“We are all brothers here”: The making of a life by Chechen refugees in Poland

Abstract

In this age of human mobility, refugees face increased politicisation of their migration. Instead of being victims of the present and the past, refugees live their lives proactively. On the basis of ethnographic fieldwork among Chechen refugees in Poland, this paper concerns the relation between the political and socio‐economic context and migrants' agency. In particular, the paper explores how a shared sense of loss and trauma, refugees' deportability and subordinate inclusion within Poland and the European Union, and a collective experience of exploitation and racism shape migrants' proactive existence. The paper provides a detailed ethnographic account of the circumstances under which refugees are likely to distance themselves from the local people and host society while developing a strong sense of shared identity and collective morality.

The Chechen post-war diaspora in Norway and their visions of legal models

“…It does so by providing a thorough empirical investigation of legal consciousness and adaptation in a group not previously studied by scholars in the field, namely the Chechen post-war diaspora in Norway. As such, it nuances earlier accounts of the Chechen diaspora in Europe (Vinatier 2005;Szczepanikova 2012Szczepanikova , 2014Le Huérou et al 2014;Molodikova 2015;Iliyasov 2017;Sipos 2020) and opens up the field of researching legal pluralism and legal adaptation within this diaspora community. It does not engage in comparison but lays the ground for such work in the future.…”

Residing without settling: Housing market and tactics of Syrian forced migrants in Turkey

“…Their tactics mainly depend on the intermediary role of public authorities such as municipalities and migration agencies. Once they have difficulties in accessing formal support, refugees tend to connect with their own community in the host country to receive ‘informal’ support (Murdie, 2008; Sipos, 2020), or rely on their social networks (Adam et al, 2021). Based on the findings of a study in the Netherlands, local housing policies play a crucial role in understanding the consequences of spatial policies on the social interactions between the local people and immigrants (Ulceluse et al, 2022).…”

To Be or Not to Be a Chechen? The Second Generation of Chechens in Europe and Their Choices of Identity

“…Little has been written on identity of Chechen migrants' in Europe. Just a few studies by Molodikova (2019), Sipos (2020), and Szczepanikova (2012Szczepanikova ( , 2015 explore different aspects of ethno-cultural collective identity of Chechen refugees. The young age of Chechen community in Europe (approximately 20 years) explains why only one study by Kość-ryzko (2015) targets the question of identity formation of Chechen migrants' children.…”