Loss of National Manhood? Gendered Narratives about Exiles of the Russian-Ukrainian War in Georgia
How have Russian exiles fleeing the Russian-Ukrainian War to the country of Georgia negotiate and construct gender identities, and how do these changes impact heteropatriarchal state structures? While much public attention has been drawn to
the Western theater of the war and Ukrainian refugees, Gasviani focusus specifically on
Russian draft dodgers and conscientious objectors who fled their homeland, resisting President Vladimir
Putin’s regime. Upon arrival, Russian migrants, especially male exiles, are questioned not
only for their loyalty to anti-war resistance but for their own gender as well. Their masculinity
comes into question because a number of host societies believe that Russians should be fighting
Putin’s regime from the inside instead of running away. This project enquires what
it means to be a cultural outsider in a post-Soviet country that does not trust ethnic Russians, especially
given the current occupation of two Georgian territories by the Russian army.
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