Waldemar Rapior: Transnational Resilience Infrastructures — Solidarity in Times of National Egocentrism and War
TUESDAY, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m. I Hybrid format I This lecture examines Polish–Ukrainian and German–Ukrainian relations at the micro level by analysing the practices of activists and volunteers engaged in transnational mobilization beyond the nation-state. Drawing on longitudinal qualitative research and Norbert Elias’s figurational sociology, it explores how grassroots activism has produced a durable yet adaptable social infrastructure of resilience. Based on in-depth interviews (2023–2025), participant observation in aid convoys to Lviv and Kyiv, and follow-up interviews, the lecture analyses how support practices change under shifting geopolitical conditions. The analysis addresses forms of social infrastructure that have emerged in Central and Eastern Europe in response to war and geopolitical fragmentation, and the role of activists in shaping transnational solidarity. The lecture shows how grassroots networks adapt and endure, offering viable models of cross-border cooperation in an increasingly fragmented Europe.
Waldemar Rapior (Assistant Professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Warsaw (Poland), KIU Research Fellow) holds MAs in Sociology and Cultural Studies, as well as a PhD in Sociology. He studies moral practices in times of crisis and the principles guiding social action during periods of tension and moral ambiguity. His work lies at the intersection of art and science collaboration and public sociology, with a focus on evolving European responses to people on the move, refugees, and people affected by violence, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe. He was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Warsaw (2023–2025), where he studied transnational activism and non-state forms of support for Ukraine, including the transfer of dual-use equipment and expressions of solidarity between two countries with a difficult past.
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