Futile attempts to remake the world: Wars in the North Caucasus and refugee masculinities in Poland

Abstract This study describes the lived experience of an Ingush refugee man to examine how wars in the North Caucasus became a part of his daily life. Concentrating on individual life, the study discusses a gendered “recovery” pattern among Chechen and Ingush asylum‐seeking men who were encamped in Poland between 2007 and 2009. The study shows how attempts to remake the world reproduced trauma while fostering the perception that the ongoing life aligns with the prevailing gender ideology in the sending societies. The recovery process was hindered owing to protracted precariousness and uncertainty. When displaced men fail to remake the world at collective centers for refugees, they may become detached from life in a way that supports the formation of novel forms of sociality. The study's findings may reverberate to the present political and socioeconomic landscape, where multiple crises impact the subjectivity and autonomy of refugees.