Sheltering Strangers: Critical Memoirs from Hosting Ukrainian Refugees (First Edition)

By: Daniel Briggs

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Synopsis: This book documents the intimate lives of Ukrainians as they fled their homeland in search of a safe and stable place to stay. The critical memoirs follow the lives of 16 Ukrainian families in a small Spanish town near Madrid and the local families that volunteered to host them during a time of limited state support and an absence of a clear EU plan for the refugees. Through first-hand testimonies, social media messages and photographs, the book reveals the scarring realities of the Ukrainians’ upheaval, displacement and trauma alongside the well-meaning sacrifices made by the host families which quickly mutate into moralistic and meritocratic expectations of their new guests. In doing so, the book offers a vivid portrayal of how the tensions of war and displacement play out in real life in real time.