LimSpaces sheds light on everyday strategies and practices of people living in Ukraine and Moldova, (or having fled Ukraine in the context of Russia's war against Ukraine), who are experiencing a time of extreme uncertainty and insecurity. Developed as a collaboration between the Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOIS) in Berlin, the Centre Marc Bloch in Berlin and the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)'s Laboratoire Géo-Cités in Paris, the originality of our project lies in looking at the microsocial effects of the liminal position of these populations through fieldwork and qualitative research with different types of actors (ordinary inhabitants, market traders, entrepreneurs, infrastructure professionals in water, power and transport, parents, students, refugees). On a theoretical level, we also mobilize the concept of liminality, as well as the French “espace entre-deux” and the German “Zwischenraum”,  to reveal how everyday decisions and expectations can be shattered and reshaped by a backdrop of geopolitical instability in Moldova and Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine. Our project aims for a better understanding of Ukrainian and Moldovan societies, a necessary condition for the adaptation of European political programs like the Neighborhood Policy and the handling of the conflict.

​

The LimSpaces project is funded by l'Agence national pour la recherche scientifique (ANR) and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG).