ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts covered in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book highlights the ways in which the young people of North Caucasian origin construct their ethnic and cultural identities, which is partly about interpreting and responding to the subject positions made available by ethnic policies. Russian Borderlands in Change is a book concerning the specific experiences of young people from the North Caucasus who either themselves, or whose parents, have migrated and live in North-West Russia. It focuses on civic identity and its contestations and on the process of mis-interpellation. The interviewees' stories are analysed in relation to their experiences of everyday racism. The book consists two incidents, the Beslan school hostage crisis and the Kondopoga conflict, come into view as events during which 'strangers', in this case, people from the North Caucasus, come 'too close to home' and start to evoke impressions in 'others'.
