ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The fieldwork underlying this study would have been impossible and much less pleasurable without the help and friendship of persons who accompanied and took care of me. I am grateful to many who offered their time and support during the fieldwork that underlies this study but who will remain anonymous. More than seventy interviewees offered their thoughts and insights, and many more in informal conversations. I also thank the many who hosted and accommodated me, gave me a ride and presents, and shared their personal stories.

I am particularly grateful to colleagues and friends in Russia who supported this project. Aleksandr Nikulin and Maria Savoskul accompanied me at times during fieldwork, hosted me in Moscow, mobilized friends and family members to support me, and offered me advice. Vera Bolotova was a crucial mediator for fieldwork in the Perm region. Aleksandr Kuzminov and Nina Kuzminova, Jan Pieter Rijpma, Nikolai and Sasha Nikulin and their families, Sergei Kasakov, and Valentina Petrovna hosted me several times and gave me further support. Aleksandr Nikulin, Dmitrii Bogachev, Maria Savoskul, Michelle Steggerda, Timur Sazanov, Vera Bolotova, and Viktor Shostko organized some interviews and travel arrangements.

I am grateful to several people for their mentorship and for providing resources. Peter Lindner introduced me to persons and sites that became core pillars of this project, and he provided freedom and support to develop it during work on my PhD. Stephen Collier invited me to the New School, where I developed some of the core ideas of this study, which helped with turning my PhD dissertation into a book. Susan Thieme supported this project during my postdoctoral phase, both morally and materially.

I thank everyone who provided feedback on text that went into this project at several stages. Iris Dzudzek, Nanja Nagorny, Peter Lindner, Stefan Ouma, and Vanessa Thompson discussed and commented on the underlying PhD thesis. Christian Berndt, Endre Dányi, Julian Stenmanns, Karin Schwiter, Marc Boeckler, Martin Müller, Nadine Marquardt, and Simon Noori offered feedback on individual chapters. Carole Ammann, Stephen Collier, and Susanne Wengle helped to turn my PhD dissertation into a book. Alexander Kurakin, Alexander Nikulin, Dace Dzenovska, Dominic Martin, Eszter Krasznai Kovács, Friederike Pank, Jevgeniy Bluwstein, Vera Smirnova, and Volodymyr Artiukh commented on the book manuscript, or substantial parts of it. I also thank Anastasia Nikolaeva and for their assistance, and Angelina Davydova, Luca Tschiderer, Natalia Shagaida, Elena Trubina, Mariia Tysiachniuk, Myroslava Volosko, and Stephen Wegren for feedback on specific questions and parts of the manuscript. Many more commented on this project at conferences, presentations, and research colloquia. Thanks to Natalia Taran, Viacheslav Lazarenko, Mark Borblik, Lena Ribe, and Michelle Steggerda for transcribing interviews, and to Peter Lindner and Evelin Moser for sharing three interview transcripts with me.

I gratefully acknowledge funding from the German Research Foundation (DFG) for most of the research underlying this study, and the Foundation for the Promotion of International Scientific Relations at Goethe University as well as the Vereinigung von Freunden und Förderern der Goethe Universität for several travel stipends. I enjoyed excellent working conditions and a friendly and inspiring environment in the Department of Human Geography at Goethe University Frankfurt, the Institute of Geography at the University of Bern, and the Institute of Advanced Studies at University College London. At a late stage in writing, I also enjoyed financial support from the Swiss National Science Foundation. Thanks to generous support from the University of Bern’s Open Access Publication Fund, the electronic version of this book is available free of charge. I thank Joan Dale Lace and Leah Caldwell for copyediting, and everyone at the University of Georgia Press who supported the publication process: Bethany Snead, Lea Johnson, Mick Gusinde-Duffy, Rebecca Norton, among others, and the series editors Matt Coleman and Ishan Ashutosh. I am also grateful to three anonymous reviewers for their critical reading and helpful suggestions.

Special thanks to Julian Stenmanns, Stefan Ouma, and Vanessa Thompson for personal and intellectual companionship over extended phases of this project, and to Angelina Davydova, Jevgeniy Bluwstein, and Kateryna Polianska for helping me reorient after February 2022. Carolin Schurr, Iris Dzudzek, and Karin Schwiter helped me recharge through conversations and initiatives to make the university a better place. I am immensely grateful to Vanessa for what we shared.