Transitions, Learning, and Material Culture
Ukrainian War Refugees and the Objects They Carried
Will be published approx. on 13. August 2026
276 pages
E-Book
978-1-040-54947-6 (ISBN)
Description
This book examines how Ukrainian refugees experience learning, transition, and transformation as they adapt to life after displacement. Drawing on interviews and photographic data, it follows the journeys of 21 women forced to flee their homes after the 2022 Russian invasion.
The text explores the practical and emotional challenges that refugees face: navigating language barriers, processing trauma, finding new ways to work and care for family, and integrating into unfamiliar cultures. These narratives are elicited from personal objects the women brought with them as they fled-physical items that serve as tools for memory, reflection, and learning. By focusing on material culture, the book shows how the objects that surround us are tied to our social and cultural identities. They are more than just possessions; they act as symbolic connections to home, security, loss, and the ongoing process of change.
This collection will be highly valuable for researchers in Adult and Continuing Education, Transformative Learning, Migration Studies, Trauma-Informed Education, and Comparative Education, as well as professionals and policymakers working with refugees.
The text explores the practical and emotional challenges that refugees face: navigating language barriers, processing trauma, finding new ways to work and care for family, and integrating into unfamiliar cultures. These narratives are elicited from personal objects the women brought with them as they fled-physical items that serve as tools for memory, reflection, and learning. By focusing on material culture, the book shows how the objects that surround us are tied to our social and cultural identities. They are more than just possessions; they act as symbolic connections to home, security, loss, and the ongoing process of change.
This collection will be highly valuable for researchers in Adult and Continuing Education, Transformative Learning, Migration Studies, Trauma-Informed Education, and Comparative Education, as well as professionals and policymakers working with refugees.
Reviews / Votes
"If you had only minutes to leave your life behind, what would you take? Through the stories of twenty-one Ukrainian women who faced that question in 2022, this book shows how ordinary objects become vessels of memory and hope. It offers a compelling account of how learning unfolds in conditions of rupture. Reframing familiar portrayals of refugees, not as victims, but as agents of change and resilience in civic life, it affirms the power of narrative in rendering experience visible and affirming human dignity."Edward W. Taylor, Professor Emeritus Lifelong Learning and Adult Education, Penn State University
"Heart-wrenching experiences of women who fled the horrors of war-and the cherished belongings they lost, remembered, or managed to save-form the focus of this book. Chad Hoggan and Tetyana Hoggan-Kloubert give voice to the stories of refugees, interpret their learning processes with great sensitivity, and bring together three theories that have rarely been considered in combination. They combine profound insights with clear and accessible language. In a world marked by war and its victims, the significance of this book extends far beyond the flight from Ukraine to Germany."
Dr. Arnd-Michael Nohl, Professor of Education and Systematic Pedagogy, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Helmut Schmidt University, Germany
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
3 Tables, black and white; 41 Halftones, black and white; 41 Illustrations, black and white
ISBN-13
978-1-040-54947-6 (9781040549476)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Chad Hoggan | Tetyana Hoggan-Kloubert
Transitions, Learning, and Material Culture
Ukrainian War Refugees and the Objects They Carried
Book
approx. 08/2026
1st Edition
Routledge
€191.50
Not yet published
Persons
Chad Hoggan is Professor of Adult and Lifelong Education at North Carolina State University, USA. He is a co-editor of The Good Society: A Journal of Civic Studies and a co-director of the Institute of Civic Studies and Learning for Democracy. His research addresses the learning processes involved during major life changes, with a focus on migrants, military veterans, and historically underserved college students.
Tetyana Hoggan-Kloubert is Akademische Raetin (Associate Professor) of Adult Education at the University of Augsburg, Germany. She is a co-editor of the International Journal of Lifelong Education and The Good Society: A Journal of Civic Studies, as well as a co-director of the Institute of Civic Studies and Learning for Democracy. Having migrated from Ukraine to Germany, she researches adult and civic education in diverse migration societies and in post-totalitarian contexts.
Tetyana Hoggan-Kloubert is Akademische Raetin (Associate Professor) of Adult Education at the University of Augsburg, Germany. She is a co-editor of the International Journal of Lifelong Education and The Good Society: A Journal of Civic Studies, as well as a co-director of the Institute of Civic Studies and Learning for Democracy. Having migrated from Ukraine to Germany, she researches adult and civic education in diverse migration societies and in post-totalitarian contexts.
Content
1. Transitions, Learning, and Material Culture: Introduction to the Project 2. Analytic Lenses 3. Escape 4. Things Taken and Left Behind 5. Arrival 6. Torn between Two Worlds 7. A Model of Learning in Forced Migration
