Of Stumbling Blocks and Stepping Stones: Navigating Multilingual Challenges in Reconstructive Forced Migration Research

Ana Mijić, Yelyzaveta Zolotarova, Olena Tkalich and Michael Parzer
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Ana Mijić: Department of Sociology, University of Vienna, Austria
Yelyzaveta Zolotarova: Department of Oriental Languages, V. I. Vernadsky Taurida National University, Ukraine
Olena Tkalich: Department of Gender Studies, Central European University, Austria
Michael Parzer: Department of Sociology, University of Vienna, Austria

Social Inclusion, 2026, vol. 14

Abstract: Reflexive migration research emphasizes the critical examination of knowledge production—particularly concerning researchers’ positionalities, the categories they employ, and the institutional contexts in which they operate. We aim to extend this research stream by systematically engaging with linguistic positioning, which remains an underexplored feature in migration studies. Hence, our article critically engages with the multilingual challenges encountered in a sub‐study of our project, The Art of Arriving, which reconstructively examined the experiences of individuals who fled Ukraine to Austria during the early months of Russia’s war of aggression. Our contribution pursues two main objectives. First, we highlight the linguistic challenges that arose at various stages of the research process—including material collection, field access, data collection, translation, and reconstructive data analysis—and critically reflect on the strategies we adopted to address them. The active involvement of researchers with both cultural and linguistic expertise, combined with a reflexive and continuous dialogue within the entire research team, was crucial for navigating the multilingual research landscape. Second, we argue that translation processes in such projects should not merely be viewed as obstacles to overcome. Instead, these processes should be recognized as integral to the research itself. When critically reflected upon and facilitated through dialogue with culturally and linguistically familiar researchers, multilingualism can even enable deeper and more nuanced reconstructive analyses.

Keywords: forced migration; multilingualism; reflexivity; reconstructive research; translation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:cog:socinc:v14:y:2026:a:10822

DOI: 10.17645/si.10822

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