Diaspora Associations and Regional Authorities in the Context of the Study of Migration from Dagestan to Western Siberia

Abstract

This article investigates the interaction between Dagestani diaspora association organizations and regional authorities of the host and the sending community by considering the case of diaspora associations connected to Dagestan in the cities of the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets autonomous okrugs. The article aims to describe the specifics of such interactions and to define relevant communicative strategies used by local association institutes facing the challenges created by regional authorities of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug — Yugra, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, and Dagestan. The study investigates the specifics of diaspora associations’ contacts with important governing institutions in the sending community represented by the Ministry of National Politics and Religious Affairs and the Spiritual Administration of the Muslims of Dagestan. Contacts with the authorities of the host community — urban and district administrations, above all — are likewise investigated. In the latter two, behavioral strategies are highlighted. The first is aimed at cooperation with authorities of the host society; the second is aimed at the closed nature of interaction within a diaspora association. The article uses data (interviews and observations) from the author’s fieldwork conducted in the cities of both okrugs and in Makhachkala in 2015, 2018, and 2019, as well as supplementary sources (media publications and information from the official sites of the described regions).