Importance of identity components

However, the researcher considers self-categorization, among the six specifications (see Table 7), is the most important cause for the Russian and Buryat collective identity of Buryats in diaspora, because the respondents recognize that they are still different from Russians, having different history and origin, none of them identified himself/herself as Russian (see Table 6).

Table 7. Ranking of importance of identity components

Ranking Russian and Buryat identity 1 Self-categorization

2 Behavioral involvement 3 In-group attitudes

4 Exploration

5 Attachment and commitment 6 Importance of group membership

Behavioral involvement comes second because 14 out of 17 the interviewees practice ethnic religion, Buddhism. Buryats developed bicultural identity combined of their own ethnic identity (religion) and their national identity (language, holidays). However, only 3 out of 17 speak the Buryat language and prefer to speak Russian instead. Thus, the research confirms the finding of the previous study conducted by Khilkhanova and Khilkhanov (2004) that native

is one of the most important ethnic identity markers of Buryats. Most of them still celebrate ethnic holidays, such as Sagaalgan, Lunar New Year, but New Year’s Eve, state holiday, which is on December 31^st and Jan.1^st, became more important than Sagaalgan.

In-group attitudes comes third, because 6 participants feel closer to Buryat people, rather than to ethnic Russians. 5 participants even emphasized the distinctiveness between them and Russian people, in particular, values such as respect for elders, hospitality, close-knit families, religion, which are different from ethnic Russians and their negative attitude toward some of the participants. 4 participants said they feel closer to Russian-speaking people overall.

Exploration is ranked fourth because only 4 out of 17 participants do not want learn anything about their culture, the rest, in contrast, still want to explore their culture.

Attachment and commitment comes next, even though all of the participants still go back to see their families once in a while, but they primarily do it because of their families, not because they want to go back to their homeland. Importance of membership is ranked the last, because not all of the participants attend the fraternity gatherings or meet with fellow Buryats.

Table 8. Number of references coded

On the other hand, the program NVivo, which the researcher used for coding, showed the numbers of references of each specification (see Table 8). According to Table 8, the most important feature of Buryat and Russian collective identity is behavioral involvement with 71 coding references. The reason might be that culture includes a lot of subtopics and there are a lot of things to talk about. Attachment and commitment comes next, because all of the participants go back home sometimes. Self-categorization comes third, because it was still difficult for the participants identify themselves. In-group attitudes comes fourth, because the respondents have different feelings and attitudes toward Buryat people and Russian people, sometimes failed to answer. Exploration comes next, because not all of the participants learn anything about their culture. Importance of group membership is ranked the last, because most of the participants attend the fraternity gatherings or realize the importance of being a member of the ethnic group yet, which might be due to their relatively young age.

In contrast, Phinney and Ong (2007) consider exploration and commitment as key components among all of ethnic components, while behavioral involvement is not considered important. Meanwhile, in present study behavioral involvement ranked high in both cases. The discrepancy in the findings may stem from the fact that the researchers think behaviors are different from ethnic identity conceptually; one can have a strong sense of belonging to a group, however, may be not practice ethnic activities. It is not true for Buryats, because they still practice their ethnic religion, Buddhism, go to temples, celebrate traditional holidays, etc. All of the interviewees identified as Buryats and shared their ethnic behavior by giving more in-depth answers.

Based on the comparison of the importance of identity components’ ranking, it is clear that the importance of group membership is not so important factor affecting identity of Buryats in diasporas, which can be excluded.

Figure 11. Hierarchy of references

Figure 11 clearly shows the hierarchy of all the components of the Buryats’ identity.

6.1.2 Diasporic hybrid identity

This research emphasized the importance of background and migration experiences of the diaspora (MDP, 2019). As mentioned in the literature review, the diasporic hybrid identity is the mix of characteristics coming from homeland, hostland and the lived experience (Brinkerhoff, 2009).

Buryat diaspora in both areas is mostly driven by pull factors, such as seeking higher education abroad or job opportunities, experiencing new culture, safer environment, etc. But the migration reasons of Buryat diaspora in Western Europe is more diverse than Buryat diaspora in Taiwan, most of them coming for the purpose of studying. In addition, Buryat diaspora in Taiwan does not consider Taiwan as their permanent place to stay, while the participants from Western Europe want to settle down in their host countries. 2 out of 6

participants in Western Europe have mixed identity which also includes identity of host countries. Neither of respondents in Taiwan, on the other hand, identified themselves in relation to host country. The young age of the respondents might be the reason, since 90% are aged 20-30, too young to settle down. Another reason might be that Western Europe provides more alternative channels of policies for migrants to come and stay in the host countries, e.g.

international job offers, work and travel programs, etc., while Taiwan has limited channels, e.g.

providing scholarship for the students for the academic purpose, not always giving job

all of the respondents came to host country voluntarily, often saying they like living there. to learn new culture and languages, to get out of their comfort zones.

homeland 3 diaspora has a collective memory and myth about the homeland

All of the respondents said similar answer when describing Buryat people, their origin, the location of Republic of Buryatia, however, they had different answers on what is their homeland or home. Some said it is Russia overall, others said it is Republic of Buryatia or Siberia.

hostland 4 they have troubled relationship with host societies

They like living in the host country, some of them even considering it as their second home. Buryat diaspora in Taiwan

especially emphasizes how friendly

All of the participants know who the Buryats are, none of the respondents identifies himself/herself as a Russian

Almost all of the participants remained their religion, which is Tibetan Buddhism.

Religion and traditions are important and they even go to the temples in their host countries. All of the participants still speak Russian and most of them prefer to speak Russian. However, 5 of the interviewees prefer to speak English since moving to the host country.

Half of the participants say they would be glad to help Buryat diasporas overseas, the other half of the participants do not know. However, most of the participants still feel closer to Buryat people.

attachment 8 Regard their

ancestral homeland

All of the participants go back to Russia, but rarely, only to see their families or to travel around. They have no intention to come back to Russia to live permanently, because they have a little attachment to Russia as a homeland.

Almost all of the participants are attached to their families, rather than to a place.

However, most of them still want to keep their citizenship in order to being able to see their families and friends.

To sum up, Buryat diaspora in Taiwan and Western Europe form a new type of diaspora, which I call ‘highly-skilled’ type of diaspora. It is completely different from other 5 types of Cohen’s diasporas. Buryats develop Russian and Buryat collective identity, adopting diasporic

hybrid identity, after moving to the host country, which consists of their early socialization, collective identity and demographic environmental influences, such as ties to homeland, hostland, migration reasons and their lived experience. Both diasporas adopt Integration acculturation strategy, however, there are still some differences between two.