Social Media Sanctuaries: A Discourse Analysis of Indian International Students’ Agency and Liminality During the Russian-Ukrainian Conflict

• In Event: The effects of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine on Internationalization in the post-Soviet region and Beyond (JCIHE Special Issue)

Proposal

This study employed a social media discourse analysis approach to illuminate the narratives of Indian international students in Ukraine affected by the Russo-Ukrainian war. We used agency and liminality as analytic lenses to highlight how this uniquely situated population utilized Facebook to navigate conflict, voice demands, support each other, challenge hegemonic narratives, (re)construct diasporic identities, and re-orient their futures. Findings indicate that Indian international students in Ukraine displayed insurmountable courage and resilience during the war, enacting agency from the margins to amplify their voices and actuate desired futures. Furthermore, South Asian students in Ukraine put aside their religious, ethnic, national, and caste conflicts to come together as a collective, uplifting each other and centering humanity. Little is known about how international students, especially in non-Anglocentric, peripheralized European countries, negotiate power and navigate crises during war. This study fills an important lacuna in the literature on internationalization, crisis migration, and higher education.

Author

• Bhavika Sicka, OId Dominion University