Hidden mobilities in post-Soviet spaces: boundaries, scales, identities and informal routes to livelihood

Abstract

We analyze the hidden mobilities, in physio-spatial, epistemic and social terms that are part and parcel of livelihood strategies in places dominated by informal institutions and authoritarian governance regimes. Soviet and post-Soviet Uzbekistan and Tajikistan serve as empirical references to develop the theoretical perspective. We link this analysis with an analysis of the roles of boundaries, scales and mobilities in general, with special emphasis on the role of formal and informal institutions and on networks of mobility. We thus link a Deleuzian-inspired frame with a new institutionalist perspective on development and discuss the potential of development interventions to alter rules, roles and routes of people and the influence of mobilities, hidden and visible, to alter the effects of development (intervention).