This research examines the economic
networks of the Greek post-soviet migrants in Thessaloniki and the various ways
they affect (and are affected by) mobility and migration practices, as well
as the formations and deformations of previous and newer diasporic communities.
After the collapse of the Soviet
Union more than 150.000 Greek natives migrated to Greece (or “returned” according
to the official narrative), in an effort
to rebuild their lives from zero in the “homeland of their
ancestors”. From 1990’s until the beginning of the new millennium, These migrants were involved in various
commercial activities (mainly inside informal economic zones and thanx to loose
state control) often implicating transnational mobility. The fur market, the tourist industry,
the construction sector, and the open-popular markets become a privileged field
of employment and business activity, on which Russophone post-soviet Greeks
find a place through hard work and the appropriate kinship or diasporic
networks. Despitethe fact that, among them, Greece
was considered as the “final patria”, transnational practices never
stopped to take placein both collective and individual levels; Germany, UK,
Cyprus, proved to be favorable destinations who welcomed, at least temporarily,
several post-soviet populations including Greeks.The Greek crisis of 2010,
followed by the worsening of living conditions, increased (re)migration
tendencies to western Europe along with return
practices to southern Russia.
The objective of this research,
based on semi-directed interviews and extended fieldwork in acompany owned by
post-soviet entrepreneurs, was to explore the interaction between migration
strategies, economic networks and diasporic communities, and the same time, to put
into scrutiny several stereotypes around
“Greekness” or “Ponticness” based on the myth of the “final” and “eternal”patria.Finally, the quest for the linkages between the “rise and
fall” of specific economic sectors over time, and the post-soviet
mobility, through the Greek example, reveals various economic and migrating
practices embedded into the social and cultural norms of the diasporic
communities.
The research was accomplished by the post doc researchers Dimitris Kataiftsis and Anastasios Grigorakis and was supervised by the Professor of the academic department of Balkan, Slavic and Oriental Studies Eftihia Voutira.
“This research is co-financed by Greece and the European Union (European Social Fund-ESF) through the Operational Programme «Human Resources Development, Education and Lifelong Learning 2014-2020”
Πληροφορίες
ένταξης πράξης ΕΣΠΑ: https://empedu.gov.gr/decision/apo-tis-laikes-agores-stis-oikogeneiakes-epicheiriseis-sta-russian-markets-mia-orizontia-oikonomia-ton-quot-ftochon-quot-os-stratigiki-epiviosis-ton-epanapatristhenton-apo-tin-proin-essd-apo-ta-mesa-t/