ABSTRACT
Chapter 3 refines the understanding for practices of economic and non-economic place- and identity-making among the Kyrgyz of Novosibirsk by looking beyond the bazaar. This includes the examination of an ethnicized service industry, such as a banquet hall for Kyrgyz weddings and other celebrations, which had evolved from and always tied back to the profits created by Kyrgyz traders at Novosibirsk’s barakholka market. Observing diaspora life reveals territorial subtleties of rivalry, such as in leadership struggles between older-generation Kyrgyz originating from different parts Kyrgyzstan, as well as acts of solidarity, such as when ‘circles’ of Kyrgyz men from the same ‘home district’ provided each other mutual aid. The chapter also highlights that the children of bazaar traders self-identified as ‘Kyrgyz-Russians’ in an effort to balance their Novosibirsk upbringing, Russian citizenship and ethnic patriotism for their ‘fatherland’ through social media platforms or as local volunteers aiding unprivileged Kyrgyz labour migrants.
