The research project: A Comparative Study of Media Engagement and Adaptation of Russian-Speaking Immigrant Communities in Estonia and Kazakhstan

Dr. Yerkebulan Sairambay, postdoctoral researcher at the Centre for Oriental is awarded the Estonian national Grant for researchers and academic staff 2025.

Introduction and the Current State of Research

In this research, I aim to examine how Russian-speaking immigrant communities in Estonia and Kazakhstan are involved and adapted in media environments. Are they handling media in the same way as locals or separating and building their own media landscapes? These questions are important to study in parallel to political and societal flashpoints such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Donald Trump’s return to office and its consequences, the rise of autocracies and populism worldwide, and many more. Eastern Europe is currently characterised by growing migration trends and linguistic variety, particularly in countries such as Estonia and Kazakhstan. Given the growing issues of migration in the Eastern European region this research will be essential for understanding how Russian-speaking communities are engaged in navigating their political and societal lives through media in Estonia and Kazakhstan. Through content analysis and in-depth interviews in Estonia and Kazakhstan, I will attempt to answer my research questions over the course of five months, while simultaneously compiling the results into a scientific article.

Research Objectives and Questions

The research objectives of this study are to understand the role of media in the social integration or separation of Russian-speaking immigrant communities in Estonia and Kazakhstan and to explore the media consumption preferences and practices of these communities, and how they may differ from the local populations. In doing so, this research will investigate the potential for Russian-speaking immigrants to build distinct media spaces, both offline and online, and how this affects their relationship with the broader society.

I have two main research questions: 1) How do Russian-speaking immigrant communities in Estonia and Kazakhstan engage with local media environments? 2) Are Russian-speaking communities in these countries adapting their media consumption to local media, or are they constructing distinct media landscapes that reflect their cultural and linguistic ties to Russia?

Theorisation/Conceptualisation

The theoretical framework of this research is based on ‘media adaptation’ and ‘media fragmentation’ theories. While the former argues that immigrant communities adapt media practices to their needs (e.g., Hutcheon 2006), the latter explores whether Russian-speaking communities in Estonia and Kazakhstan are creating their distinct media ecosystems or consuming local media (e.g., Lecheler et al. 2019; Levy et al. 2020; Steppat et al. 2021).

Methodology

I will adopt a comparative qualitative approach, combining interviews with Russian-speaking community members and media content analysis. Semi-structures in-depth interview participants will include individuals from different backgrounds to showcase different experiences and perspectives. A detailed content analysis of local media outlets will be conducted to examine whether media content reflects or diverges the interests of such communities. For interviews, participants will be selected using purposive sampling. The collected data will be analysed using thematic analysis to identify key themes relating to media consumption and integration.

Ethical Issues

The process of interviews will be carried out in accordance with guidelines of the University of Tartu and ethical permission will be obtained from the Ethics Committee.

Dissemination and Impact

The major output will be an article (to submit a proposal to East European Politics and Societies, in November 2025). The results will also be disseminated at the Tartu Conference on East European and Eurasian Studies as well as through online media outlets. I will organise two seminars: one for Estonia at the University of Tartu and another one for Kazakhstan at SDU University.

It is expected that the study will make three contributions to the field of media consumption and integration. First, it will expand our understanding of how immigrant communities engage with media in post-Soviet space. Second, my research will highlight the role of media in either fostering integration or reinforcing division within these communities. The third contribution is to develop cross-national comparative studies in two different political systems, new democracy (Estonia) and autocratic transition state and society (Kazakhstan).

References

Hutcheon, L. (2006) A Theory of Adaptation. New York: Routledge.

Lecheler, S., Matthes, J. and Boomgaarden, H. (2019) ‘Setting the Agenda for Research on Media and Migration: State-of-the-Art and Directions for Future Research’, Mass Communication and Society, 22(6), pp. 691–707. doi: 10.1080/15205436.2019.1688059.

Levy, N., Pisarevskaya, A. and Scholten, P. (2020) Between fragmentation and institutionalisation: The rise of migration studies as a research field. CMS 8(24). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40878-020-00180-7

Steppat, D., Castro Herrero, L., and Esser, F. (2021) Selective exposure in different political information environments – How media fragmentation and polarization shape congruent news use. European Journal of Communication, 37(1), pp. 82-102. https://doi.org/10.1177/02673231211012141 (Original work published 2022)