UC Davis

This dissertation investigates the strategies that women fleeing domestic violence and political persecution use to exert agency over the social relations in which they are entangled during different stages of their migration experience. My insights draw on evidence from 40 biographical interviews with female Chechen refugees in Poland. Chapter two examines the pre-migration experience of women fleeing political persecution and domestic violence survivors. I show how patriarchy can constitute a macro context that forces women to flee their country. I also expand social network scholarship by showing how women’s access to close and broad social networks differs depending on whether domestic violence and/or political conflict is the primary driver of migration. Finally, my study shows how networks and institutions that emerge during political migration can be adapted to guide those fleeing domestic violence. In chapter three, I discuss the role that ethnic ties play for refugee women fleeing political persecution compared to those fleeing domestic violence. The chapter shows that ethnic community plays a crucial role in the integration process for women fleeing political persecution and provides support in multiple areas: material, financial, emotional, and cultural. However, for women who identify their primary motive of fleeing as domestic violence, tight social networks can cause danger. These women are therefore more likely to use various strategies to avoid their co-ethnic community, including participating in narrow, exclusively female networks, socializing only with people from outside of the co-ethnic community, isolated themselves socially, and engaging in strategic anonymity. Chapter four discusses transnational ties of refugee women who fled political persecution and/or domestic violence. The explores the distinction between refugees’ capacity and desire to engage in transnational social fields by showing how transnational engagement is shaped by the primary motive of escape. Finally, the article discusses a phenomenon of unintentional/unwanted participation in transnational social fields and the strategies women use to remain beyond transnational structures of power.