The past in the present: The Russian exodus to Georgia and the temporalities of misfitting

Abstract

This article explores the experiences of Tbilisi residents and Russian migrants in the wake of the full-scale war in Ukraine and the subsequent Russian exodus to Georgia. Attending to the sense in both communities that history is repeating itself, the article argues that this feeling of repetition stems from two overlapping but distinct temporalities. For Georgians, opposition to the influx of Russians and the anxiety about the repetition of history are driven by the perceived threat to their European future. In contrast, Russian migrants experience the present as a déjà vu, a repetition of previous waves of migration, from which the possible future also emerges as another cycle of misfitting and exclusion.