Leo Granberg - The Other Russia: Local Experience and Societal Change

Leo Granberg and Ann-Mari Stre

First published 2017
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2017 Leo Granberg and Ann-Mari Stre

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ISBN: 978-1-4724-7689-0 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-56725-9 (ebk)

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We feel privileged to have had the opportunity to write this book. This would not have been possible without all the friendly people we met on the outskirts of Russia, without all those who were willing to share their experiences, views, fears and values with us. We visited many interesting places where foreigners usually do not venture. This has all been fascinating. We are extremely grateful for all the hospitality, kindness, curiosity and interest we have met over the years. Our great thanks go to the hundreds of local people we met during our trips, who gave us strength and motivation to continue to this point.

This book is based on several research projects carried out in Russia. The idea to write this book together came up about four years ago. After having exchanged earlier publications, we discovered that we had a common interest and similar experiences based on earlier research. We had both spent a lot of time doing fieldwork in peripheral areas of Russia, although in different regions. We both wanted to mediate a picture of how people outside the cities and major metropoles in Russia live, people who we hear so little about. We want to contribute to an improved understanding about what possibilities and challenges ordinary people meet, and about the life situation of ordinary Russians. We feel that this ambition has become even more important in recent times, in the midst of increasing international tensions. In our luggage, we also had many previous trips to Russia and the Soviet Union and close to thirty years of research on transformation in Russia.

The fieldwork in the Archangelsk region started in order to monitor the results of a development project by SIDA. Inez Backlund was the leader of this project which started in 1999. We are grateful to her for introducing us to the field in 2002. Her engagement in developing the SIDA project and in helping each of its participants was crucial and highly inspiring. She coordinated most research trips to four districts in the Archangelsk region up to 2012. She made it possible to enter many Russian kitchens to conduct personal interviews and conversations, and she forwarded valuable contact information for politicians, administrators, entrepreneurs and workplaces in a number of different districts. Some of these people became close friends. We would like to thank Irina Sadakova for coordinating the research trip to the Archangelsk region in 2011, for arranging interviews in institutions, organisations dealing with social issues and also with young couples and single mothers in cafes or private homes. We are indebted to Liya Kalinnikova from the University of Archangelsk and the University of Uppsala (now at the University of Gvle) for her engagement, for sharing her expertise in social work in Russia and valuable assistance in coordinating our visits to the Archangelsk region in 201215, for arranging meetings and seminars, and access to workplaces.