Speaker: Alina Poghosyan, 2015-16 Manoogian Post-doctoral Fellow, U-M

Migration is not only a movement of people; it is also a movement and exchange of cultures, ideas, technologies, labor, money, and various forms of capital. Migration entails social and cultural change, as it affects political and economic processes. Nations in the South Caucasus have migratory ties mainly with Russia, European countries and the US. What these countries exchange through migration is closely related to their development processes.

The presentation will explore how Soviet period migrant networks perpetuate migratory processes from the former “colonies” to Russia and instigate new flows of migration. With migratory ties, social networks, migrants’ transnational activity Russia maintains its influence on many former “colonies” and on Armenia particularly. Georgia, on the other hand, has more migratory ties with EU countries. The case of Georgia’s post-soviet development processes will be deployed as a counterpoint to that of Armenia. The presentation will discuss the variety of migration profiles of the South Caucasus countries, and will examine how the exchange of cultural, social and economic capital, influences different trajectories of development in these countries.

Cosponsored by the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies (CREES) and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures.