ABSTRACT

This collection contributes to emerging work in critical sociolinguistics, using a multidisciplinary and multiscalar approach to understanding the diasporic experience in the Russian-speaking world.

The volume expands on research in the sociolinguistics of mobility, multilingualism, and diaspora studies. It critically examines the ways in which transnational Russian identities are perceived and discursively enacted in online and offline spaces, and how this interplay contributes to diasporic identification across the globe. In highlighting a range of critical methodologies at multiple scalar levels − across family, national, and global lines − the book raises key questions about what binds and distinguishes individuals belonging to diverse communities of Russian speakers. It likewise interrogates established notions of memory, nostalgia, authenticity, and belonging, as well as perceptions of futurity and change.

This book will be of particular interest to students and scholars in sociolinguistics, multilingualism, language and education, and linguistic anthropology.

chapter |12 pages

Introduction

chapter 3|21 pages

Russian Immigrants in Portugal

Diasporic Nationalism and Identities

chapter 5|25 pages

Russian Speakers in Finland

Online Discussions of the Russian Language

chapter 6|18 pages

Bridging and Bonding Online

Russian-speaking Migrants in the United Kingdom and Their Social Networks

chapter 7|35 pages

How to “Immigrate into History” 1

Russian Speakers in the Finnish Border Region and the Politics of Memory in Transnational Settings

chapter |4 pages

Renewal as the Unfolding Future

Ways Forward in Multilingual, Diasporic Research