Lured by oil and gas: Labour mobility, multi-locality and negotiating normality & extreme in the Russian Far North

This paper analyses the notions of extreme and normality among highly mobile and multi-local people who contrast themselves with the sedentary population: long-distance commute (LDC) workers in the petroleum industry of the Russian North. It explores how mobile and multi-local people negotiate emotionally and geographically distant spaces which are meaningful in their lives and suggests the concept of conscious acts of separation and connection as prerequisites for integrating the trio of distinct realms of a long-distance commuting life: homeâ¿¿journeyâ¿¿on duty. This article rethinks the problematization and exoticism of highly mobile and multi-local life-styles and considers the embeddedness of LDC in macro-political and macro-economic processes in contemporary Russia.