UC Irvine

What happens when refusing to fight a war is framed not as a moral stand but as a betrayal of masculinity itself? This dissertation examines how Russian men who left after the 2022 full-scale invasion of Ukraine are constructed as both political and gendered failures. While exile is often understood as a legal or geographic condition, I argue that in the Russian context, it also operates as a tool of gender discipline. Through state media, propaganda, and popular discourse, Russian men in exile are portrayed not simply as conscientious objectors but as morally deviant, feminized, and queer-coded figures who have forfeited their claims to societal and state-recognized masculinity. Drawing on ethnographic interviews, participant observation, and media analysis, this project introduces the concept of the politics of gendered death: a media-driven process through which narratives, satire, and viral circulation recode refusal to participate in state-defined masculinity and war-making as a failure of manhood, stripping those who leave of recognition as men and citizens. It also theorizes a “post-performative” shift in the Russian state’s approach to loyalty. Before the war, publicly performing ideological and gender norms was often enough to avoid repression. Today, the state demands full emotional and embodied allegiance. In this new condition, refusal to fight is not just disobedience; it is treated as a fundamental failure of citizenship, morality, and manhood. Under these conditions, many exiles develop quieter, more embodied strategies of disengagement. Focusing on Russian exiles in Georgia, a country shaped by its postcolonial relationship with Russia, this dissertation shows how masculinity becomes both a target of authoritarian violence and a fragile claim to legitimacy in exile. It offers new insight into how gender, dissent, and mobility are reshaped under the pressures of war and authoritarian rule.