International Sociology and International Sociology Reviews

This month enjoy free access to the article Managing protracted displacement: How anchoring shapes ‘agency-in-waiting’ among middle-class Ukrainian female refugees in Berlin by Claire Maxwell (University of Copenhagen, Denmark), Maria Leybenson (University of Potsdam, Germany) and Miri Yemini (Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel) published in International Sociology, which was shortlisted for the Annual SAGE International Sociology Best Paper Prize's second edition (2024 edition). Read on to know more about the authors’ trajectory and work.

Claire Maxwell

Maria Leybenson

Miri Yemini

Born and raised in Ukraine, Yemini’s personal background offers a deep connection to refugee Ukrainian families. This connection served as a driving force behind this research of Ukrainian families in Berlin, as she empathized with their struggles and triumphs in adapting to new environments. Similarly, for Leybenson, as a post-Soviet person who had experienced war and loss and is now based in Germany it was impossible to not engage with the subject of displaced persons and the need to have their voices heard. Finally, Maxwell’s long-term collaboration with Yemini on how experiences of (forced or voluntary) mobility across borders intersected with social, cultural and economic resources to shape experiences of ‘arrival’, meant she was keen to examine the many ways in which agency was possible, even for women who had suffered such sudden and traumatic experiences of displacement.

Professor Claire Maxwell is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Copenhagen. She is a sociologist specialising in education, mobilities and elites, often bringing these foci together to examine processes that reproduce but also have the potential to disrupt inequalities. Professor Maxwell has edited journals and book series, and been awarded numerous grants from both UK and Danish funders.

Professor Miri Yemini is a Professor of Education at Technion, Israel Institute of Technology and a scholar in comparative education, specialising in the internationalisation of education, global citizenship, migration, mobility and education in conflict-ridden societies. Professor Yemini has played essential roles in numerous academic societies and journals, and has received several awards and grants, including the ERC CoG grant and the ARCHES prize for excellence in research by the Max Plank Foundation.

Maria Leybenson is based at the University of Potsdam and deals with questions of civic education and conflict resolution preparedness.