Transformations of National Identities in Transnational Migration Networks Between Armenia and Southern Russia: Implications for National Identity Policy-Making

This article examines processes of national identity transformation in the context of long-established but evolving migration networks between Armenia and Southern Russia and how these processes may be integrated into national policy frameworks relating to social cohesion. The largest Armenian diaspora in southern Russia, numbering around half a million people as of 2022 (620,000 people), a significant part of whom were transnational labor migrants. Existing literature has examined changes in relevant identity narratives using qualitative methods. In contrast this article employs a novel procedure, combining social constructionist, transnational and network approaches with applied statistics methods. Drawing on international comparative sociological research conducted in Armenia and Southern Russia in 2021–2022, the paper traces the history and structure of these migration networks, as well as the new forms of national identity emerging within them. The project identified at least three varieties of networks that influence different understandings and lived experiences of national identity. The first relates to the old Armenian diaspora, formed in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries, the second to communities formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the third to contemporary transnational communities, consisting mainly of labor migrants. The article also discusses the potential implications of these findings to policies of social cohesion in Armenia and Russia.