THE ROLE OF DIASPORAL INSTITUTIONS IN THE LIFE OF EXPATRIATED MINORITIES (ON THE EXAMPLE OF RUSSIAN ARMENIANS)

• Natalya Kosmarskaya

  Center for Central Eurasian Studies, Institute of Oriental Studies, Rus-sian Academy of Sciences,

  Author

  https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0122-3375

Compared to the institutionalization model based on the key role of ethnic organizations, which is characteristic of the post-genocide "Western" Armenian diaspora, as well as other migrant groups who found themselves outside their "homeland" as a result of displacement from the Global South to developed countries, the socio-political realities faced by migrants from Armenia and other parts of the former USSR upon resettlement in Russia have become a crucial factor reducing this expatriate group's need for support from diaspora institutions.
This article, based on an analysis of over 100 interviews with Armenians in four Russian cities, as well as other available materials (surveys), demonstrates the reasons and manifestations of their weak interest in their ethnic organizations. The overwhelming majority of Russian Armenians distance themselves from them, either being sporadic "consumers" of the activities offered by Armenian schools, cultural centers, etc., or those who do not attend them at all or are not even aware of their existence. This general conclusion is further elaborated in the article by introducing the heterogeneity of Russian Armenians by their places of origin and patterns of socialization. Furthermore, the author attempts to assess interest in the work of schools and clubs through the prism of identity and the depth of integration.
Thus, three groups of Russian Armenians are identified who are weakly involved in the activities of diaspora institutions. These are long-time Armenians who have lived in Russia for several generations and are well advanced in their assimilation; "children of megalopolises" – descendants of migrants from Armenia, born and socialized in the multicultural environment of large Russian cities; and the generation of migrants themselves, the late 1980s and early 1990s, from various parts of Armenia and Karabakh, who can be described as "self-sufficient" in their sense of Armenianness. The article also shows in which cases representatives of the latter group, indirectly (as parents and relatives of children and adolescents), become “consumers of the activity” of ethnic organizations.

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