Amount 56, 2004 – Problem 6
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Mediated marriage: internet matchmaking in provincial Russia
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We lived in Yoshkar?Ola into the educational 12 months 2000/01 on a training fellowship through the Robert?Bosch?Foundation. During summer of 2003 We came back for just two months having a pre?dissertation research grant through the University of Michigan. This short article is founded on interviews and informal conversations with about 20 ladies who were utilizing the solutions of internet matchmaking agencies, because of the manager of Yoshkar?Ola’s agency that is biggest, sufficient reason for a few of its personnel. I happened to be also provide during A english course at the agency, in addition to during conferences between a few worldwide partners. I will be grateful to any or all my interlocutors, along with to Katherine Verdery as well as 2 anonymous reviewers for perceptive reviews and criticisms.
A university employee reported in 2000 that there have been 26 such organizations, usually doubling as travel agencies, in this town of 250,000 individuals. In 2003 the manager of just one associated with the agencies stated that at some true point there was indeed around 40 agencies, a lot of them maybe perhaps not formally registered but working away from personal flats. While i possibly could maybe perhaps maybe not confirm this number, indications like brachnoe agentstvo or mezhdunarodnye znakomstva had been shown by numerous travel that is local and picture studios.
For a conversation of sex relations in Soviet and post?Soviet Russia which will be really mindful of changing concepts of masculinity see Ashwin ( 2000 Ashwin Sarah (ed. ) Gender, State and Society in Soviet and Post?Soviet Russia (London, Routledge 2000) Google Scholar ).
Monthly per capita earnings in Marii El ended up being 1,052.3 rubles, compared to a federal average of 2,890.1. Just Ingushetia, Chechnya, Ivanovo oblast‘ and the Buryat Autonomous District had reduced numbers (Goskomstat Rossii, 2002 Goskomstat Rossii Rossiya v tsifrakh 2002. Kratkii statisticheskii sbornik (Moscow 2002) Google Scholar, pp. 36–37).
Information regarding the real history and organisational framework regarding the business arises from a job interview utilizing the manager, 15 July 2003, and from Virginia’s web sites, www. Virginia.ru (in Russian) and www. Yoshkar?ola.com (in English, fond of male clients).
This indicates that women in Yoshkar?Ola aren’t alone in shopping for husbands abroad, but you can find up to now no comparative numbers on the sheer number of females looking for the services of matchmaking agencies in several components of Russia and Eastern Europe.
The fee that is monthly from $43 to $83, based on perhaps the guy wants to match just with females from Yoshkar?Ola or with those who work in other towns and cities, and whether their letters will soon be translated orally or in composing for the ladies getting them.
Www. Russianblacklist.com, look over 5 March 2004.
Www. Yoshkar?ola.com/mall/item. Cgi, look over 4 September 2003.
How many ‘Russian’ wedding agencies marketing on the net (located in towns and cities associated with former Soviet Union because well like in Western nations) is actually big and constantly changing. The following three examples may provide a feeling of just how Virginia compares with other agencies: Charming Lady in Odessa charges $10 per specific target, taking place to $3.75 each for the package of 20 details (www. Charming?lady.net, look over 5 March 2004); Svetlana’s Brides in Kyrgyzstan fees $5 per change of email messages, including translations, $20 for shooting and transmitting a video that is hour?long of ‘lady’, and $5 each hour for English classes (www. Svetlanasbrides.com, look over 5 March 2004); as well as an agency in Voronezh offers free initial associates, then charges $8 per person target or $50 for 30 days of limitless communication with one ‘lady’ (www. Withlovefromvoronezh.com, look over 5 March 2004).
See also Kligman ( 1996 Kligman Gail ‘Women as well as the Negotiating of Identity in Post?Communist Eastern Europe’ in V. Bonnell (ed. )1996) pp. 68–91Google Scholar, p. 78) in the different motivations of women doing work in prostitution.
In accordance with its manager, 90% of Virginia’s male customers originate from the English?speaking world, 65% through the United States alone. Less clients originate from holland, Germany, Asia and Japan. The agency additionally gets needs from Arab guys, but do not require has up to now contracted a marriage.
In reality, residents associated with the Philippines nevertheless received the biggest figures of fiancee visas given because of the INS in 1999, residents associated with the Russian Federation coming 2nd with some 2,700 visas (Visson, 2001 Visson Lynn Wedded Strangers. The difficulties of Russian–American Marriages expanded version, (nyc, Hippocrene Books 2001) Google Scholar, pp. 205, 212).
Www. Yoshkar?ola.com/e/services. Shtml? Romantic, browse 4 September 2003.
It really is ironic he makes use of the word ‘Caucasian’, which in Russia evokes dark?haired, dark?skinned individuals from the southern republics, frequently refered to as ‘blacks’. The majority of the females he’s got at heart would object to being so named.
For the conversation regarding the hard relationship of Eastern European and Russian women to Western feminism see Gal & Kligman ( 2000 Gal Susan Kligman Gail The Politics of Gender After Socialism. A comparative?historical essay (princeton, Princeton University Press 2000) Google Scholar, pp. 98–104).
At the time of 14 2002 november.
These women are still above average: in the late 1990s 13.2% of urban Russian women had higher education, 28.9% post?secondary vocational training (Meshcherkina, 1999 Meshcherkina, Elena, Y while the level of education is generally high in Russia, and slightly higher for women than for men. 1999. ‘Frauen auf dem Arbeitsmarkt in Russland’. Feministische Studien, 17(1): pp. 49–60 Google Scholar, p. 50).
Interview with Virginia’s manager, 15 2003 july.
All names in this essay have already been changed.
A small?scale survey conducted by a student among about 100 of her i thought about this peers indicates that the internet is not the culturally preferred way to meet a spouse while i know of no large studies of the marital preferences of women in Yoshkar?Ola. Just a small fraction listed a marriage agency as a sensible way to meet, the great majority preferring venues where individuals meet in individual, such as for instance 2001 Morozova Dariya ‘Psikhologiya dobrachnogo obshcheniya’ paper presented during the seminar ‘Problema lyubvi v dukhovnom opyte chelovechestva’, Mari State Technical University, Yoshkar?Ola, 2 June 2001 Google Scholar ).
Russian females whom Visson interviewed mentioned the willingness of US men to marry females with kids as a thing that set them apart from Russian males. Some People in the us she talked to had clearly looked for ‘a girl having a young youngster at night diaper age’ (Visson, 2001 Visson Lynn Wedded Strangers. The Challenges of Russian–American Marriages expanded version, (ny, Hippocrene Books 2001) Google Scholar, p. 208).
A little city in Marii El.
To my knowledge, the sheer number of foreigners from beyond your previous Soviet Union whom spent a lot more than 30 days in Yoshkar?Ola in 2000–01 ended up being limited by a Lutheran pastor from Finland, an US Pentecostal minister, an US pupil learning Russian, two German linguists learning Mari, a small grouping of Chinese trade students and myself.
Www. Virginia. Shtml that is.ru/marriage/private, look over 4 September 2003 (my translation).
Www. Yoshkar?ola.com/e/services. Shtml? Romantic, browse 4 2003 september.
The decision associated with the name ‘Virginia’ shows just how much the owners understand the attraction regarding the international to both edges: the manager explained which he ended up being searching for a feminine name but one which, unlike names such as ‘Natasha’ or ‘Anastasia’, typical to a lot of matchmaking agencies, would appear exotic to Russians as well (meeting, 15 July 2003).