(Re-) negotiating identity and navigating the everyday amidst the war in Ukraine. Located knowledge from Ukrainian and Russian diasporas in Germany as a resource for peacebuilding

With the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, coexistence between Ukrainian and Russian (speaking) migrants in Germany has become more difficult. The shared social spaces that had been integral parts of their migrant lives in Germany came under pressure and caused interpersonal conflicts over identity and belonging. We analyze how migrants from Ukraine and Russia deal with the war between their home countries in their everyday lives in Germany. Based on 40 interviews, we assess how the war affects Ukrainian and Russian identity formation and how it causes changes in the relations between their ‘own’ and the ‘other’ group in the diasporic context. Our research reveals that while identity struggles do have centrifugal features, they do not necessarily translate into more conflictive everyday interaction. Social spaces, where understanding, pragmatic engagement and ad-hoc solidarity can be performed, do exist, or emerge, although often beyond public attention. The findings are a valuable resource for and contribution to inclusive peacebuilding, calling upon peacebuilders to take on a more localized, contextualized and situated view and to strengthen and actively support these unnoticed spaces and networks of constructive social interaction.