At the edge of the country: economics of the private informal use of natural resources in the Far North and the Far East of Russia
The ongoing project has united researches from several institutions across Russia, including two UArctic members: Far Eastern Federal University and European University at St. Petersburg. Project participants carry out individual on-site research in 5 settlements situated in the Amur, Murmansk, Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk regions and the Republic of Buryatia.
The project focuses on describing strategies and practices of private informal use of natural resources in distant northern/far eastern settlements, rich with natural resources, where local residents are involved in wild reindeer hunting or gold mining. Settlements, chosen for the research, have problems with accessibility and are marked by the official media discourse as depressive and poor territories. However, in their past, these settlements saw significant state presence.
Among the key issues to be analyzed based on the field studies data are law enforcement practices and concepts of justice, existing in different groups. In the situation of limited accessibility and lack of state control, it is the moral dimension that regulates natural resources management, marking practices as acceptable or unacceptable.
The expected results of the project include open lectures and workshops as well as a range of publications.