Paper short abstract:

The paper proposes a two-fold approach to conceptualize the nativist phenomenon in contemporary Russia, particularly in regard to migrants from Central Asia states and the Caucasus.

Paper long abstract:

Rejection of immigration has become a major political factor in many countries, including in Europe and North America. The notion of nativism, understood as a specific form of nationalism, can be used to analyze forms of this rejection insofar as it involves promoting the interests and way of life of “natives” to the detriment of “migrants”. This paper adopts a two-fold approach to conceptualize the nativist phenomenon in contemporary Russia, particularly in regard to migrants from Central Asia states and the Caucasus.

First, I consider discursive expressions of nativism as observed among nationalist actors as well as in the rhetoric of the Russian authorities, in a context of widespread xenophobia. This reflection draws on existing literature on nativism and focuses on various interpretations of the historical slogan “Russia for the Russians”. By analyzing the nationalists’ discourse, I show that the slogan has been reshaped as fundamentally nativist in the Russian ethnonationalist circles in light of increasing immigration from the states of Central Asia and the Caucasus since the 2000s.

Second, I argue that popular expressions of nativism need to be taken into account, including those linked to mass violence. Based on surveys, analysis of the media and field data, this paper considers a series of anti-migrant riots that occurred throughout Russia since the 2000s. These riots, often — but not always — supported by organized nationalist movements, involve demands that can be defined as nativist in that they concern protection of “natives” (korennye) from “foreigners” or “migrants”, understood in ethnic or racial terms and deemed to be the cause of social ills, e.g. crime. The cases I studied suggest that these forms of nativism tend to persist in spite of the observed decline of organized Russian opposition nationalism and that of hate crime rates in the 2010s. I also argue that anti-migrant rioting is not always correlated with Russian ethnonationalism, since the non-Russian minorities can also be the instigators of ethnic and/or anti-migrant violence.

Overall, the paper contributes to comparative studies of nativism in countries that face mass immigration, and tries to capture theoretically the realities challenging Central Asian migrants in today’s Russia.