«I have preserved my homeland, and here I am, like in my homeland»: features of ethnocultural identification and sociocultural integration of Samara Tajiks

The paper presents the study results of the Tajik diaspora in Samara Region. The features of ethnic identification and socio-cultural adaptation of the community members were identified. The study is based on the materials from a field survey conducted in the region in 2018–2019, using qualitative (in-depth interviews) and quantitative methods (questionnaires). The methodology of the paper is based on theoretical and methodological developments in the field of diasporal research. The main factors of ethnocultural identification of Samara Tajiks are the language, community of origin and elements of ethnic culture represented in family-kinship communication, as well as in the public space of the region. Ethnic (Tajik) priorities in the construction of sociocultural space provide the functionality and reproduction of the cultural and linguistic characteristics of community members and determine the tendency to interethnic isolation. At the same time, contacts with the surrounding multiethnic population and the orientation towards integration into the local environment (to get education, citizenship, work, arrange living) destroy mono-ethnicity of Samara Tajiks social ties, primarily those of the young generation born in Russia. The study showed that the strategy of socio-cultural integration of Samara Tajiks is based on the preservation of ethnocultural identity, on the one hand, and the perception of the social characteristics of the host community, on the other.