This book offers a comprehensive analysis of the unprecedented situation following the later stages of the war in Ukraine in 2022. It explores the experiences of millions of Ukrainians who sought refuge in neighboring countries and examines the wide-ranging support they received. Focusing primarily on Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, and Moldova, the book highlights both the assistance provided by these nations and the personal stories of those who benefited from it. Based on qualitative research, including interviews and discourse analysis, and complemented by an examination of governmental documents and organizational initiatives, this work provides an in-depth account of the efforts made to support those displaced by the conflict. This book will be of interest to academics and practitioners within the NGO and government sectors actively researching Ukrainian refugees in countries that have chosen to host larger numbers of Ukrainians, particularly in Europe and North America.
Introduction: Refugee Assistance, Central European Identity, and the
Question of History.- Part I: The Dynamics of Institutionalised Help.- 1.-
From Grassroots Mobilisation to Securing Diverse Long-Term Needs? A critical
analysis of the complex assistance provided to Ukrainian refugees in Poland
between 2022 and 2024.- 2.- From Chaos to Coordination: The Evolution of
Refugee Support in Slovakia PostUkraine Invasion.- 3.- The role of IOM in the
assistance to Ukrainian refugees in Czechia and Poland.- 4.- The Role of
Moldova in Strengthening the International Protection Mechanisms for
Ukrainian Refugees.- Part II: Individual Experiences of Giving and Receiving
Help.- 5.- Why Help? Motivations and Effects of Hosting Ukrainian War
Refugees in Polish Private Homes in 2022.- 6.- Navigating New Horizons: A
Ukrainian Historian's Autoethnography of Resilience and Adaptation in
Poland.- 7.- Gratitude, Gratefulness, and Indebtedness. The Case of Ukrainian
Refugees Hosted in Polish Households (2022-23).- Part III: Refugee Assistance
in the Digital Era: A Reflection on the Role of Technology.- 8.- Invisible
Assistance: New Technologies as Facilitators of Ukrainian Refugees Journey
and Homemaking Process.
Magorzata Dziekoska is a sociologist specializing in migration studies, particularly in return migration and re-adaptation process. She obtained a PhD degree at the University of Warsaw, Poland. She is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Bialystok, Poland. She was a PI of several research projects dedicated to contemporary Polish migration, return migration, and Polish migration of the 1980s. In her projects, she employs qualitative research methods. The results of her research have been published in high-impact academic journals such as: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, Nordic Journal of Migration Research, Global Networks.
Kamil Luczaj is a sociologist specializing in migration studies and the sociology of higher education. He earned his PhD degree from Jagiellonian University in Krakow, Poland. Currently, he serves as an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of ód, Poland. Previously, he held positions as a visiting academic colleague at the University of New Mexico (2013-2014), a research fellow at the Slovak Academy of Sciences (2018, Institute of Sociology), and a visiting scholar at the University of Cambridge (2020-2021, Faculty of Education), as well as a Research Associate at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2022, Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center). His research expertise includes qualitative interviewing and ethnographic research. He has led several research projects focusing on academic migrants and the academic profession. His research findings have been published in esteemed journals such as "Studies in Higher Education," "International Journal of Sociology of Education," "Geoforum," "English for Specific Purposes," and "Higher Education Policy."
