Session 4: Displacement, Migration and Diaspora in Times of War

Russia’s war against Ukraine has generated unexpected trajectories of mobility. Most research on displaced Ukrainians and Russian-speaking migration focuses on the West-East nexus, neglecting the recent southward mobility to ‘traditional’ outmigration countries like Turkey, Georgia, Armenia or Kazakhstan. ‘Classical’ research paradigms on migration governance, displacement and diaspora thus need to be re-conceptualised in the context of war. This panel will discuss to what extent do kin-state policies shape the identity of these refugees and migrants? What kinds of solidarities and ruptures emerge in relation to home countries, but also within established migrant communities in Germany? How do migration governance and diaspora policies shape migrants’ (trans)national experiences?