Call for papers

THE WAR IN UKRAINE AND EXILE

Deadline – March 4, 2024

Call for papers for a special issue of Ethnologie française on Ukrainian, Belarusian and Russian exile.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine forced large numbers of people into exile. According to the UNHCR, more than 8 million Ukrainians fled their country as a result of the bombing and/or occupation of their territories by the Russian army. Although nearly 2 million of them returned to Ukraine, this exodus remains unprecedented and significantly exceeds the exodus caused by the war in Donbass. Various sources also note a significant increase in the number of Belarusians seeking refuge in Georgia (Marin, 2022), Poland, Lithuania (Kazakevich, Velichkajte, 2023), and other EU countries in 2022. These new departures amplify the migratory flows caused by the brutal repression of the unprecedented protest movement in Belarus following the presidential elections in 2020 (Hervouet, 2023). More than 300,000 people (out of a population of about 9.3 million) left Belarus to escape the various forms of repression, either as a matter of urgency or in anticipation. Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine has also triggered a significant wave of migration of Russian citizens. According to some estimates, between 700,000 and one million of them (Mandraud, 2022; Inozemtsev, 2023) fled their country because of the increased control and repression of anti-war voices and the fear of being mobilized, or for economic reasons. They sought refuge in Armenia, Georgia, and Turkey, as well as in Israel, Germany, and Finland. While political opponents, civil society activists and independent journalists who wanted to continue their activities without being exposed to repression had already been going abroad regularly in the previous years, the start of the invasion and the announcement of the “partial” mobilization on September 21, 2022 prompted much broader social groups – from employees in the digital technology sector to less skilled workers – to take the path of exile.

The reasons why people from the three war-affected countries leave are as heterogeneous, as the destinations they choose and the administrative status they enjoy in the host countries. It is difficult to compare their forms of exile. However, the three groups of exiles cross paths and interact directly or indirectly in the host countries. They also experience many of the trials and tribulations of exile in ways that are similar: ruptures with relatives who remain in the country, questions of identity, forms of politicization and involvement in solidarity and aid networks, or, in the case of Belarusians and Russians, association with the regimes they fled. Therefore, this thematic issue of Ethnologie française will  examine the forms of exile taken by the nationals of these three countries, both in terms of their specificities and through their relationships and interactions, marked by forms of solidarity, tension and conflict.

This issue will also focus on the trajectories and experiences of exiles, how they overcome the many difficulties they face, and the changes in their perceptions of themselves and others as a result of exile and war.

Proposals are expected to address one of the following topics:

1) The first aim of this issue is to explore the trajectories of exiles and the different stages of migratory journeys: from the moment people decide to leave their country until they settle in a host country for a more or less long period of time, paying particular attention to the routes they take, the thickness of the borders they cross, and their successive mobilities since their departure. Some countries are places of transit and temporary residence, allowing people to take a break, choose a more permanent destination and, if necessary, complete the administrative formalities. What resources did the exiles mobilize to facilitate their departure? What networks (personal, professional, associative) enabled them to leave their country and overcome the many difficulties associated with exile (administrative, daily life)? We will also focus on the diaspora communities formed before 24 February 2022 and the recently created solidarity networks in the host countries, their mobilization and their role in welcoming exiles and solving the many problems of life in exile.

The analysis will focus on citizens of the three states (Belarus, Ukraine, Russia) with very different characteristics: men and women of different ages, of different origins (Belarusian, Russian, Ukrainian, but also Jewish, Roma, etc.) and/or subject to specific forms of discrimination (LGBT+, etc.) or vulnerability (children, elderly, disabled, etc.). How do these factors affect their journeys and experiences of exile?

Papers may also focus on the experience, intimacy, and emotional economy of exile, addressing the breakdown of family and friendship ties and their reconstruction over distance. How does war reconfigure (or not) relationships with loved ones who remain at home and, in the case of Belarusians and Russians, in a different informational space dominated by official propaganda?

Contributions will also explore how people rebuild their lives and integrate, albeit relatively, into their host societies. This question is all the more pertinent as exile is becoming increasingly protracted due to the stalemate in the armed conflict in Ukraine and, for Belarusians and Russians, the risks of returning to their respective countries of origin (arrest, imprisonment, conscription into the army).

2) The second focus will be on the changes in self-perception and perception of others brought about by exile and Russian military aggression in Ukraine. War forces people to position and define themselves in terms of their national identity. Insofar as language is a means of differentiation par excellence in this context, papers may focus on changes in the linguistic practices of Ukrainians and Belarusians and their preferred choice of language in different situations (public speaking, private speaking, etc.). They may also focus on other reconfigurations of identity brought about by the war, for example by emphasizing different religious and cultural practices (artistic, folkloric) used in exile.

Conversely, we will look at how the war changes perceptions of exiles and attitudes toward them in host countries, both in terms of individual interactions and government policies. In the case of Ukrainians, the solidarity shown and the new measures implemented at the European level to facilitate their reception make them, in the eyes of some, a privileged group benefiting from special treatment compared to exiles from other parts of the world. As for Belarusians and Russians, they see themselves associated with the regimes they fled, which some of them openly fought against or are beginning to challenge in exile. How do they deal with this identification on a daily basis? What tactics and strategies do they develop to escape it? These questions are all the more relevant given the growing number of proposals in some host countries to tighten the conditions for obtaining residence permits and to introduce new restrictions affecting their daily lives (Galles, 2023).

3) Considering exile as a critical moment in the reconfiguration of individual and collective subjectivities (Allioua, 2009; Felder, 2016), the third theme will address the processes of politicization, in a broad sense and beyond established politics, triggered and/or intensified by migration and the war in Ukraine. Contributions will examine the many forms of politicization, both institutional and ordinary, everyday forms, focusing on the spaces in which politicization takes place (associations, reception centers, language courses, etc.). They may also look at involvement in different forms of collective action, from voluntary work to political activism, through associative activity in more institutionalized settings or involvement in informal support networks operating at local and transnational levels. Finally, we will examine how these new engagements relate to previous ones. In the case of the Belarusian exiles, for example, the war in Ukraine has reconfigured certain aspects of the political struggle waged by the protesters since 2020, incorporating a geopolitical dimension that was initially absent and the vision of Russia as the ‘threatening other’.

4) The final set of questions specifically examines the interactions between the three exile communities in terms of individual encounters and associative or political action. Given the scale of Ukrainian, Belarusian, and Russian exile, where do the three groups of exiles meet occasionally or regularly in the various host countries? On the contrary, where do they try to avoid each other, and how do they manage it? This question of breaking ties and/or new cooperation could also be addressed through the spaces where Ukrainians, Belarusians, and Russians regularly rubbed shoulders before February 24, 2022, and were connected by dense social networks (choirs, churches, schools, etc.).

Many exiled Belarusians and Russians were also involved in voluntary and humanitarian activities or other support for Ukrainian war refugees. In Poland, for example, the exile reception facilities set up by and for Belarusians after 2020 were quickly opened to Ukrainians on February 25 (Fihel, 2023). In Georgia, many aid and support groups for refugees from Ukraine were organized by Russian exiles (Bronnikova, 2022). How does their presence affect the internal dynamics of these different initiatives? How do the three groups of exiles relate to each other in private and in public? In other words, the aim is to understand their complex relations, interactions and multiple overlaps, taking into account the forms of cooperation and solidarity as well as the relations of competition and conflict that emerge.

This issue of Ethnologie française will highlight contributions based on field research, emphasizing ethnographic material, particularly interviews and observations, and favoring approaches from below, as close as possible to the actors and attentive to their representations, practices, and daily lives in exile.

Timetable

* Proposals for contributions (title and abstract of 5,000 to 6,000 characters, in French or English) should be sent to the coordinators of this issue by March 4, 2024.

Ronan Hervouet: ronan.hervouet@u-bordeaux.fr

Tatyana Shukan: tatyana.shukan@gmail.com

They should present the main lines of argument and the empirical materials used, and be accompanied by a bio-bibliographical note on the author.

* Final papers (35,000 to 70,000 characters max, including spaces and bibliography) are due by September 23, 2024.

* Publication of this issue of Ethnologie française is scheduled for 2025.

Bibliography

Allioua M, « Le ‘passage au politique’ des transmigrants subsahariens au Maroc. Imaginaire migratoire, réorganisation collective et mobilisation politique en situation de migration transnationale », in A. Bensaâd (dir.), Le Maghreb à l’épreuve des migrations subsahariennes. Immigration sur émigration, Karthala, 2009 : 279-30

Bronnikova O, “Wherever they go, Russians will always find a reason to feel discriminated”, communication aux Journées d’études “War in Ukraine and exile”, CEFRES, 24 mai 2023.

Felder A., L’activité des demandeurs d’asile. Se reconstruire en exil, Erès, 2016.

Fihel A, « Diaspora at war. Les diasporas biélorusse et ukrainienne entre méfiance et coopération », communication au Webinaire « Exils ukrainiens, russes et biélorusses en question : trajectoires, politiques et mobilisations », 23 juin 2023

Galles P, « Relever les défis spécifiques auxquels sont confrontés les Bélarussiens en exil », rapport préparé pour la commission des migrations, des réfugiés et des personnes déplacées de l’APCE, juin 2023.

Hervouet R., La révolution suspendue. Les Bélarusses contre l’État autoritaire, Éditions Plein Jour, 2023.

Inozemtsev V, « L’exode du siècle : une nouvelle vague d’émigration russe », Russie.Eurasie.Visions, n° 129, IFRI, juillet 2023

Kazakevich A. et Velichkajte V, « Sobiraya fakty : migratsiya iz Belarusi v Litvu do i posle krizisa 2020 goda » (Réunissant les faits : migration du Bélarus vers la Lituanie avant et après 2020), Political sphere, PS#1/2023 (click here to access).

Kuznetsova I. et Mikheieva O., « Forced Displacement from Ukraine’s War-Torn Territories: Intersectionality and Power Geometry », Nationalities Papers, vol.48, n° 4, 2020, p. 690–706.

Mandraud I., « Vladimir Poutine ou le crépuscule de l’impérialisme russe », Le Monde, 7 octobre 2022.

Marin A., Rapport de la Rapporteuse spéciale sur la situation des droits de l’homme au Bélarus, 20 juillet 2022 : click here to access.