Table of contentsCISR: PRIMARY AREAS OF RESEARCH – 1– AREAS OF RESEARCH:PROJECTS, PUBLICATIONS, CONFERENCES: –3 – ethnicity, migration, nationalism – 3– RESEARCH OF BORDERS AND FRONTIER COMMUNITIES (BORDER STUDIES) –6 – GENDER STUDIES –9 – Social studies of economy –11 – SOCIAL MILIEU AND SOCIAL STRUCTURE –13 – ENVIRONMENTAL SOCIOLOGY – 17– CULTURAL AND SyMBOLIC production –23 – Development of qualitative methods –27 – OTHER DIRECTIONS – 27– CENTRE FOR INDEPENDENT SOCIAL RESEARCH: PRIMARY AREAS OF RESEARCHThe Centre for Independent Social Research (CISR) was founded in 1991 (the official status of autonomous non-commercial organisation was received in 1996). Today CISR has three basic objectives: - academic sociological research; - professional training of young sociologists; - development of social research networks. The Centre’s research reflects a broad spectrum of sociological interests. However, the majority of studies conducted by the Centre deal with civil society and social structure. Within this broad framework, several specific research areas have been established: - ethnicity, migration, nationalism; - border studies; - gender studies; - environmental sociology; - social studies of economy; - social milieu and social structure; - development of qualitative methods. In contrast to many other organisations working in the sphere of social research during the last 10-15 years, CISR does not carry out commercial orders or conduct polls. The basic CISR strategy is to develop academic social research. The position that CISR occupies in the sociological community is connected with the organisation’s methodological preferences. The researchers at CISR mainly use qualitative sociological methodology. Up to 40-50 projects are conducted annually, most of them in cooperation with specialists from all over Russia and abroad. Up to 100 works by CISR researchers are published annually in Russian and foreign scientific journals. These publications have been cited in scientific literature in Russia and abroad, and have been highly rated by reviewers. CISR regularly conducts seminars which are attended by experts and interested persons from St. Petersburg, other Russian cities, and abroad. Recently CISR hosted seminars with the participation of such outstanding sociologists as Thomas Luckman, Ulrich Beck, Saskia Sassen, Theodor Shanin, James Scott, Fritz Schuetze, and others. The Centre’s organisers are interested in promoting and encouraging talented young researchers who could become the basis of new research team in the near future, and assisting with the development of their sociological careers. Understanding the complexities involved in preparing a new generation of sociologists, CISR actively cooperates with a number of St. Petersburg universities in order to organise student training and to support studies initiated by students and post-graduates. CISR specialists deliver lectures in higher education institutions in the city, and the leading specialists lecture in universities abroad. CISR pays special attention to supporting and collaborating with young researchers and research teams in the Russian regions. Being a partner of the Heinrich Boell Foundation, CISR holds competitions for young Russian sociologists to win the Foundation’s research grant. The work of the Centre has won international recognition. In December 2000, CISR received an award from the German-Russian Forum and the Robert Bosch Foundation for contributing to the training of young researchers. Another important area of CISR activity is the formation of research networks specialising in studies of social processes in post-Soviet society and the encouragement of scientific communication as well as the creation of non-commercial and non-governmental research centres in Russian towns. Research centres in Krasnodar, Irkutsk, Kazan, Samara and Apatity were founded with assistance of CISR. CISR also aims to assist educational, research, and human rights organisations and institutes involved in the development of civil society. CISR closely cooperates with many non-profit organisations in Russia and CIS countries in the sphere of human rights, gender and environmental issues. CISR focuses on overcoming the barriers between Russian and foreign sociologists. As a result of CISR’s participation in international conferences and workshops, training programs and joint research projects, CISR has developed connections with universities and research institutes in more than thirty countries. At this point in time, CISR is a member of a number of international research networks. Aspiring to develop the Russian sociological community and consolidate research organisations studying the problems of post-Soviet Russia, the Centre regularly conducts seminars and international conferences. CISR is also a resource centre. The CISR library contains over 9000 volumes, including current editions in Russian, English, and German, a rich research archive, an archive of biographical and problem-oriented interviews, and an archive of newspaper publications since 1992 covering 60 areas of research. The Centre is open to interested persons and organisations from both Russia and abroad. At the Centre, students, post-graduates, young researchers and NGO representatives have a unique opportunity to use its facilities. The Centre’s three focuses are closely interrelated. Together they form the professional sociologists’ community of the new generation in post-Soviet Russia, a community which is capable of researching the complicated social processes in a transforming society in order to found a new school of sociology in Russia. The CISR’s activities have been supported by many Russian and foreign institutes, funds and programmes.Since 1995, the Centre has published its own periodicals in Russian and English (ten issues of the Working Papers have been published), in which research results are presented. 1. Fomin Eduard, Oswald Ingrid, Voronkov Viktor. Armament Migration and Brain Drain: the Military Industrial Complex and Scientific Institutions in Russia. CISR. Working Papers. St. Petersburg, 1995. 46 p. (in Russian and English). 2. Fomin Eduard, Voronkov Viktor. Foreign Help to Science: Outlook of a Russian Scientist (the case of Academgorogok in Novosibirsk). CISR. Working Papers. St. Petersburg, 1995. 19 p. (in Russian). 3. Zdravomyslova Elena, Heikkinen Kaija (Eds.). Civil Society in the European North: Concept and Context. Collection of Articles. CISR. Working Papers. St. Petersburg, 1996. 160 p. (in Russian and English). 4. Zdravomyslova Elena, Temkina Anna (Eds.). Gender Dimension of Social and Political Activism in Russian Transformation. Collection of Articles. CISR. Working Papers. St. Petersburg, 1996. 96 p. (in Russian). 5. Voronkov Viktor, Zdravomyslova Elena (Eds.). Biographical Perspectives on Post-Socialist Societies. Collection of Articles. CISR. Working Papers. St. Petersburg, 1997. 223 p. (in Russian and English). 6. Tysiachniouk Maria, Zdravomyslova Elena (Eds.). Environmental Movement in Russia. Collection of Articles. CISR. Working Papers. St. Petersburg, 1999. 108 p. (in Russian). 7. Brednikova Olga, Voronkov Viktor (Eds.). Nomadic Borders. Collection of Articles. CISR. Working Papers. St. Petersburg, 1999. 160 p. (in Russian and English). 8. Brednikova Olga, Chikadze Elena, Voronkov Viktor (Eds.). Ethnic Economy in Post-Socialist Space. Collection of Articles. CISR. Working Papers. St. Petersburg, 2000. 128 p. (in Russian and English). 9. Chikadze Elena, Pachenkov Oleg, Voronkov Viktor (Eds.). Invisible Faces of Social Reality. Collection of Articles. CISR. Working Papers. St. Petersburg, 2001. 124 p. (in Russian). 10. Sokolov Mikhail (Ed.). Ecological Villages in Russia and the Usa. Collection of Articles. CISR. Working Papers. St. Petersburg, 2004. 128 p. (in Russian).^ AREAS OF RESEARCH:PROJECTS, PUBLICATIONS, CONFERENCESethnicity, migration, nationalismEthnicity, migration and nationalism in contemporary Russian society have been one of the research priorities at CISR from very early on. CISR researchers have participated in more than 20 projects on these themes. The results of research were presented to the professional community at three international conferences organised by CISR: “Migration and the Nation State” (2002), “Social Sciences, Racist Discourse and Discrimination Practices” (2001), and “Ethnic Economy in Post-Socialist Space” (1999). Around 80 articles were published in addition to three collections of papers, viz. “Racism in the Language of Social Sciences” (2002), “Ethnicity and Economy in Post-Socialist Space” (2000, in Russian and English), and “Construction of Ethnicity: Ethnic Communities in St. Petersburg” (1998). Centre researchers regularly work as experts in various international and Russian projects on this subject. In the first decade of CISR’s existence, themes such as extremist groups, ethnic communities in the contemporary Russian city, and ethnic discrimination were common CISR research activities. Recently these initiatives have been supplemented with new ones – first, studies on the social context of the production and functioning of racist discourse, and agents and institutions which produce racist discourse (science, education, mass media). Research interests in this area focus on the conceptualisation of “ethnicity” in political (legal), educational, scientific and media discourse, and on discrimination connected with the use of ethnic terms.Core projects^ HATE SPEECH ON THE RUSSIAN-LANGUAGE INTERNET (2002–2004) Project of the European University at St. Petersburg.Coordinator: Philippe Tortchinski (European University at St. Petersburg). Extremist resources in the Russian-language sector of the Internet have been being researched by the Ethnic Studies program of the European University at St. Petersburg in cooperation with the company “Yandex” (Moscow) since 2001. More than a hundred permanent on-line resources were studied during 2002-2003 to reveal the discourse of their content – the main problems discussed by extremists, ways to settle these problems as well as extremists’ manner of argumentation. The project extension in 2004 (Social advertisement through the Internet as a means of overcoming extremism and xenophobia) was an attempt to work out an effective model of social advertisement to overcome hate speech in the Russian-language sector of the Internet. As a result of the first stage of research, a book was published - Язык вражды в русскоязычном Интернете: Материалы исследования по опознаванию текстов ненависти. СПб.: изд-во Европейского университета в Санкт-Петербурге, 2003 / Hate Speech on the Russian-Language Internet: Research Materials on Texts of Hatred).^ Participants from CISR: Oksana Karpenko, Olessia Koltsova.Supported by the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation programme “Forming Frames of Tolerant Consciousness and Prevention of Extremism in the Russian Society (2001-2005)”.Promotion of Tolerance and Improving Interethnic Relations (TACIS Programme) (2003–2004) Project of the German-Russian Exchange (DRA, St. Petersburg). This programme aimed to improve interethnic relations by resisting the growing tendency toward ethnicisation of political discourse in Russia and by promoting a culture of tolerance. Seminars and workshops for NGOs’ staff, teachers, journalists, lawyers and administrative/law enforcement bodies, etc. were held in conjunction with the project aimed at promoting civil society, the rule of law and human rights.Participants from CISR: Alexander Osipov, Oksana Karpenko.Supported by the EU TACIS Programme.^ THE ROLE OF REGIONAL STUDIES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF REGIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS AND CIVIC EDUCATION (TAKING LOCAL COMMUNITIES OF NORTHWEST RUSSIA AS AN EXAMPLE) (2003)Coordinator: Boris Gladarev. The project aimed to examine how regional studies can influence the identity of school children in district centres of Northwest Russia. Special attention was paid to civic education problems and their connection to regional studies. Within the project, all agents involved in regional studies were interviewed and a discursive analysis of textbooks was carried out.Participants: Boris Gladarev, Oksana Karpenko, Elena Chikadze.Supported by the D.S. Likhachev International Charitable Foundation (St. Petersburg).Image of Germany and Germans in Russia (2003) The object of the research was to look at Russians’ opinions on German society, German politics, and Germans in general, and to study their opinions on the activities of German institutions in St. Petersburg. Basic research methods included focus groups and problem-oriented interviews.Participants: Lubov Ejova, Larisa Sedova.Supported by the Consulate General of Germany in St. Petersburg.Between Integration and Resettlement: The Meskhetian Turks (2004–2006) Project of the European Centre for Minority Issues (ECMI, Germany).Coordinators: Tom Trier (ECMI), Andrei Khanzhin (ECMI, CISR). A complex comparative analysis of Meskhetian Turkish communities in 9 different countries. Research methods include participant observation and interviews in compact settlement areas, comparative legislative analysis and analysis of literature in these nine countries.Participants from CISR: Viktor Voronkov, Peter Meylakhs, Alexander Osipov, Andrei Khanzhin, Elena Chikadze.Supported by the Volkswagen Foundation (Germany).^ ETHNIC MINORITIES IN THE RUSSIAN MILITIA (2004) Joint project with the Human Rights NGO “Citizens” Watch” (St. Petersburg).Coordinator: Lubov Ejova (CISR). Racism throughout Russian society, and especially in important social institutions like militia actualizes the poor representation of ethnic minorities in militia staff. After graduating from Russian militia educational institutions, almost none of the cadets belonging to ethnic minorities work in the Ministry of the Interior system. The research addresses their professional careers, the problems they face during their studies and the reasons why they are unable to have military careers in Russia.^ Participants from CISR: Lubov Ejova, Boris Gladarev.Supported by the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation.The Idea of National-Cultural Autonomy in Russia and Its Implementation (2003–2004) The project was a multidisciplinary study of the role played by the concept of ethnically-based “national-cultural autonomy” (hereafter referred to as NCA) in politics and ethnic relations in Russia and some other countries. This term (NCA) has become one of the basic notions in the Russian public debate on ethnic issues. It affects the conceptual organisation of ethnicity-related agendas and determines the framework of discussions. It is also employed by federal and regional lawmakers and has an impact on institutional arrangements within official ethnic policies. The research was aimed at this term’s meanings in different contexts, the pre-history of the Russian federal law “On National-Cultural Autonomy” and the implementation of this law and other relevant federal and regional legislation. The basic research methods were expert interviews and comparative legal study. The study demonstrated that NCA-related legislation has virtually no regulative functions in a legal sense, although various groups employ the concept for rhetorical purposes aimed at the symbolic construction of multi-ethnicity and at public representations of some official and non-governmental structures.Researcher: Alexander Osipov.Supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.Labour Migration of Women: A Transformation of Gender Contracts? (2003–2004) The object of the project was to explore the concept of labour migration of women, and to analyse the participation of migrant women in the informal economy, the problems of gender solidarity/discrimination in the ‘gastarbeiter’ environment, the process of forming transnational migrant communities, and the transformation of gender contracts. The subject of the research was interdisciplinary gender studies, migration, and the informal economy. The objects of the research were women migrant workers who came to St. Petersburg from post-Soviet environments and were engaged in retail trade or were self-employed at grocery and goods markets in St. Petersburg. Qualitative methodology, in particular interviews and participant observation in the environment of migrant women involved in trade on city markets, was used within the project.Researcher: Olga Brednikova.Supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.Racism in school textbooks: critical analysis of modern Russian educational discourse (2004–2005) The project aims to discover new racist discourse in school textbooks as well as to re-evaluate the existing definition of racism (to bring it into line with modern Western ideas) by problematisating essentialistic thinking skills and the methods used to produce knowledge about “ethnic”, “national” “racial” and other distinctions predominating in Russian social science. The critical analysis method has been used to show how modern educational discourse in Russia participates in the (re)production of prejudice and intolerance in society.Researcher: Oksana Karpenko. Supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.^ Core publicationsБредникова Ольга, Кайзер Маркус. Транснационализм и транслокальность (комментарии к терминологии) // Миграция и национальное государство / Под ред. Т. Бараулиной и О. Карпенко. СПб.: ЦНСИ, 2004. С. 133–146.Воронков Виктор. Приватизация этничности vs. «национальная политика» // Куда пришла Россия? Итоги социетальной трансформации / Под ред. Т. Заславской. М.: МВШСЭН, 2003. С. 206–214.Гладарев Борис, Карпенко Оксана, Цинман Жанна, Чикадзе Елена. Краеведение и гражданское общество: социологические наблюдения // Краеведение и гражданское общество / Под ред. О. Карпенко и Е. Чикадзе. СПб.: изд-во журнала «Звезда», 2004. С. 9-104 с.^ Карпенко Оксана. Некоторые речевые приемы сайтов ненависти // Язык вражды в русскоязычном Интернете: материалы исследования по опознаванию текстов ненависти. СПб.: Изд-во Европейского университета в Санкт-Петербурге, 2003. С. 41–66.Карпенко Оксана. Как и чему угрожают мигранты? Языковые игры в «гостей с юга» и их последствия // Миграция и национальное государство / Под ред. Т. Бараулиной и О. Карпенко. СПб.: ЦНСИ, 2004. С. 62–84. Краеведение и гражданское общество / Под ред. О. Карпенко и Е. Чикадзе. СПб.: изд-во журнала «Звезда», 2004. 192 с. Миграция и национальное государство // Под ред. Т. Бараулиной и О. Карпенко. СПб.: ЦНСИ, 2004. 216 с. Бараулина Татьяна, Карпенко Оксана. Миграция и национальное государство (вместо введения) // Миграция и национальное государство / Под ред. Т. Бараулиной и О. Карпенко. СПб.: ЦНСИ, 2004. С. 3–14.Осипов Александр. Концептуальные подходы к этнической политике и перспективы противодействия дискриминации // Вестник публичного права. 2003. № 3. С. 6–12. Айламазьян В., Осипов Александр, Сапожников Р. Правовые механизмы противодействия дискриминации и разжиганию этнической вражды в России // Российский бюллетень по правам человека. 2003. Вып. 17. М.: Институт прав человека. С. 42–67. О соблюдении Российской Федерацией Международной конвенции о ликвидации всех форм расовой дискриминации. Альтернативный доклад Правозащитного Центра «Мемориал» (Москва) при участии Сети российских НПО по противодействию расизму, этнической дискриминации, ксенофобии и нетерпимости / Сост. Осипов Александр. М.: Звенья, 2003. 144 с.^ Осипов Александр, Сапожников Р.В. Законодательство Российской Федерации, имеющее отношение к этничности. Концептуальные основы, содержание, проблемы реализации. Справочный материал // Проблемы правового регулирования межэтнических отношений и антидискриминационного законодательства в Российской Федерации. М.: Немецко-русский обмен, 2004. С. 162-208.^ Осипов Александр. Национально-культурная автономия в России: идея и реализация // Этнокультурное многообразие – потенциал развития общества в странах Центральной Азии (практика, концепции, модели, перспективы). Материалы международного семинара / Под ред. Н. Багдасаровой, М. Глушковой, Н. Асылбековой. Бишкек: 2004. С. 151-184.Осипов Александр. Нормы российского права, административные механизмы и судебная практика, направленные на предотвращение дискриминации в России // Борьба с дискриминацией в России. М.: Юристъ, 2004. С. 29–51.Осипов Александр. Ферганские события: конструирование этнического конфликта // Ферганская долина: этничность, этнические процессы, этнические конфликты. М.: Наука, 2004. С. 164–223.Осипов Александр. Что в России означает понятие «регулирование миграции»? // Миграция и национальное государство / Под ред. Т. Бараулиной и О. Карпенко. СПб.: ЦНСИ, 2004. С. 15–45.Осипов Александр. Этническая и расовая нетерпимость и дискриминация // Правозащитное движение в России. Коллективный портрет. М.: ОГИ, 2004. С. 81–91.Соколов Михаил. Театр превращений: анализ трансформации русского радикально-националистического движения // Актуальные проблемы трансформации социального пространства / Под ред. С.В. Васильева. СПб.: Норма, 2004. С. 178–204.Damberg Sergey. Die anderen Russen – die «Ethnisierung» gesellschaftlicher Prozesse durch Rueckgriff auf «ethnisches Wissen» // М. Kaiser (Hrsg.) Auf der Suche nach Eurasien. Politik, Religion und Alltasgkultur zwischen Russland und Europa. Bielefeld: Transcript, 2003. S. 284–312.Ossipow Alexander. Pruefung der Identitat – Ethnische Intoleranz und Diskriminierung in Russland // Russland auf dem Weg zum Rechtsstaat? Berlin: Deutsches Institut fur Menschenrechte, 2003. S. 72–78.Oswald Ingrid. Neue Migrationsmuster - Flucht aus oder in «Uberflussigkeit»? // Berliner Debatte Initial. 2004. № 2. S. 58–69.Patchenkov Oleg. Integrasjon and Migrasjon. Perspectiver fra prosjektet «Multikulturalisme i Russland» // Jordens Folk. 2003. Vol. 2. P. 52–55.Pachenkov Oleg. Looking for a Black Cat in a Dark Room: the Issues of Identity and Perspectives of Multiculturalism // Perspectives of Multiculturalism – Western and Transitional Countries. Zagreb: FF Press, Croatian Commission for UNESCO, 2004. P. 215–227.Patchenkov Oleg. The Life of Ethnic Migrants: Primary Groups vs. Imagined Communities (Based on Case-Study Research of Caucasian Migrants in St.-Petersburg, Russia) // A. Paladi-Kovacs, G. Csukas, R. Kiss and others (Eds.) Times, Places, Passages. Ethnological Approaches in the New Millennium. Budapest: Akadйmiai Kiadу, 2004. P. 65–74.Core conferences and workshops^ National minorities and EducationAL Policy in the Russian Federation, international workshop (St. Petersburg, 26–27 September 2003).Organisers: CISR, University of Ghent (Belgium). The project concerned a research report by the University of Ghent commissioned by the Flemish Community and in cooperation with the Council of Europe. In the first phase of the project the aim was to gather objective information related to the difficulties encountered by minorities – and the possibilities available to them regarding their pursuit of education, preferably in their own language. After a first seminar, held in Ghent on the 9th and 10th of December 2002, the research continued with an examination of some manifest problems regarding these issues and focused on an analysis of the education policy by which the Russian Federation handles these problems. Subsequently attention was also paid to the way in which the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities was and is being implemented. The objective of the seminar was to gather further information and critical insights in order to finalise the report and to discuss the possible implementation of future projects.Supported by the University of Ghent and the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.^ RACIST DISCOURCE IN RUSSIAN EDUCATION, interdisciplinary workshop (St. Petersburg, 10–11 April 2004).Organiser: CISR. The main subject of the workshop was the contribution of modern school and college education to the modification of ideas and language, which form the basis for ethnic discrimination. Particular attention was paid to the situation in Russia and the social role of the humanities (history, study of local lore, geography etc.). The workshop materials are being prepared for publication.Supported by the Ford Foundation.^ RESEARCH OF BORDERS AND FRONTIER COMMUNITIES (BORDER STUDIES)Border studies have been one of the main research activities at CISR. Initially, studies of ethnic groups (ethnic boundaries) were developed within the framework of our “Ethnicity and Migration” research. However, since the middle of the 1990s, research on border issues, including border communities, became an independent research initiative. Currently a number of CISR researchers work in the interdisciplinary field of Border Studies, focusing on social processes in Russian borderlands and neighbouring territories. The researchers implemented a number of projects on the Russian-Estonian borderland. Pilot research on the Russian borderland in the south (Krasnodar region) was also carried out. At present, a project looking at the Russian-Mongolian border is underway. CISR also conducted two international conferences related to border studies: “Nomadic Borders” (Narva, Estonia, 1998) and “Shifting Borders” (St. Petersburg, 2000). The collection of articles (“Nomadic Borders”, edited by O. Brednikova and V. Voronkov. Working Papers, vol. 7, CISR. 1999) was issued based on the outcomes of the conference in Narva.Core projects^ RUSSIAN-MONGOLIAN BORDER: PROTOTYPE OF EURASIAREGION? (2003–2004) Joint project with the Centre for Independent Social Research and Education (Irkutsk).Coordinator: Olga Brednikova (CISR). The research hoped to illuminate the concept of the “borderland phenomenon” (in the towns of Kyakhta, Republic of Buryatia, and Altyn-Bulag, Mongolia) and to analyse the process of forming “Euroasiaregions” (similar to “Euroregions”) as new centres for the development of outlying transboundary territories of two states. Attention was focused on the exploration of border resources and restrictions, and also on common ground for cooperation and confrontation in the organisation of borderland inhabitants’ everyday life. Within the project, new overlapping/diverse structures and practices were investigated and the informal borderland economy was studied. The project used qualitative methodology: in-depth interviews, observation, and discursive analysis of documents. A collection of articles will be published in 2005 as a result of the research.^ Participants from CISR: Olga Brednikova, Maria Kudriavtseva.Supported by the Ford Foundation.Border Research: EU and Russia (2004) Project of the Karelian Institute at the University of Joensuu (Finland).Coordinator: Petri Virtanen (Karelian Institute). The aim of the project was to find relevant articles and to analyse the debate about the Russian-Finnish border as it is presented in the newspapers ‘Leningradskaia pravda’, ‘Vesti’ and ‘Sankt-Peterburgskie vedomosti’ for the period from 1990 to 2001. The work culminated in a report.^ Participants from CISR: Olga Brednikova, Elena Nikiforova.Supported by the Interreg II Programme.NGO and Media framing of cross border issues IN RUSSIA AND CHINA (2003-2004)Coordinator: Maria Tysiachniouk. This study aimed at understanding the roles that environmental NGOs and the media have played in combating transnational environmental problems in Russia and China. This project intended to understand the mechanisms that gave rise to this caging effect of environmental movements and the social impact of such an effect. It was demonstrated that the mainstream media and Internet outlets in both countries have failed properly to report the transnational environmental problems associated with the cross-border commercial activities between the two nations, largely because environmental NGOs (including those funded by international organisations) in both countries have been limited by their respective national interests and have failed to provide proper frameworks for informing the media and the public of the extent and root cause of the transnational environmental problems. As a result, the public in each nation has been unable to acquire a balanced understanding of the transnational environmental problems, and the government on each side does not face any pressure to deal with the problems seriously. 108 in-depth interviews were conducted during three expeditions; media publications were analysed.Participants: Maria Tysiachniouk, Svetlana Pchelkina.Supported by the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX).Frontiers and processes of re-(de-) territoriSation in the borderland area (the case of RussIan-Estonian borderland) (Since 2002) The research focuses on studying the process of borderland formation as a social phenomenon in post-Soviet space. The tasks of the research are as follows: the comparison of “national” and “local” in the context of national construction, the analysis of the process of producing “localness” and forming a uniform zone of everyday life at the borderland. Also under examination are the peculiarities of functioning frontier institutions, citizenship in the borderland, and the reconstruction of senses attributed to the border. The objects of the research are the so-called divided cities of Ivangorod and Narva located on the Russian-Estonian border. The basic methods of the research are in-depth expert and biographical interviews, observation and discursive analysis of texts.Researcher: Olga Brednikova.Supported by the European University at St. Petersburg and the CISR.“^ WINDOW TO EUROPE”: CONTEMPORARY RUSSIAN BORDERS AND PROCESSES OF RE-(DE-) TERRITORISATION (THE CASE OF THE RUSSIAN-ESTONIAN BODERLAND) (2003–2004) The research focused on studying “new borderland” and the processes of re-(de)-territorisation connected with national construction in post-Soviet space on the one hand, and with the processes of globalisation which had removed the borders between the states, on the other. The tasks of the research were as follows: to show the role and the meaning of the state frontiers in the organisation and reproduction of social life and its localisation at the borderland, to reconstruct the senses ascribed to the contemporary Russian frontier, and to determine basic categories for structuring the everyday life of borderland inhabitants. The objects of the research were the so-called divided cities of Ivangorod and Narva located on the Russian-Estonian border. The basic methods of the research were in-depth expert and biographical interviews, observation and discursive analysis of documents.Researcher: Olga Brednikova.Supported by the IISS (Interregional Institutes of Social Sciences) programme of the ISE Center, the Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation, the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies (USA) with the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.^ THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF MEMORY: Re-Imagining the Past, Reclaming the Future in the Estonian-Russian Borderlands (2003–2005) The project is conducted in collaboration with Robert Kaiser (Department of Geography, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA). This project investigates the intersection between power, place and identity, and especially new convergences and divergences among them occurring in post-socialist space. As in most recent research in sociology, cultural geography and political anthropology, place and identity are treated as mutually constituted, dynamically interactive categories of discourse and practice, which are constructed, contested and renegotiated across a multiplicity of geographical scales, and whose reconfiguration is a reflection of sociospatial power relations. By the cultural politics of memory, we refer to the power imbedded and inscribed in the cultural discourses and practices of “memory work.” In particular, we examine the re-narration of the past through the reconfiguration of commemorative landscapes, including new and reconstituted monuments, cultural events and festivals, new presentations of the past in school textbooks, tourist guidebooks, and other “texts”, such as official documents and speeches, new exhibits in museums as well as the construction of new museums, narratives about the need for the architectural transformation of places, official and unofficial uses of memorial sites, and local populations’ engagement with, and performance of identity in these memorial sites in everyday life.Participant from CISR: Elena Nikiforova.Supported by the American Councils for International Education (ACTR/ACCELS).^ BETWEEN RUSSIA, MONGOLIA AND CHINA: MONGOLIAN “SHUTTLES” IN RUSSIAN BORDERLANDS (200–2005) The research aims to study the phenomenon of “economic migration” of Mongols (“shuttles” – small pendulum merchants) on the border between Russia and Mongolia, to reveal local economic practices, and to research the process of forming the Mongolian community and the problems of its integration in the Russian border town of Kyakhta. The research uses qualitative methods including observation and interviews.Researcher: Maria Kudriavtseva.Supported by the Interregional Institutes of Social Sciences programme of the ISE Center (Irkutsk State University).Core publicationsBrednikova Olga. Fence and Gates: Images and Metaphors of the Modern Russian Border // Echoinox. 2003. Vol. 5. Symbolic Geographies. P. 156–161.Brednikowa Olga. Transgraniczna przestrzeń spoleczna (przypadek «nowego» pogranicza rosyjsko-estońskiego) // Transgraniczność w perspektywie socjologicznej. Teorie, studia, interpretacje. Zielona Góra: Lubuskie Towarzystwo Naukowe, 2003. P. 549-559.Brednikova Olga. Portti vai aita. Rajan mielikuvat nyky-Venäjällä // Rajayhteistyö, EU ja Venäjä / Ilkka Liikanen ja Petri Virtanen (toim.). Joensuun yliopisto, Karjalan tutkimuslaitoksen raportteja (University of Joensuu), Reports of the Karelian Institute. 2004. № 11. P. 46-57.Nikiforova Elena. Contested Border and Identity Revival among Setus and Cossacks in the Russian-Estonian Borderland // Donnan H., Wilson T. (eds.) European States at their Borderlands: Cultures of Support and Subversion in Border Regions. Focaal: European Journal of Anthropology, 2003. № 41. P. 71–82.Nikiforowa Elena. Kulturowa inscenizacja etnicznej grupy seto na terytoriach spornych pogranicza rosyjsko-estońskiego // Transgraniczność w perspektywie socjologicznej. Teorie, studia, interpretacje. Zielona Góra: Lubuskie Towarzystwo Naukowe, 2003. P. 561–576.Nikiforova Elena. The Disruption of Social and Geographic Space in Narva // Beyond Post-Soviet Transition. Micro Perspectives on Challenge and Survival in Russia and Estonia / R. Alapuro, I. Liikanen, M. Lonkila (eds.). Saarijärvi: Kikimora Publications, 2004. P. 148 -164.Nikiforova Elena. Towards an Anthropology of Russia’s Borders: the Modern Cossack Renaissance // Ulkopolitiikka, 2004. Vol. 1. № 1. P. 92–107.Core conferences and workshopsEXPLORING THE borderlands, sociological summer school (town of Kyakhta, Republic of Buryatia, 17 June – 3 July 2003).Organisers: CISR, Centre for Independent Social Research and Education (Irkutsk). This summer school was the first stage of the “Russian-Mongolian Border: Prototype of Eurasiaregion” research project. The purpose was to form a community of researchers that would allow for the successful realisation this project as well as future long-term research projects devoted to border and borderlands problems. The school was conducted in the town of Kyakhta; 5 young scientists from St. Petersburg, 15 from the Buryatia and Irkutsk region and 2 from Mongolia participated. Lectures, methodological workshops and discussions on the research process and problems were conducted daily during the school. The participants also had an opportunity to undertake some brief investigations in the borderland town and put the qualitative methods into practice.Supported by the Ford Foundation.^ GENDER STUDIESGender studies are one of the main research initiatives of the Centre. It includes studies on sexuality and reproduction, female participation (economic, political, and civil), gender socialisation, and ecological movements. Recently the field has been supplemented by research on masculinity, the gender aspect of migration processes, and gender relations in rural communities. The outcomes of research were published in a collection of articles: “Gender Dimension of Social and Political Activism in Russian Transformation” (Working Papers, vol. 4, CISR, 1996); “In Search of Sexuality” (2002), and were also presented at international conferences: “Gender and Sexuality” (2001) and “Reproductive Health and Fertility” (2003). CISR is a member of the research network on women and gender studies (NIKK).^ Core projectsFertility patterns and family forms (2004-2007) Joint project with the Gender Programme of the European University at St. Petersburg and the University of Helsinki (Finland).Coordinators: Elena Zdravomyslova (CISR), Anna Rotkirch (Department of Social Policy, University of Helsinki). This project analyses and explains fertility patterns and family forms in St. Petersburg (compared to its Northern neighbours). The research will show to what extent Russian middle class families have changed their life course towards postponed parenthood and how they organise domestic care in the new post-Soviet conditions. St. Petersburg is especially interesting, as it may align itself with different fertility patterns than Russia as a whole. Within the framework of the project, the dramatically changing birth rates in St. Petersburg will be explored from the perspectives of gender studies methodology. The central research question is: How is caring organised in different types of families of the young cohort of the middle class? Who is responsible for caring? What are the limits of the commercialisation of caring? Patterns of childbearing and parenting with regard to social class, family formation and type of household (gendered division of work, intergenerational care, childcare services) will also be subjected to analysis.^ Participants from CISR: Elena Bogdanova, Olga Tkach, Elena Zdravomyslova.Supported by the Academy of Finland.Combining efforts to provide Occupation Safety of sex-workers (The case of St. Petersburg) (2005)Coordinators: Erin Finnerty (International Harm Reduction Development Program (IHRD, Soros Foundation, New York) and ^ Dmitry Boutenko (CISR). The given pilot project is aimed at the description and gradation of professional risks and threats facing female sex workers representing individual sex businesses and intimate interiors (massage parlours) of St. Petersburg. Within the framework of this pilot project, in-depth interviews with working women and two international seminars with the participation of sociologists, representatives of nonprofits, the media, and law enforcement and legislative officials are planned.Participants from CISR: Elena Zdravomyslova, Nadezda Nartova, Dmitry Boutenko.Supported by the IHRD and the CISR.^ THE “SOLDIERS’ MOTHERS” MOVEMENT IN RUSSIA (Since 1995) The purpose of the research is to analyse factors of development, participation motivation, ideology, and forms of activity of the human rights movement “Soldiers’ Mothers”. The research is longitudinal. Until now the main object of the study has been the St. Petersburg human rights organisation “Soldiers’ Mothers”. The next step will be to expand the empirical field of the research by including organisations in Syktyvkar and the Soldiers’ Mothers Committee in Moscow. One of the basic research interests is the gender ideology of the movement.Researcher: Elena Zdravomyslova.Initiative project.^ A “PEDAGOGICAL POEM” IN MILITARY CAMOUFLAGE: THE “SON-OF-REGIMENT” INSTITUTION (2002–2004) The goal of the project was to analyse the “son of regiment” phenomenon institutionalised in the system of military-patriotic education and the reproduction of military staff (using the cadets of a military unit of the Leningrad military district as an example). The research used qualitative methodology (conversations, observation, and interviews). The tasks of the research were as follows: to examine the nature of military-patriotic education in the contemporary army, to describe the everyday practices of cadets, to reveal the problems of social adaptation of cadets who were social orphans, and to analyse mass media discourse on the revival of the “son of regiment” institution.Researcher: Natalia Fedorova.Supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the CISR.^ DISCOVERING DETERMINANTS OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH THROUGH COMPARATIVE RESEARCH (2003–2007) Joint project with the National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (STAKES, Helsinki), the University of Helsinki and the St. Petersburg Medical Academy of Postgraduate Studies.Coordinator: Elina Hemminki (STAKES). This interdisciplinary project, through comparative research, studied changes in reproductive health indicators of men and women in three countries (Russia, Estonia, and Finland). The research included questioning men eligible for military service and young women (during visits to antenatal clinics) in St. Petersburg. The project aimed to strengthen cooperation among international research networks and to assist in the formation of new networks, which would use an interdisciplinary approach (medicine, social sciences) in the study of problems of reproductive health and problems associated with risky sexual behaviour.Participant from CISR: Natalia Fedorova.Supported by the Academy of Finland and the Baltic Sea Task Force (Denmark).^ USE OF SPACE BY VILLAGE PEOPLE (LOCAL INHABITANTS AND SUMMER RESIDENTS): CATS AND WOMEN IN THE VILLAGE (2003-2004) Within the project differences in the use of village space were studied in the context of their connection to the social positions of inhabitants and summer resident groups. Special attention was paid to the gender aspect of the use of village space. The research consisted of unstructured interviews and participant observation.Researcher: Tatiana Safonova.Supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the CISR.producting THE LESBIAN BODY IN MODERN LESBIAN discourse (2004) Within the project there was an attempt to discover how the lesbian body is being produced in a predominately heterosexual world by lesbian women themselves; what image is produced and what meanings it is endowed with. The research examined why the body has such a significance in the modern world and described basic methods of body investigation as well as the problems of producing the female and lesbian body. By analysing texts on one of the largest lesbian Internet-portals, four “lesbian bodies” – the health body, sex body, style body and love body - were isolated.Researcher: Nadezda Nartova.Supported by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the CISR.Core publications^ Бредникова Ольга. Женская трудовая миграция: смена гендерных контрактов // Гендерные отношения в современной России: исследования 1990-х годов: Сб. научн. ст. / Под ред. Л. Попковой и И. Тартаковской. Самара: Самарский университет, 2003. С. 143–154.Данилова Наталья. Право матери солдата: инстинкт заботы или гражданский долг? // Семейные узы: модели для сборки. Кн. 2 / Под ред. С. Ушакина. М.: НЛО, 2004. С. 188–210.Здравомыслова Елена, Тёмкина Анна. Советский этакратический гендерный порядок // Социальная история. Ежегодник 2003. Женская и гендерная история / Под ред. Н. Пушкаревой. М.: РОССПЭН, 2003. С. 436–463.Здравомыслова Елена, Тёмкина Анна. Трансформация гендерного гражданства в современной России // Куда пришла Россия? Итоги социетальной трансформации / Под ред. Т. Заславской. М.: МВШСЭН, 2003. С. 140–150.Здравомыслова Елена. Гендерное гражданство в Советской России: практики абортов // Развитие государства благосостояния в странах Северной Европы и России: сравнительная перспектива / Под ред. Григорьевой И., Килдал Н., Кюнле С., Мининой В. СПб.: Скифия-Принт, 2004. С. 179–196.Здравомыслова Елена, Тёмкина Анна. Государственное конструирование гендера в советском обществе // Журнал исследований социальной политики. 2004. Т.1. № 3-4. С. 299–321.Нартова Надежда. Лесбийские семьи: реальность за стеной молчания // Семейные узы: модели для сборки. Кн. 1 / Под ред. С. Ушакина. М.: НЛО, 2004. С. 292–315.Нартова Надежда. «Про уродов и людей»: гетеросексуальность и лесбийство // Гендерные исследования. Харьковский центр гендерных исследований, 2004. № 10. С. 197–206.Ткач Ольга. Патриархат по-советски, или Большая семья на большом экране // Гендерные отношения в современной России: исследования 90-х годов / Под ред. Л. Попковой и И. Тартаковской. Самара: Самарский университет, 2003. С. 294–316.Zdravomyslova Elena, Temkina Anna. Institutionalization of Gender Studies in Russia: Issues and Strategies // Gender in Teaching and Didactics. Frankfurt: Perelang, 2003. P. 161–176.Zdravomyslova Elena, Temkina Anna. “Happy Marriage” of Gender Studies and Biographical Research in Contemporary Russian Social Science / I. Miethe, C. Kajatin, J. Pahl (Hg.). Geschlechterkonstruktionen in Ost und West. Biografische Perspektiven. Lit Verlag Muenster, 2004. P. 75–95.Zdravomyslova Elena. Self-identity Frames in the Soldiers’ Mothers Movement in Russia // Beyond Post-Soviet Transition / Ed. by R. Alapuro, I. Liikanen and M. Lonkila. Helsinki: Kikimora Publications, 2004. P. 21–41.Social STUDIES of economYThis branch of research is comparatively new. Though a good deal of research conducted at CISR has dealt with the economic sphere, this particular aspect took shape only at the end of the 1990s. In general, the focus of the research is the role and peculiarities of social mechanisms in processes considered to be economic. In the last 3-4 years, four international research projects were carried out. Two international conferences were held and a collection of articles (“Informal Economy in Post-Soviet Space: Problems of Research and Regulation”, 2003) was issued based on the materials from one of the conferences. At present, informal regulators of economic activities and informal economy as a whole are of special interest to us. Launched in 2002, research on informal relations between businesses and the authorities in the sphere of small and medium-sized enterprises will be continued at a later time. Another collection of articles is being prepared for publication – it will give Russian readers a look at the Western discourse on the phenomenon of corruption. Studies in the sphere of industrial relations, in particular dealing with the development of social partnership systems in Russia and Germany, has developed into another substantial area of research activity of CISR.Core projects^ PROSPECTS FOR FIGHTING CORRUPTION IN POST-SOCIALIST COUNTRIES: THE CASES OF HUNGARY AND RUSSIA (2003-2004) Joint project with the Foundation for Market Economy (Budapest, Hungary), the Transitional Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC, American University, Washington) in the framework of the Think Tank Partnership program.Coordinators: Robert Orttung (TraCCC), Irina Olimpieva (CISR). The Russian part of the project focused on the study of informal “business-state authorities” relations in the SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) sphere. The aim of the research was to study how informal relationships between entrepreneurs and power resource owners are formed and institutionalised; to analyse changes happening in recent years in the bureaucratic services market; to evaluate the anti-corruption potential of the social-economic group of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs. The empirical part of the project was a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods: questioning of small entrepreneurs and a series of in-depth interviews.^ Participants from CISR: Irina Olimpieva, Oleg Pachenkov, Elena Nikiforova.Supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the IRIS and the KPMG Consulting Barents Group (Think Tank Partnership Program).MobiliSing social support for fighting corruption: THE cases of Russia and Hungary (2004) Joint projects with the Foundation for Market Economy (Budapest, Hungary) and the Transitional Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC, American University, Washington).Coordinators: Irina Olimpieva (CISR), Robert Orttung (TraCCC), Mária Major Dezsériné (FME). The purpose of the study was to analyse the factors of development, to determine the main actors, main peculiarities and distinctions of anti-corruption fields in two post-socialist countries. The Russian part of the project focused on the situation in St. Petersburg. The object of particular research concern was business associations as potential defenders of business people’s interests (primarily in small and medium-sized businesses), which were supposed to protect businesses against illegal actions by officials (“aggressiveness of the state towards business”). This study was considered a continuation of the project “Prospects for Fighting Corruption in Post-Socialist Countries: The Cases of Hungary and Russia”.Participants from CISR: Oleg Pachenkov, Elena Nikiforova, Lubov Ejova.Supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the IRIS and the KPMG Consulting Barents Group (Think Tank Partnership Program).^ SOCIAL PARTNERSHIP IN THE SHIPBUILDING INDUSTRY: A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE SITUATION IN GERMANY AND RUSSIA (2003) Joint project with Sozialforschungsstelle (Dortmund, Germany). The comparative project aimed to study social partnership in the German and Russian shipbuilding industries. The empirical part of the project was to carry out a series of case studies in the Russian and German shipbuilding companies. It aimed to study the actual functioning of social partnership models in two countries and define possibilities for using some social partnership instruments from the German model in the Russian shipbuilding industry.^ Participants from CISR: Irina Olimpieva, Lubov Ejova.Supported by the Centre for German and European Studies (ZDES).Civic activism in business sphere of Russia (2004) Joint projects with the Foundation for Market Economy (Budapest, Hungary) and the Transitional Crime and Corruption Center (TraCCC, American University, Washington).Coordinator: Irina Olimpieva (CISR). This research examined the role of business associations as civil society institutions and as actors in the anti-corruption field. The study addressed the following questions: what role do business associations play as actors in the anti-corruption field; how do business associations help businesspeople cope with bureaucratic extortion; and what is the role of anti-corruption activities among other functions of business associations?^ Participants from CISR: Oleg Pachenkov, Elena Nikiforova, Lubov Ejova.Supported by the American University (Washington).Informal economy of forestry in THE Irkutsk region: social dimension (2004) Joint project with the Centre for Independent Social Research and Education (Irkutsk).Coordinator: Irina Olimpieva (CISR). The research purposes of the project were to show how informal practices in business and routine forestry are being developed; how formal and informal rules in the sphere of forestry interact; how agents in this sphere (businesspeople, officials, representatives of NGOs and also local inhabitants) organise their interactions; and how innovations in forestry reform may affect the development of forest business and the life of local communities.Participants from CISR: Oleg Pachenkov, Zoia Solovieva, Oksana Karpenko.Supported by the Moscow Public Science Foundation.^ INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY AND SOCIAL SECURITY THROUGH HUMAN RESOURCES DEVELOPMENT: CASE STUDY OF A RUSSIAN STEEL COMPANY (2003–2004) Joint project with Sozialforschungsstelle (Germany), IG Metall, EKO Stahl.Coordinator: Vera Trappmann (Sozialforschungsstelle). The project aimed to identify the main problems of human resources development at the steel company under analysis, to find ways of solving these problems, and to select instruments of personnel development policy based on the experience of German companies. The empirical part of the project was devoted to a series of problem-oriented interviews with the steel company’s top-managers. The results of the research will be available to a broad audience including development programme designers in Russia.^ Participant from CISR: Lubov Ejova.Supported by the Hans Boeckler Foundation.Core publicationsГладарев Борис. Трудовые стратегии «советских специалистов» в конце 90-х годов: проблема укорененности экономического поведения // Вопросы экономики. 2004. № 12. Неформальная экономика в постсоветском пространстве: проблемы исследования и регулирования / Под ред. И. Олимпиевой и О. Паченкова. СПб.: ЦНСИ, 2003. 204 с.Олимпиева Ирина, Паченков Олег. Неформальная экономика как социальная и исследовательская проблема // Неформальная экономика в постсоветском пространстве: проблемы исследования и регулирования / Под ред. И. Олимпиевой и О. Паченкова. СПб.: ЦНСИ, 2003. С. 4–14.Олимпиева Ирина. Постсоветские гетерархии: трансформация крупных научных организаций в период экономических реформ // Журнал социологии и социальной антропологии. 2003. № 3. С. 105–121.Олимпиева Ирина. Малый бизнес и рынок бюрократических услуг в Санкт-Петербурге // Телескоп: наблюдения за жизнью петербуржцев. 2004. № 2, С. 22–29.Олимпиева Ирина, Паченков Олег, Никифорова Елена. Слой: неформальная прослойка между бизнесом и властью // Эксперт: Северо-Запад. 2004. 2-8 февраля. С. 35–37. Evdokimova E.P., Kugel’ S.A., Olimpieva Irina. Science in a Transforming Society: Adaptation to the New Economic Conditions // Russian Education and Society. 2004. Vol. 46. № 8. August. P. 74–97.Core conferences and workshopsProspects for Fighting Corruption in Post-Socialist Countries, international conference (St. Petersburg, 15–16 January 2004).Organiser: CISR. The main purpose of the conference was to present two research cases conducted by the Foundation for Market Economy (Budapest, Hungary), and the CISR (St. Petersburg) within the frame of the project. The Hungarian study focused on corruption in public procurement in Hungary and the Russian case considered corruption in state-business relations in the sphere of small and medium-sized businesses in St. Petersburg. In addition to a presentation of the project’s results, a wider discussion of corruption problems in post-socialist countries was conducted with the participation of researchers from Russia and other post-socialist countries. The second day of the conference featured a round table discussion on the problems of corruption in small and medium-sized businesses. NGOs, business associations, politicians and other organisations related to the problem participated.Supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the IRIS.^ The Role of Analytical Centres and NGOs in the Development of Anti-corruption Policy (Irkutsk, 9–11 July 2004).Organisers: CISR, Centre for Independent Social Research and Education (Irkutsk). The purposes of the seminar were to spread the outcomes of the Think Tank Partnership project “Prospects for Fighting Corruption in Post-Socialist Countries: The Cases of Hunga