Memory and the everyday geopolitics of tourism: reworking post-imperial relations in Russian tourism to the ‘near abroad’

Keywords: tourism geopolitics, memory, nostalgia, tourism industry, post-imperial relations, Russia, post-Soviet space
Session Type: Virtual Paper Abstract
Day: Sunday
Session Start / End Time: 2/27/2022 11:20 AM (Eastern Time (US & Canada)) - 2/27/2022 12:40 PM (Eastern Time (US & Canada))
Room: Virtual 65

Abstract

This paper examines geopolitical relations between Russia and its post-Soviet neighbours through a study of everyday experiences of Russian tourists travelling to places that used to be part of their own state. Russia is one of the largest outbound tourism markets in the world. While being heavily regulated during the Soviet period, international travel has emerged as an important leisure activity for Russians and offers an important opportunity for direct encounters in a geopolitical context, shaped by competing nation-building projects and geopolitical ambitions. Based on a comparative ethnography conducted with Russian tourists in Estonia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan in 2019 (including 50 qualitative interviews), the paper examines how tourists make sense of the shared past and rework the relations to their neighbours. Tourist memories exhibit imperial nostalgia and resentment, drawing on discursive tropes such as the “friendship of people” or “good colonisers”. At the same time, tourists articulate alternative ways of relating to others based on the recognition of post-Soviet independence and histories of suffering. Particularly in countries where the Soviet past has been decisively rejected, travellers tend to be more diplomatic. Tourists’ encounters with alternative perspectives as well as a general politics of hospitality play a significant transformative role. Overall, the paper draws attention to the role of memories in the making of geopolitical imaginaries and shows the geopolitical significance of intimate, micro-political encounters that tend to remain below the radar of researchers.