Language, networks, and virtual transnationalism: The case of Russian speakers from Estonia living in Finland
| Published date | 01 December 2022 |
| Author | Ekaterina Vorobeva,Jussi S. Jauhiainen,Tiit Tammaru |
| Date | 01 December 2022 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/imig.12969 |
International Migration. 2022;60:129–147.
|
129
wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/imig
Received: 18 Febr uary 2021
|
Revised: 12 Novemb er 2021
|
Accepted: 19 Decemb er 2021
DOI: 10.1111/imig.12969
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Language, networks, and virtual transnationalism:
The case of Russian speakers from Estonia living in
Finland
Ekaterina Vorobeva1 | Jussi S. Jauhiainen1,2 | Tiit Tammaru3
This is an open ac cess article und er the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial- NoDerivs License, which
permits us e and distributio n in any medium, provid ed the original wor k is properly cited , the use is non- commercial and no
modificat ions or adaptatio ns are made.
© 2022 The Auth ors. International Migration published by John W iley & Sons Ltd on behalf o f International Or ganization for
Migration.
1Departme nt of Geography and G eology,
Universit y of Turku, Turku, Finland
2Institute of Eco logy and Earth S ciences,
Universit y of Tartu, Tartu, Estonia
3Departm ent of Geography, Univer sity of
Tartu, Tartu, Esto nia
Correspondence
Jussi S. Jauhia inen, Depart ment of
Geography a nd Geology, Univers ity of
Turku, FI- 20014 Turku, Finlan d.
Email: jusaja@utu.fi
Funding information
Koneen Säätiö .
Abstract
Expanding g lobalization, widely spre ad information and
communication technologies (ICT ), and inexpensive trans-
portation facilitate easy, fast, and necessary connections
across borders. Many immigrants maintain transnational
connections while gaining local exp osure to the national
social field. This article studies immigrants’ language and
social media uses in transnation al and n ational network s.
The case regards Russian speakers f rom Estonia living in
Finland who belong to t he global Russian- speaking di-
aspora. The d ata derive from a survey (n = 327) and in-
terviews (n = 16). Results indicate that the national and
transnational social fields of the studie d Russian speakers
affect and shape one anothe r. Their good command of
Finnish reduces st ructural barriers to work, housing, and
other func tional spheres in Fin land, but it does not secure
their social inclusion. The latter is counteracted by t heir
local multicultural networks and transnational connections
with their countr y of or igin— facilitated by ICT and social
media— as a source of positive identity, meaningful rela-
tions, and emotiona l support.
130
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VOROBE VA Et Al.
INTRODUCTION
Migration to forei gn countries has been facil itated by extended globalization, inexpensive transpor tation, an d
widely spread informa tion and c ommunication t echnologies (I CT), the Internet, a nd social media as well as th e
need for a labou r force in quickly ageing so cietie s. Thes e provid e many mig rants e asy, fast , and nec essar y connec-
tions be tween their countries of origin and current countri es of reside nce. Furthermo re, digital divides (access,
ability, and resources to u se the Internet ) have been nar rowed globally b ecause of aff ordable devices and easy-
to- u se applications.
In these contex ts, many migrants develop and maintain transnational relationships connecting their current
and former count ry of residence. Increasing easiness of physical mobility and digi tal connec tions const itute a
transnationa l social field, a wide web of imm igrant networks “encompa ssing those who move and thos e who stay
behind” (Levitt & Schiller, 2004, 10 03). The re sult i s that im migr ant s’ “soc ial li fe inc reas ingl y take s plac e acro ss bor-
ders” (Levitt & J aworsky, 2007, 129). However, people are embed ded in their places of reside nce: “Attachment to
place must exist in some form and mus t impact our identities so long as we exist as beings with bod ies” (Easthope,
2009, 66). Local, national, and tr ansnational social fields (i.e . local and nonlocal contac ts in the current and former
country of resid ence) may not only complement but als o oppose each ot her, shaping the wide r integratio n of
migrants int o host societies. T he command of a speci fic context- related language is crucial to exercise com muni-
cation throug h local and transnatio nal social fields.
Research on immigrant s’ transnationa l activities often focu ses on Ang lo- Amer ican context s. However, in-
teresting new contexts have e merged from East– West migration i n Europe (Tiaynen- Qadir & Matyska, 2020).
This articl e studies Russian spe akers from Estonia liv ing in Finland. Their free mobility is fa cilitated by the geo-
graphical proxi mity of Finland and Estonia as well as the right to free movement with in the European Union (EU;
Silm et al., 2021; Telve, 2020). Russ ian speakers from Esto nia living in Finland re present a community at the in-
terse ction of va rious iden tities. T hey belong to the wide di aspora of Ru ssian spea kers aroun d the world . During
the Soviet er a, Russian was the pr ivileged language of the large Soviet Uni on, including occu pied Estonia. Af ter
the re storat ion of Est onia's in depend ence in 1991 , Russian speaker s became a linguis tic and c ultural minorit y in
the Esto nian n ation - stat e. How ever, most of them l ived i n regi ons an d neig hbou rhoo ds in E ston ia whe re Rus sian
speakers forme d the majority. For example, in some citie s in North- East Estonia, Russian sp eakers are still more
than 90 per cent of the local population. Russian speakers in Estonia belong to different ethnic groups. One of
these groups, In grians, h as histori c roots in Fi nland. Du ring the tu multuou s politic al changes o f the early 1990s,
Russian s peakers with Finnish root s (although not necessa rily knowing any Finnish language or culture) wer e
allow ed to retur n to their a ncestr al land in F inland al one or wit h their fa milies. L ater, the ac cession o f Estonia to
the EU in 2004 cont ributed t o the incre ased migra tion of othe r Russians and Russia n speakers with no prev ious
Finnish ties f rom Estonia to Finland .
This article studies how the co mmand of a local language (in this case, Finnish) shapes the natio nal and trans-
national social net works of transmigrants in the era of widespread access to and use of IC T and s ocial media.
Transmigrants are immigrants who “develop and maintain multiple relations— familial, economic, social, organ-
isational, religious, and politica l, that span borders” (Tedeschi e t al., 2020). The particular case regards Russian
speakers fr om Estonia living in Finland in an immigration context in which Russian s peakers are often negatively
perceived by members of the hos t society. We address the following rese arch questions: (1) How does the com-
mand of th e local langua ge influence immig rants’ local ( host country) a nd transnational (country of orig in) social
interactio ns? (2) Does the command of the local language expand or redu ce immigrants’ co mmunication in their
countries of residence a nd of origin? (3) How does t he use of IC T and socia l media connec t immigrants to their
local and transn ational so cial netw orks, and h ow is it relate d to the perce ived willi ngness of lo cal peopl e to estab-
lish close intera ctions (friendships) wit h these immigrants?
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