The morality of transnationalism: children of Ukrainian labor migrants write about migration,homeland and abroad

Ukraine has experienced a wave of labor migration after the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A large number of Ukrainian children have been directly affected as they grow up in transnational households with one or both parents working abroad. In this article, I aim to describe how Ukrainian children and youth conceptualize migration, homeland and abroad in a context of societal, economic and political change. The analysis is mainly based on a qualitative reading of 143 texts written by Ukrainian children. I argue that Ukrainian children and youth place homeland and abroad on a moral map of belonging, and that migration is conceptualized within such a framework as a morally ambiguous movement.