Tensions in Cultural Identity and Sense of Belonging for Internally Displaced Adolescents in Ukraine

ABSTRACT This article examines the cultural, educational and mental health consequences of large-scale internal displacement for children and adolescents from the Donbas to other parts of Ukraine. The research findings and methodological innovations of the study are discussed in the context of forced migration and displacement caused by the previous (2014) armed conflict in East Ukraine and Donbas with additional challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. Our data collection was halted by the military action in Ukraine that started in February 2022 that has caused another wave of forced migration. We reflect on the experience gained from conducting research on sensitive topics of displacement using online methods in the environment of restricted access to schools and adolescents. The adolescents who were interviewed described their experiences of displacement, which for some had taken place nearly eight years before. Trauma from conflict and displacement can have mental health, educational and social consequences for displaced adolescents. These displaced young people and their families face, as internally displaced populations, a double-edged sword in their relationship with their new contexts. They often have numerous challenges in their settling in a new location and public sphere given the existing ethnic, cultural and language diversity of Ukraine and yet have the advantage of being able to adopt and adapt to their new socio-cultural contexts relatively quickly and minimise their pre-migration identities, if they so wish.