Paper short abstract:

The study of African migrants to Russia (still innumerous but already noticeable) has been launched recently by the papergiver together with his students. The methods employed and points addressed, the obstacles met and the results yet obtained by now are discussed.

Paper long abstract:

While Western Europe has a long-lasting experience of facing and studying the problems of migration, they are still recent for the ex-socialist states where they have not been pinpointed and studied sufficiently yet. In the meantime, the «closed» nature of the socialist societies, the difficulties of the transitional period reforms predetermine the problems in communication between the migrants and the population majority, the specific features of the situation with the forming diasporas and of their probable position in the accepting societies. The recently launched study of African migrants in Russia falls into two interrelated parts: The sociocultural adaptation of Africans in Russia on the one hand, and their perception by the Russian society on the other. One of the core points eventually addressed is that of the formation or non-formation of diasporas as network communities, as a means of both more successful adaptation and identity support. The basic methods employed are interviewing, distributing questionnaires and observation (participant when possible) both among Africans and original Russian citizens. The obstacles on the way to the research's conduction and the results yet obtained in the course of this work in progress are discussed.

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