Migration Trajectories of Russian-Speaking Workers in the Tourism Sector of Nha Trang (Vietnam)
The purpose of this paper is to explore an aspect of the structural mechanism of Nha Trang as a post-Soviet space by investigating the migratory trajectories of Russian-speakers working in the tourism sector of Nha Trang. Based upon the case studies of Russian-speaking workers, this paper unraveled transnational composition of the social space mediated by the Russian language as cultural capital, and showed importance of tourism economy for the transnational mobility of Russian-speakers. The complex social and political contexts that have been generated historically from the relationships between Vietnam and Russia or the former USSR produced Russian-speaking tourism economy and tourist enclave in Nha Trang, and Nha Trang became a node of mobility for Russian-speakers who have various forms of mobility that go beyond the static conceptual frameworks of “tourism” and “migration”. This paper examines the linkage between tourism and migration and educes the multiple intermediate forms of human mobility in order to promote a deepr understanding of the process of the emergence of Russian speaking tourism economy in Nha Trang, which has been rapidly developed in the last decade, from the social and political contexts.