Editorial: diaspora as a social phenomenon: cultural integration and political influence
Abstract This editorial introduction presents a thematic issue of Sociologias devoted to diaspora, identity, and inter-group relations in post-Soviet and Central Asian societies. The issue departs from conventional treatments of diaspora as a marginal social condition, repositioning it instead as a lens through which to examine questions of belonging, civic life, cultural reproduction, and economic security. Four empirical studies are brought together around a shared concern with the social consequences of population movement in societies shaped by Soviet legacies, post-1991 border reconfigurations, and ongoing demographic pressures. The first study examines interethnic tolerance among youth in Kyrgyz-Uzbek border zones; the second analyses a state-sponsored civic identity model implemented through higher education in Kyrgyzstan; the third investigates how emigration, aging, and low birth rates compound economic vulnerabilities in Armenia relative to its South Caucasus neighbours; and the fourth conducts a comparative analysis of Kyrgyz, Uzbek, and Karakalpak epic traditions as mechanisms of folk pedagogy and collective memory transmission. Together, the contributions illuminate how diaspora operates simultaneously as a political, pedagogical, cultural, and demographic phenomenon. The issue calls for further comparative scholarship engaging with societies underrepresented in mainstream sociological literature.