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2026. Vol.11. №3.

James Scott, “invisible” space and the Non-Black Earth Region village

Oct 21 2026

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.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

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2025. Vol.10. №1.

Human dimension of rural history: Demographic losses and dacha revitalization in one Tver village

May 21 2025

Bogdanova L.P., Vinogradov D.M., Smirnova A.A. Human dimension of rural history: Demographic losses and dacha revitalization in one Tver village // The Russian Peasant Studies. 2025. V.10. №1. P. 153-177.

EDN: OTGKMC

Annotation

The article reconstructs the history and key post-Soviet changes in the village of Denisovo located in Rameshkovsky municipal district of the Tver Region. The village is a part of the main settlement area of Tver Karelia that developed in the upper reaches of the Medveditsa River. Another feature of this territory is closeness to the Tver agglomeration and the Moscow Region. These features largely determined demographic changes in the village at different times. Based on various materials, including historical sources, the authors provide a brief overview of the Karelian colonization of the territory and of the ethnic structure of settlements in the Zamytskaya volost. Based on the zemstvo statistical data and censuses, the authors analyze the population dynamics in rural settlements that were a part of the former Zamytskaya volost from the late 19th century to the early 21st century. The article presents a schematic historical reconstruction of Denisovo based on the survey of old residents, which was conducted in 1999. This reconstruction shows the number of people in households from the 1930s to the 1990s and the demographic losses of the village in the 20th century. The repeated survey conducted in the summer of 2024 showed the dacha transformation of the village, i.e., that a significant share of households is seasonally inhabited. Based on interviews with one local resident, the authors provide a contemporary scheme of households, which shows that the dacha ownership in Denisovo reflects the traditional directions of rural migration — to Tver, Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Owners are mainly local residents or descendants of those who left the village in the 20th century. The authors suggest the significant influence of the ethnic-cultural factor on revitalization of Tver villages.

Keywords

Rural studies, population dynamics, rural depopulation, village transformation, dacha revitalization, Tver Karelia.

About the authors

Lidiya P. Bogdanova, DSc (Geography), Head of the Department of Social and Economic Geography and Territorial Planning, Faculty of Geography and Geoecology, Tver State University. P. Proshina St., 3, bldg. 2, Tver, 170021, Russia.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Dmitry M. Vinogradov, PhD Student, Faculty of Geography and Geoecology, Tver State University. P. Proshina St., 3, bldg. 2, Tver, 170021, Russia.
E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 
Alexandra A. Smirnova, PhD (Geography), Associate Professor, Faculty of Geography and Geoecology, Tver State University. P. Proshina St., 3, bldg. 2, Tver, 170021, Russia. E-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. 

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Hard copies of the journal can be purchased at the Delo e-store or by subscription in the "Press of Russia" Agency (subscription index - Т81017).

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Russian Peasant Studies

Peer-reviewed interdisciplinary academic journal in the field of theoretical and empirical peasant studies, rural sociology, economics and social geography. The journal publishes original works on the issues of socio-economic development of agricultural regions of Russia and the world, the history of the peasantry, including its formation and evolution, particularly from philosophical and cultural studies viewpoints. The journal aims at exploring the paths of Russian and international rural development and supporting cooperation of agrarian researchers representing different scientific disciplines. Read more>

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