Andronova A., Nikiforova E. (2015) St. Petersburg Under the Food Embargo: Informal Finnish-Russian Cross-Border Trade as a Coping Strategy

JUNE 2015 NO 5

EUBORDERSCAPES Newsletter

A short message from the Coordinator

Already three years into our intensive and comprehensiveresearch agenda the project consortium has developedseveral insightful perspectives on borders and their widersocial implications However we have not been detachedfrom or aloof to current events and their impacts Thebackdrop of crisis both within the EU and in its imme-diate neighbourhood has certainly reinforced the percep-tion that political social and cultural borders have main-tained their salience in many negative and problematicways Two are elaborated here in the form of a researchbrief that explores the rsquore-borderingrsquo of Russia from theviewpoint of food and the food embargo elicited by theEUrsquos economic sanctions and a short seminar report that

focuses on the Italian rsquonon-cityrsquo of Zingonia as a home totranslocal community ndash and marginalized immigrant pop-ulations Above and beyond this we also have short re-ports on the second EUBORDERSCAPES conference in Is-rael and the completion of a partner project EUBORDER-REGIONS which has specifically concentrated on cross-border cooperation at the EUrsquos external frontiers

This update will be followed soon in our next newslet-ter by in-depth reports from individual work packagesand new working papers We will also keep you informedon our website about upcoming events including a majorpolicy conference in London to be held on 9ndash12 Novem-ber 2015

Research BriefSt Petersburg Under the Food Embargo Informal Finnish-Russian

Cross-Border Trade as a Coping Strategy

by ALENA ANDRONOVA amp ELENA NIKIFOROVA

Centre for Independent Social Research

Over the last decade foodstuffs from Finland have be-come an integrated part of everyday diet for many resi-dents of St Petersburg and North-West Russia as a wholeIn the St Petersburg foodscape groceries produced in Fin-land are constructed by sellers and consumers not onlyas healthy and tasty food but also as a symbol of goodhealthy high-quality European life We can say that con-sumption of Finnish products has become an identity-forming practice and an indicator of social status

Much has been written about the social meanings andfunctions of food many social scientists have recognizedfood as something more than just nutrition Leacutevi-Straussnoticed that food lsquomust not only be good to eat but alsogood to thinkrsquo Bourdieu (1984) pointed out lsquothat social

stratification and class are defined by tastersquo Arjun Ap-padurai (1981) argued that behind onersquos everyday dietwe can see the intention lsquoto mark and create relations ofequality intimacy or solidarity or instead to uphold re-lations signalling rank distance or segmentationrsquo1 Thusconsumer choice of food firmly coheres with onersquos indi-vidual and group identity For instance in TV commer-cials social and symbolic contexts of food frequently playa more important role than its gastronomic or qualitycharacteristics which makes a consumer associate cer-tain food with a particular lifestyle and social status Ourinterviews with Russian tourists on shopping trips to Fin-land allow to assume that purchasing groceries producedin Europe is not only about buying trustworthy and tastyproducts in many instances it is also about the con-struction of lsquoEuropeannessrsquo in onersquos household against thebackground of Russiarsquos realities

1 lsquoEating yourself We consume identity through foodrsquo CULTURE DECANTED blog 19 October 2014

EUBORDERSCAPES Newsletter No 5

The ban on the import of European food products in-troduced by the Russian government in the summer of2014 as a countermeasure in response to the Europeansanctions has significantly changed the structure of sup-ply on the local food market and problematized the foodsector Food in all its qualities including not only its gas-tronomic characteristics and costs but also its rsquonational-ityrsquo has become conversation fodder for average middle-class consumers In the present article we touch uponchanges brought by the food embargo to St Petersburgand look more closely at residentsrsquo strategies of copingwith the new food reality focusing in particular on therole of Finland Finnish goods and informal cross-bordertrade

The disappearance of Western products along with theabsence of domestic goods of the same or at least com-parable quality has become the most noticeable conse-quence of the sanctions regime for average Russians Ob-viously the large majority of citizens probably did notspot dramatic changes though everybody regardless ofregion of residence social class and structure of con-sumption noticed the increased prices for food itemsNevertheless in St Petersburg where the share of for-eign products is usually high and consumers are usedto a large variety changes are striking Demanding buy-ers were surprised to find themselves in a new unfamil-iar food environment characterized by the lack of well-known foreign groceries and plenty of first attempts atimport substitution such as lsquoRussian mozzarellarsquo or lsquoBe-lorusian Jamoacutenrsquo Obviously the present situation is farfrom being critical there is no famine and not even theshortages of Soviet times with queues and ration stampsNevertheless as our observations and self-ethnographyhave shown the current situation does create noticeablediscomfort for many people and presents a subject for re-flection and public debate

Just like any changes but especially the ones happen-ing in such an important and essential area as food adap-tation to the new food reality brings up a wide range ofemotions Our daily observations and pilot research oninternet blogs show that attitudes towards the situationin the food sector correlate with onersquos political views andopinions about the current political situation Two axes apatriotic and oppositional frame the emotional space ofreaction to the new food reality The former is illustratedby statements such as lsquoWe can survive without these for-eign productsrsquo lsquoWersquove seen worse times wersquore used tothisrsquolsquoWe wonrsquot surrender to the Americansrsquo or lsquoOur dairyproducts are none the worsersquo The latter reveals itselfthrough utterances such as lsquoBecause of one personrsquos am-bitions the whole nation is sufferingrsquo or lsquoRussian cheese isawful and too expensiversquo While in practice consumer be-haviour is most probably determined by economic factors

and a price-quality ratio rather than by political attitudesthe sphere of food becomes so emotionally charged thatthorough research of todayrsquos situation in St Petersburgwill certainly reveal examples of gastronomic patriotismor dissidence and other means of expressing onersquos politi-cal position through food2 In everyday conversations andin the cityscape we have encountered different reactionsto the sanctions and the geopolitical situation in generalHere is for instance a commercial banner in front of asmall cafeacute near Udelnaya Metro Station in the North ofSt Petersburg which appeared in the Fall of 2014 lsquoWefeed everyone except Barack Obamarsquo

A sign of food defiance in St Petersburg lsquoHere we serveeveryone except Barack Obamarsquo ( ccopy Authors)

2A number of studies show how the economic political or military situation in the international arena can influence consumer behaviourConsumers following their patriotic convictions as well as negative attitudes towards the lsquoenemyrsquo state can consciously choose domestic productsover foreign ones even when convinced of the superior quality of the latter (Klein 2002) In the literature such consumer behavior is referred toas lsquoethnocentric consumerismrsquo (Shimp and Sharma 1987)

EUBORDERSCAPES Newsletterm euborderscapeseu B newslettereuborderscapeseu Page 2


While food has become a political issue there hasbeen no sharp politization of this subject or to put itdifferently the absence of food from the West a certaintransformation of eating habits or rising food prices donot incite people to take to the streets In the stores thereis plenty of food produced in Russia or by Russiarsquos foodallies so in most cases living under the embargo is nota matter of life or death (although people with specialdietary needs may face serious difficulties when trying tofind substitutes for previously imported special products)

Being deprived of habitual imported goods the popu-lation of St Petersburg copes with this situation along thelines of two main strategies The first strategy is an explo-ration of the new food reality characterized by attemptsto find substitutes for habitual trustworthy brands andto compose a new household foodscape that follows thecontours of Russiarsquos domestic supply As it turns out thisstrategy mostly based on trial and error is fraught withdisappointment and additional expenses If a consumeris dissatisfied with the quality of the product he or shewill not use it and will have to throw it away Russiarsquosnew foodscape is forcibly patriotic as it includes goodswhich for the most part are made in Russia or by suppliercountries lsquoallied with Russiarsquo notably the Republic of Be-larus as the main (food) ally Strangely enough Belarushas become a place that now imports sanctioned goodsand re-labels them lsquoMade in Belarusrsquo before re-exportingthem to Russia Norwegian salmon imported to Russiaunder a Belarusian brand is probably the most humor-ous example of this3 Recently Russian consumers alsomade closer acquaintance with food items from SerbiaArgentina Israel and other suppliers who have not em-braced the sanctions

The second strategy consists of attempts to preservethe old outlines of the household foodscape under condi-tions when the lsquooutsidersquo foodscape is unrecognizable andfalls apart at the seams This strategy is typical for thosehouseholders whose pattern of consumption during thepre-crisis period included a larger share of high-qualityand expensive products with European brands includinggoods imported from Finland In line with this strategythere are two main scenarios

The first scenario relates to the purchase of prod-ucts produced in Russia but under well-known Westernbrands The most vivid example of this is the case ofValio In 2013ndash14 the Valio corporation became one ofthe largest suppliers of cheese and other dairy productsfor the Russian market Before the imposition of the em-bargo about 20 of Valiorsquos trade turnover fell on Rus-sia and about 90 of all Valio products sold in Rus-sia were imported from Finland The embargo on exportsfrom Finland which was among the countries that sup-ported anti-Russian sanctions brought huge losses to thecorporation On the Russian consumersrsquo side the disap-pearance of Valio goods from store shelves became one

of the most unpleasant lsquodisturbancesrsquo As one intervieweeremarked lsquoI simply donrsquot know what to buy nowrsquo Valioproducts vanished but then reappeared in January 2015accompanied by an advertising campaign with the slo-gan lsquoThe yoghurts are backrsquo This happy return was theconsequence of a significant expansion of Valiorsquos produc-tion in Russia The Valio management had come up withthis plan to maintain customersrsquo loyalty and to reducelosses4 However one discerning consumer though gladthat Valio is back still noted that lsquothe taste was not thesamersquo Thus consumption of products made in Russia un-der Western brands is perceived as a forced compromiseand accepted with strong reservations

The second scenario relates to the commitment to lsquoau-thenticrsquo products that is those produced in the country ofthe brandrsquos origin Even though the food embargo wenthand in hand with a rapid devaluation of the ruble inthe Fall of 2014 and Winter of 2015 people have beenwilling to pay more just to preserve the habitual compo-sition of their food baskets or at least some basic itemswhich lsquoone just canrsquot live withoutrsquo One of these productsis cheese A lot of people regardless of income and socialposition have noticed the lack of good-quality cheeseInternet fora are full of lamentations and requests to rec-ommend a good local cheese ndash lsquocheese that is at least eat-ablersquo ndash but obviously local producers do not yet live upto the desired standard So cheese brought from abroadhas become a delicacy a valuable gift and a treat on thetable

In St Petersburg maintaining the lsquoold food realityrsquo un-touched by the embargo becomes possible thanks to thecityrsquos location near the border and its closeness to Europe(ie Finland and Estonia) It is thus possible to build aparallel foodscape saturated with embargo goods with-out leaving the city Since the beginning of the 1990s thetrade of goods from Finland especially foodstuffs has be-come a widespread phenomenon Before the embargoone could find Finnish products in large supermarketsand semiformal random kiosks retail stands or small pri-vate shops run by single persons who act as drivers andsellers A large variety of these kiosks shops and standslabeled lsquoGoods from Finlandrsquo can be found in the mostunexpected places of St Petersburg a stand in the hall ofa paediatric polyclinic or an improvised hawkerrsquos tray inthe foyer of the city court Indeed with the disappearanceof Finnish products from supermarkets in the Autumn of2014 the informal segment of the Finnish goods tradenot only remained but even strengthened its market po-sition taking on the burden of meeting the needs of StPetersburg residents yearning for lsquosanctionsrsquo goods Theinfluence of the galloping ruble-euro exchange rates andthe tightening of the Russian customs regime on the infor-mal segment of the Finnish goods retail trade is a subjectfor a separate study According to the present customsregulations an individual is allowed to import to Russia

3K Romanova lsquoLosos po-belorusskirsquo gazetaru 22 September 20144A Ponomarev lsquoValio sokhranit prsutstvie v Rossiirsquo slonru 8 August 2014



a maximum of five kilos of plant products and five ki-los of heat-treated animal products in their original pack-aging and no more than fifty kilos of goods overall Atthe border the final decision remains with the customsofficer who may conclude that the imported goods areactually meant for resale in Russia and therefore tax orconfiscate them Since the embargo entered into forcethe Russian media and customs have regularly reportedon cases of smuggling and confiscation followed by thereturn to Finland of large consignments of prohibitedgoods brought in by private travellers However thereseem to be ways around these customs regulations asprivate shops and stands with Finnish goods are still inbusiness offering an ever wider range of products

The food embargo has also stimulated a formalizationof the Finnish goods informal trade For instance the or-ganization and structure of an Internet shop called lsquoTheFirst Market for Finnish Goodsrsquo strongly resembles thoseof the informal private retail stands described above Ata first glance the main differences are in the varietyof goods offered and the possibility to buy or preorderstraight from the website instead of from a retail standMore importantly the unlimited advertising space avail-able to an Internet shop contrasts with that of a real standselling Finnish goods and occupying a tiny little cornerit allows to be eloquent about the merits of the offeredproducts lsquoFor those who take care of their health andquality of life as well as of the health and well-being oftheir loved ones our company offers high-quality prod-ucts and household goods from Finlandrsquo Small standsusually get along without long texts ndash sellers rely andrightly so on the implicit local knowledge and expect thatin St Petersburg the sign lsquoGoods from Finlandrsquo speaks foritself as local residents even without entering can un-derstand what range of goods is presented inside A web-page also allows for a precise division into categories justas in a big supermarket Arrangements in smaller shopsare more haphazard ndash coffee is shelved with coffee teawith tea and everything that requires cold storage canbe found in a fridge ndash without any particular signage Inthese grocery lsquojunglesrsquo where a counter of two to threesquare meters is filled with everything from salmon andValio cheese to Fairy dish soap and clothing customersoften have to search for what they require for the famil-iar the unknown and the interesting items

The modern and stylish interface of the online shopis designed to prove that this is a serious business un-like the usual neighbourhood retail stand In additionthe website published a schedule for its deliveries andinformation about the ongoing embargo It can be pre-sumed that this stylish online shop is relying on a numberof cross-border shuttle operators who bring in productsfrom Finland informally in their own vehicles without

paying customs at the border It is also possible that thedrivers take people to Finland for free so that they canassign extra weight to their passengers and import biggerquantities of goods The phone number of the online shopsuggests that the lsquoofficersquo of The First Market for FinnishGoods is located in St Petersburg but the business alsodoes deliveries to Moscow This is how this partly formal-ized but still informal economics of the borderlands helpsdemanding consumers lsquosurviversquo during the food embargo

In addition to those who fulfil their demand forFinnish products through intermediaries there remainsa significant segment of the St Petersburg metropolitanarearsquos population that has not been ready to give upthe joys of traveling and independent shopping in Fin-land In recent years trips to Finland particularly to theborder cities of Lappeenranta and Imatra have becomea widespread practice and are part of everyday life formany citizens of the Russian North-West According tothe Finnish statistical agency TAK a record-breaking 52million Russian tourists visited the country in 2013 Ac-cording to the same source 80 of all Russian respon-dents (n = 3500) at the border named shopping as themain reason for their trip to Finland5 One-day shoppingtrips combined with so called taking-out-a-visa-for-a-ridetrips have become especially popular among residents ofSt Petersburg6

Buying food is the most popular type of shoppingamong Russian tourists along with purchases of house-hold chemicals and to a lesser extent clothes and spe-cial items such as winter tires and car oil Russians whomakes these kind of trips to Finland can be divided intotwo categories The first includes those who are shoppingthere on a regular basis (approximately once a month)and who try to store a certain type of Finnish products athome For them visiting the Finnish borderland is like go-ing to a shopping mall on the outskirts of St PetersburgFor the second category shopping in Finland is an addi-tional joyful bonus to a trip made for different purposeseg lsquotaking out a visa for a ridersquo or vacation Even a touristindifferent to shopping is familiar with the most popularFinnish goods (cheese coffee chocolate salmon Fairy)Among experienced travellers there is a strong percep-tion that Finnish products unlike their Russian equiva-lents are of high quality taste better or have some otherdistinguishing characteristic (sustainability safety relia-bility) in addition to offering a better price-quality ratioespecially when discounts and the VAT refund are takeninto account These perceptions about better quality (andthe quality-price ratio) develop not only from pragmatismand consumer experience but also from the joyful emo-tions associated with shopping abroad These beliefs areone of the main factors that motivate people to go onthese after all rather exhausting day trips

5TAK Rajatutkimus 2013 lsquoVenaumllaumliset matkailijoina Suomessarsquo April 20146The expression rdquotaking out a visa for a riderdquo designates a common practice among the residents of St Petersburg to make a trip just for the

sake of crossing the border and obtaining a Finnish border stamp for the passport to show that the visa has been used for its intended purpose oftravelling to Finland and not to any other Schengen country as is often the case



A closer look at shopping practices in Finland andthe predilections of St Petersburg residents reveals newaspects and depths of this seemingly utilitarian phe-nomenon On a popular internet forum for St Petersburgparents people actively discuss trips to Finland and shop-ping in particular The main list of the topic lsquoWhat yum-mies do you bring from Finlandrsquo represents a map of theFinnish food world with well-known main lsquocitiesrsquo suchas Valio butter or Oltermanni cheese next to unfamil-iar but surely worthy of trying lsquotownsrsquo and lsquovillagesrsquo suchas leipaumljuusto or spinach fitters As our interviews showresearch on Finnish food can become a self-sufficientproject and the foundation for building ties with thecountry Among travellers there are many enthusiasticfood explorers who buy basic products on their shoppinglist but are always ready to lsquotry a new jar of somethingrsquoand really enjoy their gastronomic discoveries

In December 2014 many Russians were horrified bythe rapid devaluation of the ruble ndash the exchange rate forthe euro doubled ndash and this was very disheartening forthose who were used to frequent trips abroad and par-ticularly to Finland Moreover in the midst of the gen-eral escalation of the political situation concepts of foodshortages reminiscent of Soviet times and the Iron Cur-tain resurfaced at a time when they had seemingly sunkinto oblivion When the opportunity for travelling abroadwas challenged people felt that the world they had be-come familiar with and the freedom of movement werethreatened by the construction of new boundaries Di-etary restrictions as a result of the sanctions and the in-creased exchange rate for the euro became surprisinglypainful for many Russians The right to choose food inthe Russian context where memories of shortages arestill very much alive proved to be a very important is-sue Under these conditions trips to Finland acquired anew special quality

While many Russians including residents of St Peters-burg live without ever having Finland on their mindthere is a large category of people for whom proximityand accessibility to Finland has become a factor that sig-nificantly changed their life and lifestyle For them Fin-land in one respect or another has become an integratedcomponent of the everyday an important part of their in-dividual geography and explored world particularly inthe gastronomic sense which recently has been threat-ened

EpilogueWith the rising value of the ruble this Spring looks moreoptimistic in terms of cross-border mobility than the pastAutumn and Winter Whereas in January and Februaryof this year there was a dramatic decrease of border-crossings people were getting used to the higher rubleprices and finishing off old supplies of Finnish productsat home the appreciation of the ruble in March madefans of Finland and Finnish food more optimistic In a sit-uation of high inflation in Russia and deflation on someproducts (including cheese and other dairy products) inFinland food prices on both sides of the border havestarted to even out On Saturday 21 March the BorderOffice at the crossing point of Nuijamaa close to the pop-ular shopping destination of Lappeenranta registered arecord number of border-crossers for 2015 (10700) tobe even surpassed on the following weekend7 Everyonesighed with relief ndash Russian tourists are back In April theruble continued to appreciate a trend that will undoubt-edly influence the cross-border mobility of Russians andconsequently their diet

ReferencesAppadurai A (1981) lsquoGastro-Politics in Hindu South

Asiarsquo American Ethnologist 8 494ndash511mdashmdashmdash (2014) lsquoEating yourself We consume identity

through foodrsquo CULTURE DECANTED blogKlein JG (2002) lsquoUs versus Them or Us versus

Everyone Delineating Consumer Aversion to ForeignGoodsrsquo Journal of International Business Studies 33(2)345ndash63

Leacutevi-Strauss C (1963) Structural Anthropology NewYork Doubleday Anchor Books

Ponomarev A (2014) lsquoValio sokhranit prisutstvie vRossiirsquo slonru

Romanova K (2014) lsquoLososrsquo po-belorusskirsquo gazetaru22 September 2014

Sbytova M (2015) lsquoShopping v Finlayandii snova stalvygodnymrsquo travelru 25 March 2015

Shimp TA and Shama S (1987) lsquoConsumer ethno-centrism Construction and Validation of the CETSCALErsquoJournal of Marketing Research 24(8) 280ndash9

Venaumllaumliset matkailijoina Suomessa (2014) lsquoTAK Ra-jatutkimus 2013rsquo

7M Sbytova lsquoShopping v Finlayandii snova stal vygodnymrsquo travelru 25 March 2015



Dissemination SeminarTHINKING + ACTING + INHABITING ZINGONIA

by CHIARA BRAMBILLA

University of Bergamo

The University of Bergamo has launched an EUBORDER-SCAPES Dissemination Seminar Series on THINKING +ACTING + INHABITING ZINGONIA Policies Practices Ex-periences and Representations of a Borderscape between theLocal and the Global The central aim of the series is topresent a case study of Zingonia a suburban area of theProvince of Bergamo which has been a major research fo-cus in EUBORDERSCAPES Work Package 5 lsquoPost-ColonialBordering and Euro-African Borderscapesrsquo

Chiara Brambilla and Gianluca Bocchi from the Bergamoteam discussing the original plans of Zingonia with localresidents

Zingonia was founded in the 1960s as a model in-dustrial town by the entrepreneur Renzo Zingone Its in-dustrial areas were almost all constructed in the earlyyears of the project but its population did not increaseas expected and the project was scaled down in the early1970s This imbalance led to the degradation of the areawhich caused a drop in real estate prices that togetherwith the high number of firms and their strong demandfor labour attracted many migrants to Zingonia At firstin the 1970s the migrants came from the southern partof Italy and later in the 1980s the number of foreign mi-grants greatly increased as well Foreign workers ndash mainlyfrom Africa and particularly from Senegal ndash have gradu-ally taken the place of Italians and now constitute approx-imately 70 per cent of Zingoniarsquos total population trans-forming it into a lsquospace of exceptionrsquo within Italy Zingo-nia has become a landmark along the expanded routes ofmany Senegalese migrants in Italy Zingonia has been so-cially constructed as a shared spatial reference for them

However although these transformations havechanged Zingoniarsquos social and structural make-up the

expectation to create a modern town has never beenfulfilled Further the eye-catching presence of foreignmigrants in the zone has contributed to the creation andspread of a negative image of the area which is mostlyregarded as a deprived suburban neighbourhood lsquocon-queredrsquo by migrants ndash a dangerous place to be avoidedOne of the dominant political orientations in Italy andthe debate in the national and local media have diffusedsuch a negative idea of Zingonia that it is often labelledin public opinion as a border ghetto

Kamagrave Abdouh Samath of the residentsrsquo organisation lsquoTorriZingonersquo and Chiara Brambilla open the seminar

Among the main reasons for the failure of Zingonersquosdream is Zingoniarsquos location notably the fact that itis divided between five different urban municipalitiesBoltiere Ciserano Osio Sotto Verdello and VerdellinoBecause Zingonia has never been declared as a munici-pality and is still divided into pieces within five towns isone of the main determinants of the arearsquos border ghettosituation Zingonia does not even exist on topographicalmaps of the zone this implies that the area is consid-ered as a sort of no-manrsquos land This territorial isolationof Zingonia is the primary factor that produces a preva-lent mono-image of the area as a border ghetto The dis-course of fear and crime propagated by political and me-dia discourses and the search for a lsquosecure communityrsquoby those who escape Zingonia legitimize and rationalizeresidential segregation (ie by ethnicity race or class) inthe urban environment This suggests that the discourseof urban fear encodes other social concerns thereby pro-ducing racialized boundaries as internal social catego-rizations in which migrants are reminded of their foreignorigin However the mostly voluntary concentration offoreign migrants in Zingonia should not necessarily cre-ate a ghetto Civil society in Zingonia and the surround-ing towns has reacted to this negative representation ofthe area a number of demonstrations have been orga-



nized by local movements of activists to protest againststereotyping Zingonia as a ghetto

Within this framework the aim of the Seminar Se-ries has been to propose a Foucauldian lsquoproblematiza-tionrsquo of Zingonia by bringing together actors who arethinking acting or inhabiting Zingonia depending on thecase Adopting the borderscape notion as a key concep-tual and methodological angle of enquiry the seminarshave been intended to explore the area of Zingonia asa translocality between the local and the global inhab-ited by a multiplicity of cultures as well as a site wherecomplex visible and hidden interactions between externalpolitical-territorial borders (that are related to the exer-cise of modern state sovereignty) and the production ofboundaries as internal social categorizations (that are re-lated to politics of identity) can be critically investigated

The seminars have been held in Italian in order to al-low the team of the University of Bergamo to share theoutcomes of research activities within the EUBORDER-SCAPES project with different local actors who are think-ing acting or inhabiting Zingonia and to gain significantinsights through discussion

The first seminar was held at the University of Berg-amo on 28 November 2014 It was planned as a half-day event including two parts in the first part the pro-gramme included brief talks by lsquokey actorsrsquo who are think-ing acting or inhabiting Zingonia in the second partfocus-group activities were organized with actors invited

to the Seminar as privileged and experienced witnesses(for more information see here)

The second seminar was held on 10 April 2015 at acivic centre in Boltiere (BG) that is one of the five urbanmunicipalities between which the territory of Zingonia isdivided A priority was indeed to move the seminar seriesfrom the university building to the territory of Zingoniain order to enhance the potentialities of action researchDuring the seminar focus-group activities were organizedwith actors invited to the seminar as privileged and ex-perienced witnesses with the aim of identifying throughgroup discussion some clusters of themes which regardrelevant issues to think act and inhabit Zingonia Specif-ically focus-group activities aimed at reflecting on possi-ble ways to operationalize such clusters of themes by dis-cussing possible ways to translate them into good practiceand feasible actions

References

Brambilla C (2015) lsquoExploring the Critical Potential ofthe Borderscapes Conceptrsquo Geopolitics 20(1) 14ndash34

Brambilla C (forthcoming) lsquoMobile EuroAfrican Border-scapes Migrant Communities and Shifting Urban Mar-ginsrsquo in A-L Amilhat-Szary and F Giraut (eds) Borderi-ties and the Politics of Contemporary Mobile Borders Bas-ingstoke Palgrave

Billboard advertising Zingonia in the 1960s (Z Zingoniamonamour archive)



The Second EUBORDERSCAPES Conference on lsquoBorders at the Interfacersquo8ndash11 December 2014 Beer-Sheva (Israel

BGU organized and hosted the conference and workshoprsquoBorders at the Interfacersquo during the second week of De-cember 2014 (8ndash11 December) The conference was a re-sult of productive cooperation between the FP7 consor-tium on Euroborderscapes the newly founded Geopoli-tics Chair at Ben-Gurion University along with three dy-namic research centres at BGU the Herzog Center forMiddle Eastern Studies the Center for the Study of Euro-pean Politics and Society (CSEPS) and the Tamar GolanCenter for African Studies

Conference at the Ben-Gurion University at Beer-Sheva

In its geopolitical context Israel is located at the inter-face of three major regions ndash Europe Asia and Africa Theregion itself is the interface of cultures and the worldrsquosgreat monotheistic religions partly explaining the factthat it continues to be one of the worldrsquos largest geopo-litical shatterbelts and the focus for ethnic religious andterritorial conflict Against the backdrop of Israelrsquos unique

The Jordan River the border and vicissitudes of cross-borderwater management Discussion of the lsquoGood Water Neigh-boursrsquo with members of Friends of the Earth Middle East

context the conference sessions dealt with contempo-rary border research in Asia Europe and the Middle Eastalongside sessions that were fully devoted to discussions

about Israelrsquos borders and its relationship with Europeand its Arab neighbours (for the full programme of theconference see here)

The Jordan River as a border and baptism site

The conference incorporated two days of tours to Is-raeli border areas On 9 December conference partic-ipants visited the IsraelndashJordan border and began thetour at the southern point of the Kinneret Lake (Seaof Galilee) An expert from Friends of the Earth Mid-dle East (FoEME) introduced the participants of the con-ference to the complex geopolitical and environmentalissues that impact the regionrsquos transboundary environ-mental resources through an in-depth look at the Jor-dan River Valley Throughout the tour the FoEME guidehighlighted how sustainable management of the regionrsquosnatural resources can serve as a catalyst towards widerpeacemaking efforts and how cooperative managementframeworks can be part of a future settlement betweenIsrael and Palestine During the tour participants visited

Renen Yezersky and David Newman discussing details of theconference programme

several sites including the old Gesher (the southern en-trance to the Jordan River) the village Auja and the Eco-Center there and Kaser El-Yahud The group traveled



back to Beer-Sheva through the Dead Sea road and com-pleted the day with a viewing of the movie lsquoThe SyrianBridersquo

On the last day of the conference (11 December)participants took part in a field trip organized by lsquoIrAmimrsquo focusing on the separation barrier in JerusalemIr Amimrsquos study tours provide a ground-level exposure toEast Jerusalem creating a platform for critically assessingthe notion of Jerusalem as the lsquoeternal undivided capitalof Israelrsquo and understanding the cityrsquos fundamental rolein the Israeli-Palestinian conflict The field trip includedstops at East Jerusalem neighbourhoods and utilized keyobservation points to provide the context for understand-

ing how developing facts on the ground impact the fu-ture of a secure democratic Israeli state The tour focusedon Israeli policy related to the separation barrier govern-ment construction plans in East Jerusalem Israeli settle-ments and national parks built in the heart of Palestinianneighbourhoods the legal status of East Jerusalem resi-dents and policies impacting the Palestinian communityDuring the tour participants visited numerous sites in-cluding the separation barrier between the Jewish neigh-bourhood Gilo and the city of Bethlehem the Har Homaneighbourhood Palestinian neighbourhoods Umm Tubaand Sur Baher Goldman Promenade Armon Hanatzivthe separation barrier in Abu Dis and Mount Scopus

After Four Years EUBORDERREGIONS Comes to an End

The lsquosisterrsquo project of EUBORDERSCAPES EUBORDER-REGIONS completed in February 2015 four years of in-tensive investigation of local cooperation along the Euro-pean Unionrsquos external borders Eleven case studies wereinvolved giving evidence of complex and highly differ-entiated relationships across the EUrsquos external bordersWhat we see is that with very few exceptions borderregimes and geopolitical contexts limit the potential sig-nificance of cross-border cooperation (CBC) ndash and thisdespite the fact that the EU has continued to argue theimportance of CBC At the same time our fieldwork doc-uments quite clearly show that there are considerable andas yet unexploited potentials for border regions throughcooperation Furthermore this applies not only to themost dynamic regions in terms of economic exchange in-vestment and tourism Rather than seeing CBC as a short-term exercise the development of trust built around net-works of actors and local communities ndash the basic prereq-uisite for successful CBC ndash needs time to experiment anddevelop

Research in the field was designed to provide a holis-tic picture of regional development situations at the ex-ternal border as well as to involve local organizationsand actors in elaborating potential scenarios of future de-velopment in conjunction with cross-border interactionWe have understood these regions as interfaces betweendifferent development dynamics policy framework sandscales of cross-border interaction As part of its contribu-tion to scientific and policy debate EUBORDERREGIONShas therefore raised the question of whether and in whatways the concept and policy process of Cohesion might beapplicable to the conditions prevalent at the EUrsquos externalborders The areas at the external borders are large ter-ritories that will have both a stake in and impacts on thefuture of economic social and territorial cohesion withinthe EU as well However in these cases the question ofCohesion cannot be divorced from rdquoNeighbourhoodrdquo andthe structuring conditions of border regimes bilateralrelations with neighbouring states geopolitical contextsand the quality of social interaction across the border We

have thus situated local development issues in selectedborderlands within wider perspectives of an emerging Eu-ropean neighbourhood that goes beyond more territori-ally restricted notions of European Cohesion

In terms of the potential future impacts of the projectone the most significant has been to sharpen academicdebate on cross-border cooperation based on pragmaticassessments of the contextual framings and potentiali-ties of CBC Reviewing the present state of the art muchscholarly work on CBC is often characterised by highlyabstract socio-political theorisation and philosophical po-sitions that skirt issues of every day cooperation practiseIndeed there has been a tendency to marginalise CBCas an area of academic research in favour of critical re-flections on borders as such While important in terms ofconceptual development of the field such positions arenot helpful as guides for action EUBORDERREGIONS re-search its output as well as forthcoming publications andpost-project seminars has combined a sophisticated levelof theoretical abstraction with on-the-ground empiricalwork informed by local stakeholders

Based on fieldwork and interaction with stakeholdersour research has raised a number of issues of particularpolicy relevance including

1 A better understanding the border as a resource Itis clear that national contexts and the gaps betweenthem still very much influence policy-oriented be-haviours at the national and subnational levels Asa result we have observed in EUBORDERREGIONSthat stakeholders generally affirm the desirabilityof CBC but that actual implementation remainspatchy

2 Critically interpreting CBC as filling gaps in Cohe-sion and Neighbourhood Policies Our research re-flects tensions between realist regional policy con-cerns related to national development and moreidealistic policy imperatives that seek to create al-ternative border-transcending territorial contextsfor regional policy



3 Highlighting the dilemma of lsquohardrsquo versus lsquosoftrsquo de-velopment factors The one-sided focus on lsquohardrsquofactors and physical investment is problematic CBCis highly networked and lsquosoftrsquo in nature it is aboutdeveloping social capital and trust

4 Emphasising the role of civil society actors Civilsociety needs to be a more important part of theENP-Cohesion-CBC nexus This is a rather long-term concern and reflects the problem that despiterhetorical assurances to the contrary actors thatrepresent societal and community issues have verylimited access to opportunity structures of CBC pro-motion

5 There are huge gaps between local level needs andinterests and (geo)politics that governs the man-agement of borders Rarely do border communitieshave the political and economic influence to nego-tiate special border regime conditions with centralgovernment agencies However a degree of localcontrol can be achieved through local networks thatcreate bridges across hard borders

6 New forms of data collection are needed for pol-icy purposes that focus on social immaterial non-quantifiable and networked nature of territorial re-lations

The policy-oriented results of EUBORDERREGIONSthus support the notion that cooperation must be basedon partnership rather than just conditionality Howeverthe general atmosphere of economic fiscal political andsocial crisis has contributed to a lack of vision of neigh-bourhood Additionally the EUBORDERREGIONS teamasked the question whether given the very complex na-ture of EU-Neighbourhood relations there should be ageographical fixation with border regions and borderproximity CBC could also take place as networks betweencities and regions regardless of location and these couldbecome a major focus of ENPI funding There is a needto allow social agents and actors a greater voice in theregional cooperation process of building a viable Neigh-bourhood

Another significant impact of EUBODERREGIONSwas sustained interaction with stakeholders both as partof empirical work as well as more direct policy-orientedactivities During the life of EUBORDERREGIONS civilsociety actors business organisations as well as local andregional government representatives were interviewedconsulted and involved in stakeholder seminars As a re-sult the research consortium was able to conduct re-search that closely reflected working reality and everydayconcerns at the border

For more information visit the programmersquos websitehere

Recent EUBORDERSCAPES Publications

Arieli Tamar (2015) lsquoMunicipal Cooperation Across Se-curitized Borders in the Post-Conflict Environment TheGulf of Aqabarsquo Territory Politics Governance 5 June2015 doi 1010802162267120151042026

Ferrer-Gallardo Xavier Albet-Mas Abel and EspintildeeiraKeina (2014) lsquoThe borderscape of Punta Tarifa Con-current Invisibilisation Practices at Europersquos Ultimate

Peninsularsquo Cultural Geographies 4 September 2014 doi1011771474474014547336

Book

McCall Cathal (2014) The European Union and Peace-building The Cross-Border Dimension Palgrave Studies inEuropean Union Politics London Palgrave MacMillan

Conversation in Space and Society

By clicking on this paragraph yoursquoll be forwarded toa conversation on lsquoiBorder Borderscapes Borderingrsquobetween two EUBORDERSCAPES members ndash HolgerPoumltzsch and Chiara Brambilla ndash that has been just posted

on the Environment and Planning D Society amp Spaceopen site following up on Holgerrsquos iBorders article inEPD



The ban on the import of European food products in-troduced by the Russian government in the summer of2014 as a countermeasure in response to the Europeansanctions has significantly changed the structure of sup-ply on the local food market and problematized the foodsector Food in all its qualities including not only its gas-tronomic characteristics and costs but also its rsquonational-ityrsquo has become conversation fodder for average middle-class consumers In the present article we touch uponchanges brought by the food embargo to St Petersburgand look more closely at residentsrsquo strategies of copingwith the new food reality focusing in particular on therole of Finland Finnish goods and informal cross-bordertrade

The disappearance of Western products along with theabsence of domestic goods of the same or at least com-parable quality has become the most noticeable conse-quence of the sanctions regime for average Russians Ob-viously the large majority of citizens probably did notspot dramatic changes though everybody regardless ofregion of residence social class and structure of con-sumption noticed the increased prices for food itemsNevertheless in St Petersburg where the share of for-eign products is usually high and consumers are usedto a large variety changes are striking Demanding buy-ers were surprised to find themselves in a new unfamil-iar food environment characterized by the lack of well-known foreign groceries and plenty of first attempts atimport substitution such as lsquoRussian mozzarellarsquo or lsquoBe-lorusian Jamoacutenrsquo Obviously the present situation is farfrom being critical there is no famine and not even theshortages of Soviet times with queues and ration stampsNevertheless as our observations and self-ethnographyhave shown the current situation does create noticeablediscomfort for many people and presents a subject for re-flection and public debate

Just like any changes but especially the ones happen-ing in such an important and essential area as food adap-tation to the new food reality brings up a wide range ofemotions Our daily observations and pilot research oninternet blogs show that attitudes towards the situationin the food sector correlate with onersquos political views andopinions about the current political situation Two axes apatriotic and oppositional frame the emotional space ofreaction to the new food reality The former is illustratedby statements such as lsquoWe can survive without these for-eign productsrsquo lsquoWersquove seen worse times wersquore used tothisrsquolsquoWe wonrsquot surrender to the Americansrsquo or lsquoOur dairyproducts are none the worsersquo The latter reveals itselfthrough utterances such as lsquoBecause of one personrsquos am-bitions the whole nation is sufferingrsquo or lsquoRussian cheese isawful and too expensiversquo While in practice consumer be-haviour is most probably determined by economic factors

and a price-quality ratio rather than by political attitudesthe sphere of food becomes so emotionally charged thatthorough research of todayrsquos situation in St Petersburgwill certainly reveal examples of gastronomic patriotismor dissidence and other means of expressing onersquos politi-cal position through food2 In everyday conversations andin the cityscape we have encountered different reactionsto the sanctions and the geopolitical situation in generalHere is for instance a commercial banner in front of asmall cafeacute near Udelnaya Metro Station in the North ofSt Petersburg which appeared in the Fall of 2014 lsquoWefeed everyone except Barack Obamarsquo

A sign of food defiance in St Petersburg lsquoHere we serveeveryone except Barack Obamarsquo ( ccopy Authors)

2A number of studies show how the economic political or military situation in the international arena can influence consumer behaviourConsumers following their patriotic convictions as well as negative attitudes towards the lsquoenemyrsquo state can consciously choose domestic productsover foreign ones even when convinced of the superior quality of the latter (Klein 2002) In the literature such consumer behavior is referred toas lsquoethnocentric consumerismrsquo (Shimp and Sharma 1987)









































by CHIARA BRAMBILLA

















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by CHIARA BRAMBILLA

















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by CHIARA BRAMBILLA

















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by CHIARA BRAMBILLA

















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Book








by CHIARA BRAMBILLA

















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Documents

Andronova A., Nikiforova E. (2015) St. Petersburg Under the Food Embargo: Informal Finnish-Russian Cross-Border Trade as a Coping Strategy