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Project: Nationality and Language in the All-Russian Census of 2002

Since 2001, The Network for Ethnic Monitoring and Early Warning (EAWARN) has taken part in the scientific research project on Nationality and Language in the All-Russian Census of 2002. The project is carried out by the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences (IEA RAS, Moscow) in cooperation with Brown University (USA, Providence) and a group of French scientists.


Valery Tishkov Dominique Arel David Kertzer
Valery Tishkov Dominique Arel David Kertzer


Project Management:

Valery TishkovCorresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS), director of the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology (Moscow, Russia). Director of EAWARN.

Dominique ArelAdjunct Professor at Brown University, USA. Chair of Ukrainian Studies at Ottawa University, Canada.

David KertzerProfessor of Anthropology at Brown University, USA


This research, carried out by anthropologists, ethnologists, demographers, political scientists, sociologists and statisticians, aims to examine the mechanisms of construction and registration of ethnic and language categories and events in the conducting of census. The issues of identity and the cultural and language situation are the most complicated and frequently discussed during all censuses, in and out of Russia. The research focuses on these issues.

The research team uses monitoring experience acquired by foreign scientists and EAWARN experts over the course of censuses in other post-Soviet states.

Russian EAWARN experts have prepared reports on the situation prior to the census, which included the analysis of scientific and public discussions about the categorization of identity as well as information about the organization and the methodology of the upcoming event. These reports have served as the foundation of the multi-author monograph On the Way to the Census. The authors of the best reports were invited to attend the second seminar on the project in April 2003 at the Brown University in Providence, RI. The experts also took part in the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN) Congress at Columbia University in New York, NY.

Providence seminar

On October 7-14, 2002, Russian experts in cooperation with American and French research teams organized observation of the census in 20 regions of the Russian Federation. The result was the publication of a second book, Ethnography of the Census, prepared by the international group of authors. The articles prepared by the French project team were also published in a special edition of Revue d’études Óomparatives Est-Ouest magazine in May 2004.

The final stage of the project involves the analysis of census results and their influence on the public consciousness in Russian regions with a complex ethnic population composition.


Russian Project Team:

Elena FilippovaSenior Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Ph.D in History. Executive director of EAWARN.
Valery StepanovSenior Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Ph.D in History.
Sergei SokolovskyLeading Research Fellow at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences. Ph.D in History.
Olga KulbachevskayaResearch Fellow at the Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

US Project Team:

Cynthia BuckleyTexas University Professor
Jennifer BarrettPhD Candidate at the Population Research Center at Texas University.
Dmitry GorenburgDirector of the Russian and East European Programs of CNA corporation.
Juliette CadiotPost-Doctoral Fellow at Brown University.
Ward KingkadeStaff Member of the US Bureau of the Census.
Elizaveta KoryushkinaPhD candidate of the Anthropology Department at Brown University.
Peter RutlandWellesley College Professor.
Yoshiko M. HerreraAssistant Professor, Harvard University.


French Project Team:

Alain BlumDeputy Director of the Center for the Studies of Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet World of the Higher School of Social Studies (Centre d’etudes du monde russe,sovietique et post-sovietique de Ecole des Hautes Erudes en Sciences Sociales). Senior Research Fellow of the National Institute of Demographic Research (Institut National d’Etudes Demographiques).
Catherine GousseffResearch Fellow of the National Center of Scientific Research (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique) and Center for the Studies of Russian, Soviet and Post-Soviet World of the Higher School of Social Studies.
Samuel Marie-FanonChief Coordinator of the North Caucasus branch of the “Medecins du Monde” organization.
Od MerlenPhD candidate at the Sciences Po Paris.
Jean Radvanyiprofessor of the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Cultures.
Xavier Le Torrivelleclecturer at the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Cultures. PhD? Candidate at the Higher School of Social Studies.