Narratives from the “Gulag”

This chapter examines ethnographic narratives, which present the experiences of five Ukrainian migrants in exile to Italy. The first two narratives draw from the life experiences of Inna and Tatiana who illustrate variation along the subjective dimension of exile. Both women feel the pain of forced exile and are intimately connected to Ukraine through family. They both experience a deep engagement with the direction of Ukraine&s;s post-Soviet transformation. Although Inna and Tatiana differ in whether they see themselves as active participants in Ukraine&s;s nation-state building project, they are both inextricably linked to Ukraine&s;s future trajectory. The experiences of Oksana, Yuriy, and Lydmyla in the final three narratives highlight variation along the structural dimension of exile. Oksana, Yuriy, and Lydmyla are exceptions to the dominant pattern of exile as a non-mother or grandmother, a man, and a woman who brought her whole family to Rome, respectively. They illustrate the contours of exile as a transnational social field.