Post-Soviet Uncertainties: Micro-orders of Central Asian Migrants in Russia

Abstract

In this paper I show how people ‘muddle through’ the present post- Soviet uncertainties and chaos in Central Asia, creating orders amidst disorder. This muddling- through, locally known as tirikchilik, creates what I call micro- orders structured through trust networks. Present disorder is contrasted to what was known as poryadok i zakon [order and law] in Soviet times. I show these processes in the example of mobile entrepreneurs who make their earnings through their mobile lives between Russia and Central Asia. Power, various dependencies, obligations and duties, shared belief and morals, status and authority play important parts in living and muddling- through within the domain of tirikchilik and also in regulating micro-orders by mobile entrepreneurs.

Muslim Orders in Russia: Trade Networks andHijamaHealing

“…4 Fieldnote, April 2017, Moscow. 5 There are in-depth studies of alternative systems of regulation outside state legal systems (Nazpary 2002;Turaeva 2013) and an established scholarship based on legal anthropology (von Benda-Beckmann 1981;von Benda-Beckmann and Pirie 2007;von Benda-Beckmann, von Benda-Beckmann, and Eckert 2009).…”

“…Trust is established as a result of numerous exchanges, interactions, and experiences. Informal agreements are negotiated daily and are enforced by drawing on obligations that derive from and are negotiated through kinship relations and friendships based on trust or mutual dependencies of various kinds (Turaeva 2013).…”

“…These "Muslim orders," following the definition of what I earlier refer to as "micro-orders" (Turaeva 2013, 278) provide space and opportunities to network, find employment and housing, and address other needs, such as education, health care, and social support, that extend beyond the spiritual and moral comfort of religious community. In the context of absent or dysfunctional states (at home and in the host country), religious authorities and Muslim leaders have filled in the gaps (Turaeva 2013). Their initiatives offer space for individual Muslim actors to create institutions that can accommodate Muslim migrants.…”

Labour, Mobility and Informal Practices in Russia, Central Asia and Eastern Europe

“…The empirical examples collected in this volume show that actors living within transnational spaces crossing several national boundaries innovatively respond to the bureaucratic and institutional constraints and invent various informal channels and strategies in order to navigate the repressive legal landscapes which often do not accommodate mobile labour. Trust, transnational networks, digital technologies and informality play crucial roles in the verbal agreements replacing formal contracts (Turaeva 2013(Turaeva , 2014Urinboyev 2017). Rules governing the economic and social activities of mobile workers are ad hoc and flexible.…”

“…They can be renegotiated on the spot and are subject to changing circumstances. There are many variables in play across all aspects of the negotiating process, the institutionalisation of new rules and relations, status maintenance, transnational pressures and networks as well as the formation of trust networks (Turaeva 2013;Urinboyev and Polese 2016). These include historical institutional developments and the history of state formation in the region; current economic and political developments, as well as micro-level aspects of daily life, such as social norms and cultural repertoires.…”