Ukrainian Female War Refugees in Poland: Trauma and Emancipation
Keywords:
Ukrainian War, refugees, trauma, emancipationAbstract
This article is part of narrative research that explores how storytelling helps individuals understand the world and how they interpret the stories they share. The study, conducted by the authors between April and May 2022, involved sixteen women who were war refugees from Ukraine, aged between 29 and 52. The participants came from various regions of Ukraine, and all had children, with the oldest being 15 and the youngest 3. Most of the women were married, some had partners, and one was a widow. They left their homeland at different times, between March 3 and 23, 2022, and by the time of the study, they had been in Poland for a period ranging from four weeks to three months. Given the length of the article, the authors chose to focus on two specific contexts of the research: trauma and emancipation. The analysis and interpretation of the interviews include excerpts from the participants' statements. These statements are transcribed, treated as research data, and interpreted through narrative analysis to uncover meanings related to the socio-cultural context. The research method used positions the participants as creators of narratives, which allows them to express themselves as experts in their own experiences.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Agnieszka Gromkowska-Melosik, Aleksandra Boroń
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