A sociological research on the reproduction of the Gagauz identity in the post-Soviet period

After the end of the Cold War, the state structures changed in the region where the Soviet Union was influential and the disintegrating Union was replaced by new independent and self-governing nation states. Autonomous Territorial Unit of Gagauzia, established in 1994 in the Republic of Moldova, is one of these new political entities. With this political change, the region has experienced change and transformation in many social areas. These changes and transformations also affected the reproduction and construction of Gagauz identity. In this study, the way of Gagauz people living in their own local geography, to reproduce and build the ethnic Gagauz identity in everyday life has been chosen as the research topic. In line with this purpose, ethnography technique, one of the qualitative research methods, was conducted in the field research. Gagauz individuals in their daily lives; living conditions, producing and transmitting their ethnic identities through their practices and actions in the fields of socialization such as family, school, press, church etc.; have been tried to understand through observation, in-depth interviews and focus group meetings. As a result of the field research, it has been found that in today's daily life of the Gagauzes in their local region; in each institution such as family, education, press and church; they live, transmit and produce their ethnic identities in a limited way rather than in a holistic way. There are strong signs that the ethnic language and lineage boundaries of the Gagauz identity have begun to erode in the self-governing process, rather than strengthening as expected. It has been observed that the ethnic language boundaries have eroded with perceiving and accepting Russian as their native language along with their own language and ethnic lineage boundaries are eroded with the spread of non-group mixed marriages in the new generation. In addition, due to the tendency of external migration in the region; It is determined that they build their identities in accordance with global fields in line with the expectations of transnational mobility rather than a fixed, local-based production.