process of negotiating ethnic belonging among participants of the study. The article departs from the theoretical standpoint that ethnic belonging is neither merely a matter of individual choice nor a passive absorption of ethnic discourses produced by states, laws, or ethnic entrepreneurs. Combining the premises of performative and dialogical approaches to identity construction, the author shows empirically which discourses influence people's sense of ethnic belonging and how these discourses are negotiated in their personal stories.

Durch den Fokus auf die politische Verfasstheit des Staates gilt Belarus als wenig dynamische Gesellschaft. Mit dieser Überblicksdarstellung über unterschiedliche Formen von Migration in, aus und durch die Republik Belarus möchten wir die Grundrisse einer Gesellschaft in Bewegung zeichnen. Anliegen dieses Textes ist es dabei einerseits eine Vielzahl ganz unterschiedlicher Migrationsströme als Summe individueller Suchbewegungen darzustellen und in ein Verhältnis zu staatlichen Regulierungsmechanismen zu setzen. Die Relevanz von Belarus in der gesamteuropäischen Migrationskrise liegt darin, dass der Staat sowohl in Richtung der Europäischen Union Veränderungen an rechtlichen, wirtschaftlichen und politischen Migrationsregimen vornimmt, als auch innerhalb sowie an den Außengrenzen der Eurasischen Wirtschaftsunion die Durchlässigkeit der Grenzen steuern kann. Die Situativität dieser Regulierungen stellen wir anhand der Arbeitsmigration in Richtung Russland sowie anhand der Folgen des Krieges im Osten der Ukraine dar.

Introduction -- Transnational spaces of resistance -- Transforming conditions of feminist and LGBTI+ activism -- Solidarities across. Borders, belongings, movements -- Spaces of appearance and the right to appear. Transnational aspects of March 8 in local bodily assemblies -- Conclusion.

What do struggles for women's and LGBTI+ rights in Russia, Turkey and the Scandinavian countries have in common? And what can actors who struggle for rights and justice in these contexts learn from each other? Based on a multisited ethnography of feminist and LGBTI+ activisms across Russia, Turkey and the Scandinavian countries, this Open Access book explores transnational struggles on various levels, from the micro-scale of the everyday to large-scale, spectacular events. Drawing on ethnographic insights and encounters from various sites, this book conceptualizes resistance as situated in the grey zone between barely perceptible, even hidden or covert, forms of mundane activist practices and highly visible street protests, gathering large crowds. Taking the reader beyond the dichotomies of visible/invisible and public/private, this book advances new understandings of resistance, solidarity, and activism in transnationalizing feminist and queer struggles, illustrated by rich ethnographic case studies from Russia, Scandinavia and Turkey.

AbstractThis article analyzes how institutions influence the process of identity formation within the Polish minority communities in Belarus and Lithuania. We focus on ways that the identities of people who consider themselves Poles in Belarus and Lithuania are targeted by institutions like the state, schools, and nongovernmental organizations. We aim to shed light on how these processes are shaped by institutional settings and broader political contexts. The authors take a bottom-up approach to institutions and look at how members of the Polish communities in the two neighboring countries conceptualize the role of various institutions—NGOs, schools,Karta Polaka(the Polish Card)—to shape their sense of ethnic belonging. The article is built on a cross-case analysis. Data for the Lithuanian and Belarusian cases, consisting of interviews and secondary sources, were collected independently and then reread in light of a common research question. Through our analysis, we show differences and similarities in how analogous institutions function on the two sides of the border and elaborate on the reasons why these differences occur and what role state policy and supranational regulations play in the process.