“Stop Spoiling Our Land”: Regional Identity and Environmental Mobilization in the Russian Regions
Research Article
Acknowledgments
The work was supported by a grant from the Russian Science Foundation “Regional and Ethnic Identities as a Factor of Grassroots Politicization and Formation of Environmental Culture: Cross-Regional Analysis of Value Attitudes and Behavior Strategies”, no. 23-18-00661.
How to Cite
Tulaeva S.A., Nemirovskaya A.V. (2024) “Stop Spoiling Our Land”: Regional Identity and Environmental Mobilization in the Russian Regions. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii (The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology), 27(1): 216-246 (in Russian). DOI: https://doi.org/10.31119/jssa.2024.27.1.10 EDN: DGYYTB
Abstract
In recent years, environmental protests have intensified in Russian regions. At the same time, the level of protest activity in the population is not directly dependent on the degree of environmental threats but is due to various political and social factors. According to researchers, one of the main factors contributing to the mobilization of the population is regional identity. In this paper, we analyze why regional identity is important and what elements are actualized in the process of environmental mobilization in the Russian regions. The results of the study show that mobilization was based on such components of collective identity as the opposition of regions to the center, peripherality, ethnicity, and historical past. The environmental agenda turned out to be significant in conjunction with perceptions of social injustice. Natural objects were considered by local residents from the perspective of their social Environmental problems were mainly presented as threats to national culture, traditional ways of life, religious, and cultural-historical objects. At the same time, global environmental values were articulated mainly by professional ecologists. In addition, in some cases, a strong collective identity could contribute to environmental demobilization and resistance to those environmental projects that conflicted with the interests of the local population. Thus, grassroots environmental mobilization in Russia is mainly associated with ideas about the uneven distribution of resources and survival values.
Keywords:
environmental mobilization, environmental protests, regional identity, Russian regions
References
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Castells M. (2011). The power of identity. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Dawson J.I. (1996) Eco-nationalism: Anti-nuclear activism and national identity in Russia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. Durham: Duke University Press.
Della Porta D., Mattoni A. (2014) Patterns of diffusion and the transnational dimension of protest in the movements of the crisis: An introduction. In: Spreading protest. Social movements in times of crisis. Colchester: ECPR Press: 1–18.
Deng Y., Yang G. (2013) Pollution and protest in China: Environmental mobilization in context. The China Quarterly, 214: 321–336.
Devine‐Wright P. (2009) Rethinking NIMBYism: The role of place attachment and place identity in explaining place‐protective action. Journal of community & applied social psychology, 19(6): 426–441.
Gelman V. (2003) Politicheskie elity i strategii regional'noj identichnosti [Political Elites and Strategies of Regional Identity]. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii [The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology], 6(2): 91–105 (in Russian).
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Golovneva E. (2013) Regional'naya identichnost' kak forma kollektivnoj identichnosti i ee struktura [Regional identity as a form of collective identity and its structure]. Labirint. Zhurnal social'no-gumanitarnyh issledovanij [Labyrinth. Journal of Social and Humanitarian Studies], 5: 42–50 (in Russian).
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Inglehart R., Welzel K. (2011) Modernizaciya, kul'turnye izmeneniya i demokratiya [Modernization, cultural change and democracy]. Moscow: Novoe izdatel'stvo (in Russian).
Jian L., Chan C.K.C. (2016) Collective Identity, Framing and Mobilisation of Environmental Protests in Urban China: A Case Study of Qidong's Protest. China: An International Journal, 14(2): 102–122.
Kuzmina Y. (2022) “The Defenders of Shiyes”: traditionalism as a mobilization resource in a Russian protest camp. East European Politics? 39(1): 1–21.
Lewin P.G. (2019) “Coal is not just a job, it’s a way of life”: The cultural politics of coal production in Central Appalachia. Social Problems, 66(1): 51–68.
Lubarda B. (2018) Polluting outsiders: green nationalism asa concept-case study: Latvia. Current Debates in Public Finance Public Administration & Environmental Studies, 13(13): 436–446.
Nemirovskaya A.V., Foa R. (2013) Sociokul'turnye osobennosti frontira Rossii [Sociocultural features of the Russian frontier.]. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological research], (4): 80–88 (in Russian).
Nysten-Haarala S., Joona T., Hovila I. (2021) Wind energy projects and reindeer herders' rights in Finnish Lapland: A legal framework. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 9(1): 00037. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00037.
Paasi A. (2003) Region and place: regional identity in question. Progress in human geography, 27(4): 475–485.
Paasi A. (2013) Regional planning and the mobilization of ‘regional identity’: From bounded spaces to relational complexity. Regional studies, 47(8): 1206–1219.
Palacio G. (2023). Amazonian Frontiers: Borderlines, Internal Frontiers, and Political Ecology of Amazonia. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History [https://oxfordre.com/latinamericanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-1079] (accessed: 01.08.2023).
Putnam R. (1996) Chtoby demokratiya srabotala: Grazhdanskie tradicii v sovremennoj Italii [Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy.]. Moscow: Ad Marginem (in Russian).
Rodgers D. (2022) Nedra Rossii. Vlast', neft' i kul'tura posle socializma [Subsoil of Russia. Power, oil and culture after socialism]. St. Petersburg: Bibliorossika; Boston: Academic Studies Press(in Russian).
Rutland P. (2015) Petronation? Oil, gas, and national identity in Russia. Post-Soviet Affairs, 31(1): 66–89.
Rutland P. (2010). The presence of absence: Ethnicity policy in Russia. In Institutions, ideas and leadership in Russian politics. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK: 116–136.
Schultz P. (2002) Environmental attitudes and behaviors across cultures. Online readings in psychology and culture, 8(1): 4–35.
Schwartz K.Z. (1999) Nature, development and national identity: The battle over sustainable forestry in Latvia. Environmental Politics, 8(3): 99–118.
Shmatko N.A., Kachanov Y.L. (1998) Territorial'naya identichnost' kak predmet sociologicheskogo issledovaniya [Territorial identity as a subject of sociological research]. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological research], 4: 94–98 (in Russian).
Snow D.A., McAdam D. (2000) Identity work processes in the context of social movements: clarifying the identity/movement nexus. In: Stryker S., Owens T.J., White R.W. (eds.), Self, identity, and social movements. University of Minnesota Press: 41–67.
Stammler F., Peskov V. (2008) Building a ‘culture of dialogue’ among stakeholders in North-West Russian oil extraction. Europe-Asia Studies, 60(5): 831–849.
Stoll-Kleemann S. (2001) Barriers to nature conservation in Germany: A model explaining opposition to protected areas. Journal of environmental psychology, 21(4): 369–385.
Tilli Ch. (2009) Istoricheskaya sociologiya [Historical sociology]. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological research], 5: 95–101 (in Russian).
Tishkov V.A. (2019) Rossijskaya identichnost': vnutrennie i vneshnie vyzovy [Russian Identity: Internal and External Challenges]. Vestnik Rossijskoj akademii nauk [Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences], 89(4): 408–412 (in Russian).
Tsumarova E.Y. (2014) Politika identichnosti v regionah Rossii: teoreticheskij i prakticheskij aspekty (na primere Respubliki Kareliya) [Identity politics in the regions of Russia: theoretical and practical aspects (on the example of the Republic of Karelia)]. SPb.: Izdatel'stvo Sankt-Peterburgskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta (in Russian).
Tulaeva S., Snarskij Y. (2022) Zelenyj nacionalizm v syr'evom gosudarstve: ekologicheskaya povestka i nacional'naya identichnost' v rossijskih regionah [Green nationalism in a raw-material state: environmental agenda and national identity in the Russian regions]. Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research, 14(3): 4–33 (in Russian).
Turovec M.V. (2014) Protest kak racional'noe dejstvie [Protest as a rational action]. Politicheskaya nauka [Political science,], 4: 236–252 (in Russian).
Turovsky R.F. (1999) Regional'naya identichnost' v sovremennoj Rossii [Regional identity in modern Russia]. In: Turovskij R. (ed.) Rossijskoe obshchestvo: stanovlenie demokraticheskih cennostej [Russian society: the formation of democratic values]. Moscow: Gendalf: 87–136 (in Russian).
Turovsky R.F. (2003) Sootnoshenie kul'turnyh landshaftov i regional'noj identichnosti v sovremennoj Rossii [Correlation of cultural landscapes and regional identity in modern Russia]. Turovsky R. (ed.) Identichnost i geografiya v sovremennoj Rossii [Identity and Geography in Modern Russia]. SPb: Gelikon Plus: 4–36 (in Russian).
Vadjunec J.M., Schmink M., Greiner A.L. (2011) New Amazonian geographies: emerging identities and landscapes. Journal of Cultural Geography, 28(1): 1–20. DOI: 10.1080/08873631.2011.548477
Vorkinn M., Riese H. (2001) Environmental concern in a local context: The significance of place attachment. Environment and behavior, 33(2): 249–263.
Uzzell D., Pol E., Badenas D. (2002) Place identification, social cohesion, and enviornmental sustainability. Environment and behavior, 34(1): 26–53.
Wilson E. (2019) What is benefit sharing? Respecting indigenous rights and addressing inequities in Arctic resource projects. Resources, 8(2): 74.
Yusupova G. (2018) Cultural nationalism and everyday resistance in an illiberal nationalising state: ethnic minority nationalism in Russia. Nations and Nationalism, 24(3): 624–647.
Zadorin I.V. (2018) Regiony rubezha: territorial'naya identichnost' i vospriyatie osobosti [Regions of the frontier: territorial identity and the perception of specialness]. Politiya. Analiz. Hronika. Prognoz [Politia. Analysis. Chronicle. Forecast], 2(89): 102–136 (in Russian).
Balzer M.M. (2015) Indigeneity, land and activism in Siberia. In: Land, indigenous peoples and conflict. London: Routledge: 9–27.
Bell S.E., Braun Y.A. (2019) Coal, identity, and the gendering of environmental justice activism in central Appalachia. In: Green Planet Blues. London: Routledge: 362–380.
Bonaiuto M., Alves S., De Dominicis S., Petruccelli I. (2016) Place attachment and natural hazard risk: Research review and agenda. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 48: 33–53.
Bonaiuto M., Carrus G., Martorella H., Bonnes M. (2002) Local identity processes and environmental attitudes in land use changes: The case of natural protected areas. Journal of economic psychology, 23(5): 631–653.
Brubaker R. (2019) Etnichnost' bez grup [Ethnicity without groups]. Moscow: Vyschaia schkola ekonomiki Publ. (in Russian).
Busygina I. (2002) Russia's regions in search of identity. Acta Slavica Iaponica, 19: 296–312.
Etkind A. (2013) Vnutrennyaya kolonizaciya. Imperskij opyt Rossii [Internal colonization. Imperial experience of Russia]. Moscow: Novoe literaturnoe obozrenie (in Russian).
Castells M. (2011). The power of identity. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Dawson J.I. (1996) Eco-nationalism: Anti-nuclear activism and national identity in Russia, Lithuania, and Ukraine. Durham: Duke University Press.
Della Porta D., Mattoni A. (2014) Patterns of diffusion and the transnational dimension of protest in the movements of the crisis: An introduction. In: Spreading protest. Social movements in times of crisis. Colchester: ECPR Press: 1–18.
Deng Y., Yang G. (2013) Pollution and protest in China: Environmental mobilization in context. The China Quarterly, 214: 321–336.
Devine‐Wright P. (2009) Rethinking NIMBYism: The role of place attachment and place identity in explaining place‐protective action. Journal of community & applied social psychology, 19(6): 426–441.
Gelman V. (2003) Politicheskie elity i strategii regional'noj identichnosti [Political Elites and Strategies of Regional Identity]. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii [The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology], 6(2): 91–105 (in Russian).
Golovneva E.V. (2017). Regional'naya identichnost' i identichnost' regiona [Regional Identity and Identity of Region]. Tempus et Memoria, 12(3): 182–189 (in Russian).
Golovneva E. (2013) Regional'naya identichnost' kak forma kollektivnoj identichnosti i ee struktura [Regional identity as a form of collective identity and its structure]. Labirint. Zhurnal social'no-gumanitarnyh issledovanij [Labyrinth. Journal of Social and Humanitarian Studies], 5: 42–50 (in Russian).
Hechter M. (1977) Internal colonialism: The Celtic fringe in British national development, 1536–1966 (Vol. 197). University of California Press.
Inglehart R., Welzel K. (2011) Modernizaciya, kul'turnye izmeneniya i demokratiya [Modernization, cultural change and democracy]. Moscow: Novoe izdatel'stvo (in Russian).
Jian L., Chan C.K.C. (2016) Collective Identity, Framing and Mobilisation of Environmental Protests in Urban China: A Case Study of Qidong's Protest. China: An International Journal, 14(2): 102–122.
Kuzmina Y. (2022) “The Defenders of Shiyes”: traditionalism as a mobilization resource in a Russian protest camp. East European Politics? 39(1): 1–21.
Lewin P.G. (2019) “Coal is not just a job, it’s a way of life”: The cultural politics of coal production in Central Appalachia. Social Problems, 66(1): 51–68.
Lubarda B. (2018) Polluting outsiders: green nationalism asa concept-case study: Latvia. Current Debates in Public Finance Public Administration & Environmental Studies, 13(13): 436–446.
Nemirovskaya A.V., Foa R. (2013) Sociokul'turnye osobennosti frontira Rossii [Sociocultural features of the Russian frontier.]. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological research], (4): 80–88 (in Russian).
Nysten-Haarala S., Joona T., Hovila I. (2021) Wind energy projects and reindeer herders' rights in Finnish Lapland: A legal framework. Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene, 9(1): 00037. https://doi.org/10.1525/elementa.2020.00037.
Paasi A. (2003) Region and place: regional identity in question. Progress in human geography, 27(4): 475–485.
Paasi A. (2013) Regional planning and the mobilization of ‘regional identity’: From bounded spaces to relational complexity. Regional studies, 47(8): 1206–1219.
Palacio G. (2023). Amazonian Frontiers: Borderlines, Internal Frontiers, and Political Ecology of Amazonia. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History [https://oxfordre.com/latinamericanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-1079] (accessed: 01.08.2023).
Putnam R. (1996) Chtoby demokratiya srabotala: Grazhdanskie tradicii v sovremennoj Italii [Making Democracy Work: Civic Traditions in Modern Italy.]. Moscow: Ad Marginem (in Russian).
Rodgers D. (2022) Nedra Rossii. Vlast', neft' i kul'tura posle socializma [Subsoil of Russia. Power, oil and culture after socialism]. St. Petersburg: Bibliorossika; Boston: Academic Studies Press(in Russian).
Rutland P. (2015) Petronation? Oil, gas, and national identity in Russia. Post-Soviet Affairs, 31(1): 66–89.
Rutland P. (2010). The presence of absence: Ethnicity policy in Russia. In Institutions, ideas and leadership in Russian politics. London: Palgrave Macmillan UK: 116–136.
Schultz P. (2002) Environmental attitudes and behaviors across cultures. Online readings in psychology and culture, 8(1): 4–35.
Schwartz K.Z. (1999) Nature, development and national identity: The battle over sustainable forestry in Latvia. Environmental Politics, 8(3): 99–118.
Shmatko N.A., Kachanov Y.L. (1998) Territorial'naya identichnost' kak predmet sociologicheskogo issledovaniya [Territorial identity as a subject of sociological research]. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological research], 4: 94–98 (in Russian).
Snow D.A., McAdam D. (2000) Identity work processes in the context of social movements: clarifying the identity/movement nexus. In: Stryker S., Owens T.J., White R.W. (eds.), Self, identity, and social movements. University of Minnesota Press: 41–67.
Stammler F., Peskov V. (2008) Building a ‘culture of dialogue’ among stakeholders in North-West Russian oil extraction. Europe-Asia Studies, 60(5): 831–849.
Stoll-Kleemann S. (2001) Barriers to nature conservation in Germany: A model explaining opposition to protected areas. Journal of environmental psychology, 21(4): 369–385.
Tilli Ch. (2009) Istoricheskaya sociologiya [Historical sociology]. Sociologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological research], 5: 95–101 (in Russian).
Tishkov V.A. (2019) Rossijskaya identichnost': vnutrennie i vneshnie vyzovy [Russian Identity: Internal and External Challenges]. Vestnik Rossijskoj akademii nauk [Bulletin of the Russian Academy of Sciences], 89(4): 408–412 (in Russian).
Tsumarova E.Y. (2014) Politika identichnosti v regionah Rossii: teoreticheskij i prakticheskij aspekty (na primere Respubliki Kareliya) [Identity politics in the regions of Russia: theoretical and practical aspects (on the example of the Republic of Karelia)]. SPb.: Izdatel'stvo Sankt-Peterburgskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta (in Russian).
Tulaeva S., Snarskij Y. (2022) Zelenyj nacionalizm v syr'evom gosudarstve: ekologicheskaya povestka i nacional'naya identichnost' v rossijskih regionah [Green nationalism in a raw-material state: environmental agenda and national identity in the Russian regions]. Laboratorium: Russian Review of Social Research, 14(3): 4–33 (in Russian).
Turovec M.V. (2014) Protest kak racional'noe dejstvie [Protest as a rational action]. Politicheskaya nauka [Political science,], 4: 236–252 (in Russian).
Turovsky R.F. (1999) Regional'naya identichnost' v sovremennoj Rossii [Regional identity in modern Russia]. In: Turovskij R. (ed.) Rossijskoe obshchestvo: stanovlenie demokraticheskih cennostej [Russian society: the formation of democratic values]. Moscow: Gendalf: 87–136 (in Russian).
Turovsky R.F. (2003) Sootnoshenie kul'turnyh landshaftov i regional'noj identichnosti v sovremennoj Rossii [Correlation of cultural landscapes and regional identity in modern Russia]. Turovsky R. (ed.) Identichnost i geografiya v sovremennoj Rossii [Identity and Geography in Modern Russia]. SPb: Gelikon Plus: 4–36 (in Russian).
Vadjunec J.M., Schmink M., Greiner A.L. (2011) New Amazonian geographies: emerging identities and landscapes. Journal of Cultural Geography, 28(1): 1–20. DOI: 10.1080/08873631.2011.548477
Vorkinn M., Riese H. (2001) Environmental concern in a local context: The significance of place attachment. Environment and behavior, 33(2): 249–263.
Uzzell D., Pol E., Badenas D. (2002) Place identification, social cohesion, and enviornmental sustainability. Environment and behavior, 34(1): 26–53.
Wilson E. (2019) What is benefit sharing? Respecting indigenous rights and addressing inequities in Arctic resource projects. Resources, 8(2): 74.
Yusupova G. (2018) Cultural nationalism and everyday resistance in an illiberal nationalising state: ethnic minority nationalism in Russia. Nations and Nationalism, 24(3): 624–647.
Zadorin I.V. (2018) Regiony rubezha: territorial'naya identichnost' i vospriyatie osobosti [Regions of the frontier: territorial identity and the perception of specialness]. Politiya. Analiz. Hronika. Prognoz [Politia. Analysis. Chronicle. Forecast], 2(89): 102–136 (in Russian).
Article
Received: 04.08.2023
Accepted: 02.03.2024
Citation Formats
Other cite formats:
ACM
[1]
Tulaeva, S.A. and Nemirovskaya, A.V. 2024. “Stop Spoiling Our Land”: Regional Identity and Environmental Mobilization in the Russian Regions. Zhurnal sotsiologii i sotsialnoy antropologii (The Journal of Sociology and Social Anthropology). 27, 1 (Mar. 2024), 216-246. DOI:https://doi.org/10.31119/jssa.2024.27.1.10.
Section
Environmental Sociology
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