The Experience of Displacement

War produces displaced refugees and exiles. Some flee the horrors of bombardment and invasion. Others respond to the call of conscience. When in February 2022 Russian forces—already occupying portions of Ukraine’s eastern region—crossed the border in a massive and brutal assault aimed at total conquest, academics on both sides faced new and unforeseen challenges. For many Ukrainians, like Yana Prymachenko, escape from the conflict became a life-saving necessity. For some Russians, like Evgeny Roshchin, the choice was between exile or, perhaps, prison, for refusing to publicly support aggression.

Historically, many refugee scholars have found new homes, temporary or permanent, in the United States, greatly enriching the intellectual life of the institutions that host them. But in our current context of increasing austerity and political polarization, the response of US higher education has fallen short of the challenge, the indispensable efforts of organizations like Scholars at Risk notwithstanding.

Princeton is one university that tried to help. As soon as the conflict began, a group of faculty members there worked to bring both Ukrainian and Russian scholars to campus on two-year appointments. Individual academic departments and programs made the decision to sponsor the scholars and provided most of the financial support. Similar programs were created elsewhere, but, as Russian-born and -trained Princeton historian Ekaterina Pravilova notes here, these efforts remain inadequate. After two years, Prymachenko and Roshchin, participants in the Princeton program, reflect on the experience of displacement. 

—Henry Reichman

American Universities Must Support Scholars in Exile
By Ekaterina Pravilova

Displaced Scholars as Schrödinger’s Cat
By Yana Prymachenko

Exile as the Cost of Academic Freedom
By Evgeny Roshchin