Café communities as an environment for the ethnic integration of migrants in Moscow

Abstract

The article presents the results of a research project aimed to explore migrant communities in Moscow. The research was focused on communities found in ethnic cafes and involved 140 hours of observation in about 80 cafes and more than 200 interviews with owners, employees and clients. Four types of communities that recur from café to café were detected; they are as follows: Muslim poly-ethnic communities in cafes next to mosques and «Azeri business» communities. The article describes how these communities become a place of integration for Moscow migrants through different social mechanisms. A considerable part of the article is dedicated to the research design and methodology.