Prisma Ukraïna
2024

Taisiia Ratushna

Digital Bridges: Exploring Changing Relationships with Family and Homeland in the Context of Ukrainian Forced Migration

Previous Fellowships: 2022/ 2023

Taisiia Ratushna. Photo source: private.

Dr. Taisiia Ratushna is an associate professor at the Department of Sociology at Zaporizhzhia National University. In 2010, she received her Ph.D. in Sociology from the Classical Private University (Zaporizhzhia). Since then, she has been working at the Department of Sociology at Zaporizhzhia National University and has been researching communication processes in urban space and virtual environments. In 2020, she obtained an MA in psychology. Taisiia also cooperates with NGOs and advises them on conducting sociological research. Her current research interests are digitalization and the impact of the internet and social media on modern society. In particular, Taisiia investigates how certain groups use social media content and deal with different types of information in virtual spaces. Specifically, she studies the role of social media in migration processes, its benefits and threats for internally displaced persons. In the academic year 2022/23, she was a scholarship holder at the University of Tübingen (Germany). Taisiia Ratushna has been a member of the War, Migration, Memory research group at the Forum Transregionale Studien since 2022. In 2024-25, she is a Prisma Ukraïna fellow of the Gerda Henkel Foundation.

2024-25

Digital Bridges: Exploring Changing Relationships with Family and Homeland in the Context of Ukrainian Forced Migration

With a focus on the extensive use of social media platforms among Ukrainian forced migrants', the study aims to unveil the multifaceted impact of digitalization on their lives.

Primarily, the research seeks to illuminate how Ukrainian forced migrants utilize digital channels to uphold connections with their families over time. Additionally, it delves into the reception of information about their homeland through digital media and its influence on their decisions regarding staying in the host country or contemplating return.

By scrutinizing communication practices and media consumption patterns, the project aspires to offer comprehensive insights into the experiences of Ukrainian migrants, contributing to a broader understanding of migration and transnational communication.

Furthermore, the project delves into the migrants' news consumption habits and their implications for their perception of Ukraine. By examining their preferences, sources of information, and assessments of reliability, the study aims to discern how media influences their attitudes toward their homeland and the prospect of returning.

 

2022-23

The Role of Social Networks in the Process of Forced Migration: Through the Prism of Life Stories of Ukrainian Migrants Between Ukraine and Germany

What are the roles of the internet and social media in migration processes and what have they changed? What are their benefits and what are the threats that arise from their use? These questions will be the focus of Taisiia Ratushna’s project. The study will also address how using the internet and social media has influenced the dissemination of information, including about assistance opportunities and residence rights, among migrants. In this case, it asks: which social networks, groups, and questions are users most interested in, how are useful contacts found, and how do communication processes take place? Lastly, it will also investigate the usefulness of such groups, as well as the amount, quality, and types of information that are aggregating in them. Do they really help to solve migrants’ problems or do they act as a kind of chronophage that, on the contrary, creates information noise that increases stress and hinders finding reliable sources?


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