From Assimilation to Hospitality: Rethinking The Case of Education for Displaced War Children and The Necessity of Care

Abstract

The Russian war in Ukraine created a massive demographic crisis. 6.9 million have left the country, 76% of whom are women and children. These kids are not only traumatised by war, but they also face unknown environments, with their new rules, customs and languages, which add stress and may prevent them from successfully continuing their studies and building new relationships abroad. Such difficulties make it an urgent matter to figure out the best way to help those children to gently integrate into new societies without losing themselves and their cultural identities, and to overcome the traumas they gained from war experiences. Using Jacques Derrida's concept of hospitality and Nel Noddings' ethics of care, the paper examines how host communities can create caring educational spaces that welcome displaced children without imposing aggressive assimilation. The paper discovers that war has a profound adverse existential effect on its victims, children included. Therefore, the need to overcome this impact becomes fundamental for war children, which can only be done in a caring, hospitable educational environment and is necessary for these kids to thrive further in their education. The paper insists that creating a caring, hospitable ambience is also necessary for educators to help displaced children meet these fundamental needs, rebuild trust, and integrate gently into new communities without being further traumatised by forced assimilation.