How are youth cultural identities rooted in gender ethnicity and place? What resources do
young people from ethnic minorities use in creating their cultural identities? Drawing upon
interdisciplinary research Ulrike Ziemer's case study demonstrates the different ways in which
young people from ethnic minorities respond to the social political and cultural
transformations of post-Soviet Russia and provides a detailed analysis of how local vs. global
relations are experienced outside the West. Relying on extensive ethnographic fieldwork Ziemer
explores the complex processes of identity formation and cultural experiences among young
Armenians in Krasnodar krai and young Adyghs in the Republic of Adyghea. Both ethnic groups
Armenians and Adyghs have a minority status in Russia yet Adyghs are indigenous to the region
while Armenians constitute a diaspora people. Ulrike Ziemer is the first to examine
specifically Armenian and Adygh youth identities in the context of everyday life experiences in
post-Soviet Russia.
