Komsomolsk, Ukraine, 2002-2003

I conducted my dissertation field research from May 2002 to January 2003 in the town Komsomolsk, a town of approximately 51,777 residents located in central Ukraine. In partnership with Ithaca, New York's Municipal Government, the town of Komsomolsk has been making efforts to revive its living standards and economy from the slump it has experienced since the Soviet Union's collapse. It was through this partnership project that I was invited to conduct research in Komsomolsk. The town administration asked me to craft and conduct a citywide survey to collect information regarding the current standard of living of its residents. We asked questions pertaining to education levels, employment, income, health costs, work migration, subsistence gardening, working conditions, and politics. From mid-June to the end of September 2002, an average of 10 survey interviews pounded the pavement conducting face-to-face interviews with respondents randomly selected for our sample. Altogether, the interviewers conducted 4,500 interviews with about an 8-9% refusal rate. Impressive work!

Besides conducting a survey of the town residents, I supported my study with unstructured in-depth interviews with some households that participated in the survey. I wished to obtain a fuller sense of the day-to-day life strategies of various households comprising individuals who were employed in the formal economy and those comprising individuals largely employed in the informal economy. I wanted, especially, to understand how gender shaped the resource opportunities within households.

Alongside interview methods, I recorded details of my daily interactions while living in Komsomolsk. Ethnographic observations allowed me to consider the types of issues town residents encountered in making ends meet each day, plus I constantly questioned my ability to "understand" life in Komsomolsk with my status as an "outsider."

I continue my relationships with my friends and colleagues in Komsomolsk and my fascination with this town is ongoing.   

Youth in Donetsk, Ukraine, criticizing Prime Minister Viktor Yushenko's pro U.S. position in spring 2005. Photographs along their back-sides are those of Yushenko and Freddy Kruger. (Reuters Photo)

View of dacha garden in countryside outside of Komsomolsk.

Dachas are a common realm of activity throughout Ukraine and Russia. Their utility toward enabling families to subsist, however, is a subject of debate among people in these societies and among scholars. Different from a household, or subsistence, garden dachas are plots located outside cities and managed by urban residents. They can be used solely for gardening, although many try to build some structure for escaping from the sun, sleeping, food preparation, and bathing. The nouveau riche over the past 15 years have begun building lavish summer homes in the midst of very modest dachas. The dacha is a symbol of Slavic closeness to the earth, yet is also resented by many who feel they have become a necessity in the aftermath of the Soviet system's demise. More than half of the respondents in the Komsomolsk survey tended a dacha. 

Street trade in produce in Komsomolsk (late summer 2002)

The scene above is common in most town and cities in post-Soviet societies. Some vendors (in the foreground to the right) will purchase imported produce at large cities and sell them all year on the sidewalks. Most street vendors sell produce and other goods as a temporary means for income. Some are seasonal since they rely on selling produce from their dacha and household gardens, while many sell goods during periods of household budgetary crisis. As you can see in this picture, petty trade is often an informal work arrangement women choose.