Crisis-activated diaspora consciousness: Tatar migration, memory, and connectivity in the shadow of the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Abstract

This study examines the impact of Tatar migration from Russia to Central Asia in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine on the identity of the migrants and the Tatar diaspora communities in the host countries. Through multi-sited ethnographic fieldwork conducted in Almaty, Kazakhstan in 2023, the study analyses narratives from Tatar migrants and members of the established diaspora community. The findings shed light on the complex sense of belonging oscillating between homeland and new land experienced by the migrants, the reinterpretation of collective memory by the diaspora community in response to the influx of migrants, and the shaking of self-awareness brought about by encounters between the two groups. These insights suggest that migration and the diasporic condition engender a dynamic reconstruction of identity and collectivity that challenges essentialist notions. The study argues for an understanding of diaspora not as a fixed return to roots but as a generative process constantly renewed through multivocal memories and encounters with others. By vividly describing the transformation of consciousness among Tatars caught in the vicissitudes of the Ukrainian crisis, this study provides important clues for grasping the multilayered realities of our age of migration.

Keywords

• Tatar migration
• diaspora identity
• collective memory
• transnationalism

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