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Personal risk perception and experiences of risk among Georgian youth in Gali district, Abkhazia
Mid Sweden University, Faculty of Human Sciences, Department of Social Sciences.ORCID iD: 0000-0002-7512-9066
2014 (English)Conference paper, Oral presentation with published abstract (Refereed)
Abstract [en]

Scholarly research and reports from international organizations underline the lack of security as one of the major problems in current day breakaway region of Abkhazia. Most ethnic Georgians left Abkhazia due to the armed conflict in 1992-93, but around 46 000 have returned, mainly to the Gali district in southern Abkhazia, on a more or less permanent basis. Lack of personal security along with arbitrary treatment by local legal authorities is mentioned as some of the most common violations of human rights of ethnic Georgians in Gali. Being Georgian in Abkhazia is thus related to risk, if we interpret risk as something that might entail considerable personal consequences. However, perceptions of risks are often subjective and depend on individual experiences. This study addresses the perception of personal risks among young Georgians with recent experiences of living in Abkhazia. What do they experience as risks inside Abkhazia? How are risks experienced? What are their motives for risky behavior or actions? The study is based on six in-depth qualitative interviews along with a focus group interview with young Georgians (aged 18-30) with recent experience of living in Abkhazia. Some respondents commute between Gali and Zugdidi for studies on a daily or weekly basis, whereas others recently moved to other parts of Georgia after living a longer period in Abkhazia. The interviews were conducted in Zugdidi and Tbilisi in May 2014. The results show that there are differences in risk perception among the respondents. The differences mainly depend on gender and/or respondent’s legal status in Abkhazia. Despite the risks, some respondents nonetheless plan a future permanently living in Abkhazia. This sociological study of risk contributes to research on individual risk perception and motives for risk behavior in zones of conflict and ethnic dispute.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages
2014.
Keywords [en]
Abkhazia, border, risk, youth
National Category
Sociology (excluding Social Work, Social Psychology and Social Anthropology)
Identifiers
URN: urn:nbn:se:miun:diva-24933OAI: oai:DiVA.org:miun-24933DiVA, id: diva2:811907
Conference
De-facto Entities in the Post-Soviet Space: Dynamics and Prospects, 4-5 September 2014, Sevan, Armenia
Available from: 2015-05-13 Created: 2015-05-13 Last updated: 2015-12-22Bibliographically approved

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Lundgren, Minna

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CiteExportLink to record
Permanent link

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Cite
Citation style
  • apa
  • ieee
  • modern-language-association-8th-edition
  • vancouver
  • Other style
More styles
Language
  • de-DE
  • en-GB
  • en-US
  • fi-FI
  • nn-NO
  • nn-NB
  • sv-SE
  • Other locale
More languages
Output format
  • html
  • text
  • asciidoc
  • rtf