Forced migration and practices of ontological security: the case of Ukrainian women in Berlin

Russia’s war against Ukraine has displaced millions of forced migrants to European countries, predominantly women and children. In this paper, we scrutinise, from a feminist perspective, how the subject-world relations of Ukrainian women are changing during their first months and years in exile. We argue that, in a situation of existential (i.e. ontological) insecurity, female forced migrants perform new gender roles that are highly interconnected with their geopolitical positioning. An intersectional analysis, considering the effects not only of gender, but also age and family status (i.e. motherhood), is therefore essential. We demonstrate how women of different age groups and family statuses (single or married, with or without children) establish particular new self-world relations while building a new life in exile. Empirically, we reveal three spatial practices of female forced migrants as they navigate ontological insecurities: (1) shrinking worlds—waiting in exile; (2) resembling worlds—searching for Ukraine in Berlin; and (3) continuing worlds—motherhood’s engagements in Berlin. Based on this empirical analysis, the paper makes a theoretical contribution to feminist geopolitics. We suggest the term geopoliticised ontological security to capture the changes in the self-world relations of forced migrants in situations of severe insecurity and anxiety. We argue for a feminist, critical re-conceptualisation of ontological (in)security that takes subjects’ geopolitical positionings into account.