Hacking the border
Digital narratives of Russian asylum seekers after 2022
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 3085685 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Andrey Menshikov (0000-0003-1070-2551, University of Central Asia, Kyrgyz Republic, corresponding author), Ekaterina Purgina (0000-0001-5865-446X, Universidade Católica Portuguesa) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 131-154 |
| Publication date | 2025-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Social Science Information (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0539-0184 • E-ISSN: 1461-7412 |
| Publisher | SAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1177/05390184251348369 |
| OpenAlex | W4411863800 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
| References cited | 34 |
The announcement of the 'special military operation' in February 2022 led to waves of emigration from Russia, further intensified by the mobilization campaign in September 2022. While most Russian emigrants chose countries with visa-free or facilitated visa regimes or took advantage of company relocation, some opted for the more challenging route of seeking asylum in Schengen countries or the USA. This article analyzes the digital narratives of Russian asylum seekers in Western European countries, focusing on six personal Telegram channels detailing their asylum processes in Sweden, Germany, and Spain. These channels serve as both personal diaries and platforms for sharing their journeys with a Russian-speaking audience. Their primary challenge is to cross the legal rather than physical border by interacting with state bureaucrats and other actors involved in borderwork. The authors describe their experiences of the state borderwork and the liminality they endure while awaiting decisions on their fates. These accounts highlight the asylum seekers' efforts to re-empower themselves by proactively navigating bureaucratic processes, seeking information about their rights, and asserting their agency in 'hacking' the system
Art · Computer security · Criminology · Hacker · Literature · Media studies · Narrative · Political science · Refugee · Sociology · Arctic and Russian Policy Studies · Computer Science · Gender Studies · Global Security and Public Health · Law · Regional Socio-Economic Development Trends
Narrating Asylum in Camp and at Court
Seeking Asylum
Global Flows, Semi-permeable Borders and New Channels of Inequality
The In-Between Spaces of Asylum and Migration
Border Politics
The Borders of "Europe"
The impact of social capital and social environmental factors on mental health and flourishing
What are you doing here?”
Traumatic Exit, Identity Narratives, and the Ethics of Hospitality
Where asylum-seekers wait
Believing Asylum-Seeking Women
Vile liars and truth distorters’; Truth, trust and the asylum system (Respond to this article at http
The end of ‘Welcome Culture’? How the Cologne assaults reframed Germany’s immigration discourse
Stories for Asylum
Narrating the “Asylum Story
Constructing Home through Unhome
Stories as Lived Experience
Prosaic geographies of stateness
A stage of limbo
It won't work without ugly pictures
Epistemic Borderwork
Introduction
Hacking the border
(Un)ruly relationalities
Nonrecording the "European refugee crisis" in Greece
Migration theory as social theory
Unexpected agency on the threshold
The Location of Truth
Liminality and the asylum process in Switzerland
| Unique citing works | 2 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 2 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2026 (2) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |