Doing Agency through Personal Networks: The Case of Ukrainian Forced Migrants in Romania

Abstract

Advocating the heuristic value of a relational approach, this article investigates how, in the context of forced migration, agency arises from the multiple interactions and interdependencies within refugees’ social networks. Based on qualitative data, it examines the relational mechanisms underlying the coping strategies employed by Ukrainian refugees in Romania. By analysing the reconfigurations of personal networks and flows of social support during the migration process, it identifies four ideal-types of relational agency, defined by the outcomes they enable. These types emerge from diverse social ties and interdependencies within reconfigured personal networks, which can either constrain, enable or guide refugees’ decisions and actions. They vary according to migrants’ needs and goals, the resources embedded in their networks, and the relational work they invest in activating these resources in specific spatio-temporal contexts. Relational agency thus emerges as a context-sensitive continuum of doing agency unfolding within evolving configurations of personal relationships.