The Centre for Care is hosting an international visitor - Dr Martina Wilsch (Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology Slovak Academy of Sciences). Martina will give an in-person seminar based on her current research on Thursday 23rd May, 10-12.

Social reproduction in migrant families, crucial for ensuring the reproduction and care of household members, is a fundamental precondition for full social participation. This process is strongly gender-determined, and often considered women's responsibility (Lutz, 2008; Dowling, 2021), in both the sending and receiving societies. Social reproduction serves as a lens through which to examine the continuously transforming human and material components essential for the persistence of society (Weiss, 2021). Access to care significantly influences social positioning within society. The ability of receiving societies to address the care needs of refugees varies, depending on their welfare policies related to care. Consequently, social reproduction not only is a significant precondition for participation in society but also represents its very limitation. Ukrainian families are (temporarily) separated due to the war in different countries, while, in line with the definition of transnational families (Bryceson & Vuorela, 2002), maintaining strong and vital transnational ties with family members. In the case of Slovakia, the majority of Ukrainian refugees are women with children, displaced to ensure the safety and well-being of their offspring, while the remaining family members live either in Ukraine or other European countries. They frequently experience single parenthood, with the entire responsibility for reproductive work and social reproduction falling on women's shoulders (Dutchak, 2023). Moreover, the broader context of life for Ukrainian refugees is profoundly affected by displacement, and consequent liminality and temporality. Facing the constant threat of war, these families must deal with the uncertainty of their situation's duration, the temporality of their status granted by governments, and the constraints imposed by the social fabric of the receiving society. To adapt, forced families must develop assemblages of care and social protection (Amelina & Bause, 2020).

This paper focuses on the anthropological investigation of (transnational) care practices and social reproduction among Ukrainian families in Slovakia, grounded in feminist approaches, transnationalism, intersectionality, and gender theories. Employing ethnographic research methods, the study utilizes data from thirty in-depth interviews with Ukrainian women with family commitments in Slovakia, displaced in Slovakia due to war in Ukraine, conducted between July 2023 and February 2024, and one focus group discussion (November 2023). The analysis explores the social reproduction of Ukrainian families, its implications for societal integration, the systematic vulnerability posed by Slovakia's welfare regime, and the individual strategies and transnational care practices. This includes examining the operation of care, communication, and mutual assistance within transnational families and among relatives, as well as in the neighborhood and the broader community. Special attention is paid to temporality and liminality, which significantly shape the refugees' circumstances. The paper argues that to meet their needs, families must develop multiple strategies to ensure care and social protection, and barriers within the receiving society foster essential transnational care circulation, even in contexts of war.

Martina Wilsch, PhD, is an anthropologist working as a senior researcher at the Institute of Ethnology and Social Anthropology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences. In her research, she focuses on transnational family practices, transnational care, migration, care, gender, and migrant integration, and more recently, on the care and social reproduction in displaced Ukrainian families, alongside an exploration into the role of intangible cultural heritage in incorporation processes in displacement. She has experience with academic research but also applied research for the non-governmental sector, public institutions, and national and international organizations.