The Buryat of Moscow: Migrations and an Experience in Sociocultural Adaptation

Abstract

The article discusses the ethnic group of Buryat in the city of Moscow. The author examines the causes of Buryats’ migrations from their traditional places of residence to the city during the Soviet period and up to date. Among Buryat migrants, there could be isolated “education”, “labor”, and “occasional” migrants; the causes of migration among the latter being perhaps connected to the social nature of nomadism. The author explores the activities of Moscow’s Buryat national-cultural societies and Buddhist organizations, which may act as mobilization centers, and the part they play in the maintenance of linguistic and cultural identities.