Representation of the cultural practices of the countries of origin in the small town’s socio-cultural space (case study of Chita’s migrants)

The article deals with the specifics of migrants' reproduction of the cultural practices of their countries of origin in the socio-cultural space of the recipient region, which is represented by the sparsely populated cities of the Far East remote from the center of the Russian Federation. The mechanisms of representation of these practices as well as their importance in the process of adaptation of migrants in a foreign cultural environment are analyzed. The key importance of the sign-symbolic system of the cultural matrix of the arriving migrants, which is part of their cultural background, is determined. This sign-symbolic system includes such elements as language, gastronomic habits, and Internet communications with the countries of origin, which are directly used by the migrants to recreate and maintain a familiar way of life approximating the pre-migration experience. Based on the analysis, the prospects for the acculturation of migrants within sparsely populated provincial cities of Russia are outlined.