Repertoires of Family Life and the Anchoring of Afghan Trading Networks in Ukraine

Marsden, Magnus; Ibanez-Tirado, Diana

Abstract

This article examines the “repertories” of family life of men of Afghan background in Odessa, Ukraine. It focuses on these men's intimate relationships with “local women” and challenges the notion that such unions merely offer a form of emotional escape for migrants or refugees far from home. Instead, we advance two arguments: first, that Afghan men in Ukraine form part of a complex transnational trading network, rather than a bounded group of refugees or migrants; second, that the cross-community relationships between Afghan men and “local women” play a significant role in the spatial anchoring and commercial fortunes of transnational Afghan traders in Ukraine. In the analysis of our ethnographic data, we consider the importance of the aftermath of the Cold War in shaping the diverse forms of family life within these trading networks.

Citation

Marsden, M., & Ibanez-Tirado, D. (2015). Repertoires of Family Life and the Anchoring of Afghan Trading Networks in Ukraine. History and Anthropology, 26(2), 145-164. https://doi.org/10.1080/02757206.2014.1002375

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Publication Date: Jan 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jun 2, 2015
• Journal: History and Anthropology
• Print ISSN: 0275-7206
• Electronic ISSN: 1477-2612
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 26
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 145-164
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02757206.2014.1002375
• Keywords: Afghanistan, Ukraine, trading networks, marriage, transnational kinship