New narratives about war refugees from Ukraine

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.7494/human.2025.24.1.6995

Keywords:

Narratives, Ukraine, refugees, Podhale, social imaginaries

Abstract

The article presents a research project on changes in the perceptions of rural communities in the Nowy Targ district regarding the inhabitants of Ukraine after the Russian invasion in February 2022. The project, carried out using ethnographic methods in 2023-2024, showed how narratives about femininity have changed, capturing the image of female refugees from Ukraine and the self-image of the Highlander interviewees. Analysis of masculinity-related narratives revealed double standards of male duties towards the homeland. Conversations with primary school children showed the struggles of the teaching staff building open attitudes in children with critical opinions conveyed by their parents. A comparison of narratives explaining the purpose and meaning of aid practices in two communities documented many ways of giving meaning to similar actions. Work, a fundamental value in Podhale, turned out to be a key category used to assess migrants, both from Ukraine and from non-European countries. Resentment related to the Volhynian events still present in social memory, was silenced in conversations so as not to undermine the justification of the aid uprising. Narratives about war refugees from war-torn Ukraine were accompanied by geopolitical conspiracy discourses revealing the deeper meanings of political events.

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Author Biography

  • Anna Malewska-Szalygin, Uniwersytet Warszawski

    Anna Malewska-Szałygin – doktor habilitowany, profesor Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, autorka książek Wyobrażenia o państwie i władzy we wsiach nowotarskich 1999-2005 (2008) [wersja anglojęzyczna: Social Imaginaries of the State and Central Authority in Polish Highland Villages, 1999-2005 (2017)] oraz Wiedza potoczna o sprawach publicznych. Studium percepcji władzy lokalnej we wsiach mazurskich (2002) nagrodzonych nagrodą Rektora UW „Clio” oraz licznych artykułów polsko i angielskojęzycznych. Realizowała projekty badawcze dotyczące antropologii politycznej: wiedza potoczna o władzy lokalnej, wyobrażenia o władzy państwowej oraz dynamiki wyobrażeń społecznych (projekt dotyczący zmieniających się wyobrażeń o uchodźcach Ukrainy). Badania terenowe prowadziła na Mazurach i na Podhalu.

Additional Files

Published

2025-06-30

Issue

Vol. 24 No. 1 (2025): New migrations, new narratives. The contemporary migration experience: patterns-strategies-contexts

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 © Wydawnictwa AGH, Kraków 2024, Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 License

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How to Cite

Malewska-Szalygin, A. (2025). New narratives about war refugees from Ukraine. Studia Humanistyczne AGH, 24(1), 23-36. https://doi.org/10.7494/human.2025.24.1.6995