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- Convenors:
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Elina Troscenko
(University of Bergen)
Giorgi Cheishvili (Tbilisi State University)
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- Chair:
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Elina Troscenko
(University of Bergen)
- Discussant:
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Elina Troscenko
(University of Bergen)
Short Abstract:
This panel attends to the new networks of solidarity, alliances, reorientations and imaginations of the political emerging across the wider regions of Eastern Europe in response to the war in Ukraine and aims to explore their potentialities and possible trajectories.
Long Abstract:
A violent war has become a new everyday reality of Europe and many of the political, social and economic paradigms assumed to be unbreakable a short while ago, are now being challenged. New political alliances and solidarity networks, particularly in Eastern Europe, are being forged, acknowledging and claiming the power in - and of - the region. This has sparked new conversations about the long-standing tensions, power hierarchies and inequalities between the eastern and western parts of the continent, along with attempts to rearticulate relationship between the old and the new Europe. At the same time, reorientations away from Russia has brought about new discussions on closer and more just integration (infrastructure, economics etc.) of different parts of Europe.
Building on the ongoing work on how new political kinships (Dzenovska 2022) are becoming relevant and speculations about (and calls for) a more eastern-centric Europe, this panel wishes to explore and map the new political imaginations fostering in Eastern Europe. Are there new forms of solidarity, political and social structures growing across the region? What do these networks and alliances envision, imagine and promise? How can anthropology contribute to exploring the new political imaginations in this volatile terrain? Are there new kinds of visions and imaginations of alternative political futures, new political moralities, categories and formations? In other words, this panel seeks to reflect upon the new networks of solidarity growing across the wider regions of Eastern Europe, and to explore their potentialities and possible trajectories.
Accepted papers:
Session 1 Friday 14 April, 2023, -Anete Usca (European University Institute)
Paper short abstract:
This article discusses a formation of localized and apolitical types of solidarity, prompted by the war in Ukraine in the neighbourhoods in Riga, Latvia.
Paper long abstract:
In contrast to the immediate and hawkish national political narratives by the Latvian politicians towards Russia, on the ground, in the local, mixed-ethnicity communities, the war in Ukraine created unprecedented tensions and challenges. The war in Ukraine as an exogenous shock forced community members to juggle complex local relationships uncovering the embeddedness and belonging to mixed, twisted, and unresolved regional histories. In this article, I argue that a sense of belonging to the local community prompted local society members to sacrifice their political views in order to protect their local social ties, shying away from expressing their opinions on the war by saying: “it’s just politics”. As a result showing that the communities produce localized and apolitical forms of solidarity, contradictory to the national and global narratives. Anthropological methods, such as ethnographic fieldwork, allow to recognize the local social bonds that have a major role in the process of working through major geopolitical shifts within the society. The article is based on analysis of the data from ethnographic fieldwork conducted in neighbourhoods in Riga, Latvia over the course of 6 months.
Ketevan Khutsishvili (Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University)
Paper short abstract:
Based on ethnographic data the contradictions of from below and above strategies in Georgian society regarding new economic projects on the potential of renewable energy production will be discussed with regard to war in Ukraine.
Paper long abstract:
The war in Ukraine an especially devastating effect on the countries that Russian Federation considers to be the sphere of its influence, and which are trying to escape from its power. The search for new alliances or connections to strengthen the security leads to new political and economic projects. The most demanding topic is the problem of energy security. Recently was signed the agreement on strategic partnership in the field of green energy development and transmission between the governments of the Republic of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania and Hungary. The document is based on the interests of the four countries related to the consolidation of national and regional energy security and connectivity in the Black Sea Basin, diversification of supply sources, capitalisation of the potential of renewable energy production in the Caspian region and increasing the share of renewable energy. This project is a flagship one for Georgia as part of the EU's "Global Gateway" strategy. Georgian society is quite diverse and anthropological research allows analysing the attitudes from below. The Georgian society since the first days of the Ukrainian war displayed its solidarity to Ukraine through practical actions (receiving and sheltering migrants, collecting and sending humanitarian aid, etc.). Groups of people has mobilised and created networks of support. At the same time not always all groups are supporting the state politics and activities. Based on ethnographic data I will discuss the contradictions of from below and above strategies, which were revealed by the war crises.
Giorgi Cheishvili (Tbilisi State University) Elina Troscenko (University of Bergen)
Paper short abstract:
This paper focuses on the migration of Russian and Belarusian citizens to Georgia following the the Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It explores how the trajectories of the migrants both operationalize and reproduce the imagined geographies originating back in the Russian colonial history.
Paper long abstract:
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 did not only cause a massive displacement of Ukrainians fleeing from the atrocities of war, but also resulted in a mass exodus from Russia itself. Georgia, a country of 3.7 million, with a recent history of military conflicts with Russia and notably anti-Russian public sentiments, became one of the main destinations of the Russian “relocants” as well as Belarusians fleeing from the regime. In this paper, we explore the ways in which the trajectories of these migrants both follow and reproduce certain established routes and imagined geographies of familiarity originating back in the Russian colonial history.