The Dynamics of the Tajik Political Migrant Community in Lithuania: A Migration Networks Perspective

Abstract

This article analyzes the dynamics of the Tajik political migrant community in Lithuania, drawing on their own experiences and perspectives. The research was conducted in March–April 2024 and involved 12 semi-structured interviews: 8 interviews with Tajik migrants who had been granted asylum in Lithuania due to political persecution in their country of origin, and 4 interviews with NGO representatives: lawyers and social workers working with this group. When reflecting on their experiences in Lithuania, the research participants placed particular emphasis on the role of their community. Therefore, the article focuses on the internal dynamics of the Tajik political migrant community, examining it through the theoretical lens of migration networks. The findings reveal that, in the case of Tajik political migrants, migration networks play a significant role at different stages of migration and settlement. The community acts as one of the “pull” factors facilitating arrival and integration in Lithuania. However, it also becomes evident that maintaining migration networks, through communication with family members remaining in Tajikistan or through building ties with Tajik economic migrants in Lithuania, exposes political migrants to various risks and threats related to their political identity. As migration networks expand to include economic migrants and their ties with the country of origin strengthen, these networks transform from a support structure into a space of potential threat. As a result, the situation of political migrants becomes more vulnerable than in earlier periods of Tajik migration to Lithuania. Recent anthropological studies on Tajik economic migrants in Russia explained their migration experiences through the lenses of personhood, self-fashioning, the pursuit of a “good life,” and masculinity. This article demonstrates that the situation of Tajik refugees in Lithuania is better understood through the perspective of security and threat, which emerges as a central axis shaping their identity, everyday life, and experiences of community.