Studies of migration can be confounded by the contradictory and ambiguous statements of informants. While earlier analyses explained refugee, exile, and migrant adjustment in terms of stages, recent theorizing has led scholars to accept ambiguous attachments, dual loyalties, and alternative conceptions of home as normal. The Crimean Tatar repatriation challenges aspects of conventional approaches to migration and postmodern ones. Following over 50 years in exile, some but not all Crimean Tatars have repatriated to Ukraine. This article explores the ramifications of this for women whose families are divided between Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Employing Bakhtin's philosophy of language and human action, the author considers ambiguous statements and ambivalent feelings: metaphors in line with the rhetoric of the National Movement coexist in dynamic tension with statements expressing real reservations about return. This approach preserves the complexity of attachment to place and enables us to avoid romanticizing displacement or oversimplifying the migration intentions of repatriates. Attention to the gendered aspects of this migration complements other studies of the Crimean Tatar repatriation.

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Uzbekistan Ukraine refugee repatriation migration