Smirnova A. A. James Scott, “invisible” space and the Non-Black Earth Region village // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2026. V.11. №3. P. 17-31.

EDN: FTCWPJ

Annotation

The author applies James Scott’s concept of “nonstate spaces” to contemporary rural areas in Russia’s Non-Black Earth Region. The article considers Scott’s intellectual legacy, highlighting his key ideas relevant to geography; explains the dichotomy between “state” and “nonstate” spaces through their constitutive features, including population density, agricultural specialization and accuracy of bureaucratic recordkeeping; develops the concept of “state’s seeing” as a simplified perception of territory in the official discourse. As an example of “invisible” places for the Russian statistics, the study focuses on rural settlements officially classified as “without population” in the national census. Such villages vary greatly: some are wastelands that are almost inaccessible, others look like ordinary villages but with seasonal residents, mostly urban dwellers. The Non-Black Earth regions rank first in the number of settlements “without population” due to their natural features, settlement history and contemporary socialeconomic processes. Based on the results of field studies in the Tver Region, the author identifies the main mechanisms for “seeing” such spaces: direct observation, analysis of the remote sensing data, and interviews with local experts, mainly heads of rural settlements or specialists of territorial administrations. The presence of local authorities does not guarantee knowledge of the territory — it depends on the expert’s initiative, competencies and metis (practical knowledge). On the example of villages in the former Alferovskoe rural settlement of the Kalyazin municipal district the author shows how the number of population changes with the inflow of seasonal residents and what problems arise from the undercounting of dacha owners.

Keywords

James Scott, state simplifications, state space, state vision, Non-Black Earth Region, rural areas, settlements “without population”, dacha revitalization.  

About the author

Alexandra A. Smirnova, PhD (Geography), Associate Professor, Faculty of Geography and Geoecology, Tver State University. P. Proshina St., 3, bldg. 2, Tver, 170021, Russia.
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