Elena Bulakh is a Russian language lecturer and researcher at ISEG-ULisboa. She holds a PhD in Comparative/Historical/Typological Linguistics from Pyatigorsk Linguistic University (Russia, 2001), and is currently a PhD Candidate (Migrations) at ICS-ULisboa. Elena has authored works on the Russian language and culture and has also convened international conferences on Post-Soviet Migration to Western Europe. Her research project is devoted to Russian migration in Portugal (1991-2017) with a special focus on networks, transnationalism, and migrants' identity.
PhD Candidate: Migrations, Anthropology
Institute of Social Sciences (ICS) / Lisbon School of Economics & Management (ISEG), University of Lisbon (UL)
Titled Russian Migrants in Portugal (1991-2017): Networks, Transnationalism, Identifications, the thesis focuses on diasporic nationalism and the performance of diasporic identities within the Russian community that moved to Portugal over two decades following the collapse of the USSR. The links of the migrants with their Soviet past are realized through nostalgic memories and practices which form connections to their homeland and lay the foundation for communal transnationalism. The research explores the diverse ways and performances through which the migrants’ long-distance nationalism is sustained and reproduced in the context of contemporary globalization.
Keywords: post-soviet migration, long-distance nationalism, networks, national identity, transnationalism