Local and Global Impacts of the War in Ukraine

On June 6-7, 2024, the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University in Prague hosted a conference titled “Local and Global Impacts of the War in Ukraine.” This event brought together various researchers to discuss the repercussions of war. Jan Ort and Ignacy Jóźwiak organized a two-session panel on “Unequal Citizenship and Transnational Mobilisation of Polish, Czech, and Ukrainian Roma in the Face of the War in Ukraine”, highlighting the challenges and resilience of the Romani community. The panel was well attended, generated lively discussion and established the basis for possible longer-term collaborations for the ROCIT project.

The panelists were primarily members of the ROCIT research team; however, Sylvia Thompson from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology also participated with a thematically related paper.

The panel featured following presentations from our team members:

• Yanush Panchenko from Zaporizhzhia National University and the Institute of Ethnology at the Czech Academy of Sciences presented “Analysis of the Roma Theme in Ukrainian and Russian Media Spaces in the Context of the Russian-Ukrainian War.”
• Markéta Hajská from Charles University discussed “Forced Migrants from Ukraine and the Mechanisms of their Racialization and Stigmatization in the Czech Republic in Spring 2022.”
• Jan Ort from the Institute of Ethnology at the Czech Academy of Sciences examined “What Does the War-related Situation Reveal about the Position of the Roma in non-Romani Societies? The Case of the Czech Republic.”
• Sonia Styrkacz from the University of Warsaw shared reflections on “Challenges and Dilemmas of Working with Ukrainian Roma Families: Reflections on Autoethnographic Experience in the Context of Migration and Social Integration.”
• Monika Szewczyk and Elżbieta Mirga-Wójtowicz, both from the University of Warsaw, highlighted “Ukrainian Roma Oral Histories as Part of the Oral History and Testimonies of Displacement within and from Ukraine.”

This conference allowed our team members to showcase a variety of topics, perspectives, and experiences from both Roma and non-Roma scholars, emphasizing the importance of inclusive and diverse narratives in understanding the impacts of the war in Ukraine.