Multiscalar homing digital media use by Ukrainian refugees

Abstract

The influx of millions of Ukrainian refugees into Poland following the Russian invasion in 2022 initiated processes of digital homing by members of this refugee stream. Brun and Fábos (2015) have developed a heuristic of home, Home and HOME for understanding the multiplicity of home-like experiences lived by people in protracted situations of displacement. We integrate this framework with geographical concepts of place-making and the active construction of scale, to consider processes of multiscalar homing employed by the Ukrainian refugees. Surveys of 555 displaced Ukrainians currently living in Poland and interviews with 17 of the survey respondents help demonstrate multiscalar homing in the context of international displacement and contemporary media technologies. Our findings demonstrate the agency of displaced persons building a variegated sense of at-homeness and rooting themselves in multiple scales of diasporic life.