“The New World” at the Edge of the Village: Kin’s Domains and Their Neighbors

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2022-1/104-116

Abstract

Settlements of kin’s domains (ecovillages) emerged in the early 2000s under the influence of Vladimir Megre’s series of books “The Ringing Cedars of Russia”. Usually, they unite people interested in healthy lifestyles, organic farming, and spiritual quests. Today there are about 500 settlements in different regions, but primarily in the European part and the south of Russia. The desire to build a “new world” is both a rejection of the traditional village and an attempt to reconstruct the national project and way of life of “distant ancestors”. Constructing a kin’s domain requires creating the entire infrastructure, negotiating with the neighbors and the administration, building a house, and figuring out a way to earn money outside the city. Communicating with local residents is not a priority for newcomers; there is often an intermediary who takes care of contacts with authorities and villagers. The newcomers face misunderstanding and suspicion of sectarianism among the locals. Settlers position themselves as missionaries enlightening the local public. At the same time, despite their colonialist pathos, no matter how many years settlers have lived in the village, they remain strangers to the locals and, in fact, are not allowed to access the village’s resources on general grounds.