Challenges of Ethnographic Research with War Migrants from Ukraine

24 cm

This short reflection on ethnographic research with forced migrants who arrived in Poland after February 24, 2022, addresses topics that are crucial in designing a research project in cooperation with people who fled from Ukraine. Issues related to research ethics, the situation of difficult research in cooperation with potentially traumatised people, positioned by popular discourses as refugees and victims of the Russian invasion of Ukraine are explored here. In addition, my reflection concerns access to the site, the researcher’s involvement and responsibility, the specificity of the research situation, as well as problems and challenges facing their archiving and representation. I indicate research risks such as revictimisation, lack of psychological tools and burdens of the researcher, and the further life of constructed ethnographic knowledge that is built on the experience of war migrants from Ukraine. This reflection text also includes some practical advice on designing conversations with war migrants from Ukraine. In addition to the indicated challenges of ethnographic research in cooperation with forced migrants from Ukraine, the paper contains an appeal for a radical increase in ethical standards in a situation of war and forced migration.