Диссертации, представленные на защиту и подготовленные в НИУ ВШЭ

The dissertation investigates the sociocultural trauma experienced by Syrian forced migrants amid the Syrian war (2011–2024). It examines how trauma is experienced, narrated, and processed socially in two host countries: Russia, a less conventional host county, and Germany, a well-established asylum destination. Utilizing cultural and social trauma theories and international definitions of various asylum cases, trauma is conceptualized not as an individual pathology but as a symbolic disruption of identity, memory, and belonging.                                                   Employing qualitative methods, the research analyzes 20 in-depth interviews with Syrian refugees, following their trajectories through three migration stages: pre-departure, arrival, and post-settlement, guided by a research protocol. Thematic analysis demonstrates that trauma and integration manifest differently: Germany offers legal clarity and symbolic recognition, yet struggles with bureaucracy and exclusion persist. Russia provides community-based resilience amid institutional neglect and legal ambiguity.                                                                            The study reveals that refugees’ designation of a country as a transit or final destination depends on their lived conditions, legal status, employment, education, family ties, rather than abstract plans. In due course, refugees emerge as active narrators of trauma and meaning, negotiating their identities within diverse political and symbolic contexts.