IREX Research Trip - Ryazan, Russia - October1999
In
September 1999, I received word that I had been awarded a Short-term
Travel Grant from the International Research and Exchanges Board
(IREX). The grant permitted me to travel to Ryazan, Russia, where I
could gather demographic data for the Ryazan Oblast and the villages,
towns, and cities in the Obast. This page, and those that follow,
provide a summary of events that occurred while in Ryazan for three weeks
in October.
Essentially, the research expedition consisted of three
components: 1) demographic research, 2) living in Ryazan and
traveling to the ancient cities of Vladimir and Suzdal with Elena
Biryukova, Alexander Pribylov, and twenty of their geography/ecology
students, and 3) visiting with education officials in and near the village
of Ukholova.
Demographic Research
My purpose of going to Ryazan was to gather population data. During the past two years, I have been interested in the smallest villages in the Ryazan Oblast because many of them have been abandoned by their inhabitants. In 1995, for example, 112 villages were labeled on an Oblast map as uninhabited. Since 1995, I have identifed all settlements in the Oblast and have been attempting to gather population data for each. With birth and death rate data, migration rates, and by examining population pyramids, I have been able to project that of the 415 villages with less than 100 people, 51 of them will become uninhabited during the next five years. Below this brief description are maps related to this research which depict the location of the Oblast, the smallest villages, and those that are projected to become uninhabited.
The map on the left locates the Ryazan Oblast. It is southeast of, but adjacent to the Moscow Oblast. From Moscow to the city of Ryazan, the capital of the Ryazan Oblast, is approximately 190 kilometers.
The map on the left shows the location of 415 villages in the Ryazan Oblast that have populations of 100 or less. These are the villages that were the focus of my research while in Ryazan. My goal was to attempt to project when and how many might become uninhabited.
The map on the left shows the 51 villages in the Ryazan Oblast that are projected to become uninhabited during the next five years or by 2005. They are generally near the capital city of Ryazan suggesting that it plays a role in the demise of populations of small villages. The elderly die and the young migrate to the capital. It appears as if the capital plays less a role on those villages at greater distances from it.
