Locals' and 'newcomers' in Yamal: social boundaries and variations of migration experience

Western Siberia and the entire circumpolar region have become an obvious migrant destination for newcomers from the European part of the country, the national republics, and Southern Siberia. Unlike the rest of Siberia, the oil- and gas-rich North is still a migration magnet for the whole of the former Soviet Union. The paper is dedicated to research into the contemporary social environment of the village Yar-Sale in Yamal. The research is focused on the migration experience of the recent newcomers and their relations with the aboriginal inhabitants. Special attention is paid to such notions as 'local'/ 'newly arrived', 'kin'/ 'stranger'. I assume that these boundaries are flexible. A newcomer could become a local, and outsiders could become kin. Ethnic background and duration of stay in the region are not always crucial for this transition.

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