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What's the natural (though it is never natural) word for forcing individuals or nations out of their territory / homes?

Takheer
Tough subject to discuss but I want to use the correct terms when teaching people. So, in the USSR and the Russian Empire, many nations were relocated for the sakes of whatever came to mind to the dictators and emperors of the time. Some were forced out of their territories and relocated to other distant parts of the Russia. Very similar to the Cherokee Rose Story but repeated many, many, many times with many, many, many different nations. What's this action of relocating an entire people called usually? What's the go-to term? I need a noun. Exile? Eviction? Relocation? I need a noun that lets you understand it wasn't done willingly by the people, like moving or relocation, it was forced by the authorities. I also need a noun that means exactly the same but for one person/family, not for nations. Like a person was accused of criminal / suspicious activity and was EXILED (???) to Syberia as their punishment. For example, you didn't like Stalin and somebody ratted you out and you (if you're lucky) and maybe the whole family get SENT (???) to Syberia or the gulag for years. What's that action called? I know it's not a very optimistic post but I need the normally used words to talk about the history of my country. Thank you everyone for your input!!

24 comments

Matsunosuperfan•
"Displaced" is probably the most ideologically neutral word. For me it conveys the seriousness of the event/action, but avoids the implied judgment of "stronger" words like "exiled" or "banished." "Forced relocation" is not a bad option either, but as a noun phrase it's harder to conjugate/flex into different syntaxes. It also carries a bit more of that "academic euphemism" vibe which one may wish to avoid. A nice related word which you may find helpful is "diaspora," which can collectively refer to a dislocated people after they have spread to different parts of the world.
plangentpineapple•
Forced relocation for peoples, and exile for a single person. Technically "banish"/"banishment" means the same as exile but it doesn't feel modern to me in that context (in playfully dramatizing some not so important exclusion that's happening to you in real life, it does feel modern). (The advantage of "banishment" over "exile" is that "banishment" exclusively refers to the act of the oppressor, whereas "exile" can simply describe the state of living apart from some community, and can even be self-imposed, so using "exile" requires context to clarify, but to me that doesn't outweigh the degree to which "banishment" does not feel modern.) Edit: Another commenter suggests "expulsion"; I agree that is a good option and it works for both peoples and persons.
Dovahkiin419•
Exile has some punch to it as it feels old, but strictly speaking it refers to a criminal punishment where an individual is forced out and told never to come back. It works for what you're saying but if anything it's a bit theatrical. Eviction is also pretty individualized, referring to a person or family being kicked out of their individual home. And while that can be *part* of the process you're talking about, it's just that one part. Like for all those instances in the russian empire people would be evicted *then* relocated. Speaking of, Forced relocation is the one I see most often, and it is just straightforwardly correct and gets the point across, but it does feel a bit... clean. Doesn't get the weight across (although you can just tell the stories to give the weight) another i've seen is "ethnic cleansing" is one i've seen in more academic circles, and does have the added benefit of punch. It's for exactly what you describe where the primary push by the state involved is to clear out a given people from a given area for some reason. It's often part of genocide but with ethnic cleansing the idea is the state is using mostly relocation with some murder vs with genocide where it's all murder.
Brilliant_Towel2727•
Ethnic cleansing or forced displacement.
DeviatedPreversions•
"Forced relocation" can be used to describe moving entire populations.
SnooDonuts6494•
Disposessed.
Background-Vast-8764•
One can argue that it is natural to human behavior because it has repeatedly happened over the millennia.
X-T3PO•
Displacement. Displaced persons. Source: Worked for UN NGOs long ago.
External-Estate8931•
Purged, forcibly removed, expelled.
xxfukai•
Exile, to me, has a religious undertone. People often use the word exile when talking about what the Jewish people experienced in Egypt long ago, and similar situations. Eviction is for someone specifically being forcibly removed from their house, and in America at least, is a legal process that requires a lot of paperwork and happens for a certain reason. (Foreclosure, tenant misbehaves or breaks the rules of the apartment building/complex) Relocation implies, to me, that it is by choice. Displacement is often used to describe people who have been forced to leave an area from natural disaster, war, genocide, or other horrific event, but is not always political. But to me, displacement would be the best word to use for what you’re describing.
Ippus_21•
Forced migration/relocation for a population Exile for the noun. Or maybe banishment.
nadsatpenfriend•
a deportee, an exile - difference is the latter "exile status" may be the result of choice whereas " to be deported" is obviously more forceful. A person could be forceably exiled but "to live in exile" is not always in that 'gulag' sense of it, like in a penalty colony. In British history people were "deported" to Australia for example - sent there as punishment to a colony. We might say there were Russian artists who "lived in exile in Paris" because they either left Russia voluntarily or were somehow pressured to leave by the state.
TehGunagath•
All of the options they've told you are perfectly valid, so I would like to add my two cents. If you don't even want to state if it's forced by someone (or something, like a hurricane) else, the term for a mass departure of people would be "Exodus".
Quantum_Heresy•
"Expulsion" indicates that removal was *intentional* and *directed*. Which is I believe you are looking to convey. "Displacement" is accurate too, but I think it carries with it the connotation of indirectness, that is, being the consequence or function of another set of actions.
Clean_Ear5290•
Exodus. (*noun*) a going out; a departure or emigration, usually of a large number of people
Decent_Cow•
Forced relocation is the first thing that came to mind, but depending on the situation it could also be ethnic cleansing, a pogrom or a genocide. Banishment, eviction, and exile all seem inadequate as they seem to imply a small scale of events (only one or a few people affected). Other words to consider: Expulsion Displacement
gonin69•
Regarding forcing entire populations to Siberia- the way I this described in the context of the USSR, in history books and academic literature, is "internal forced migration" and "forced population transfer." It's also described as deportation of specific groups. Looking at the English-language Wikipedia article on this topic might help you get a feel for the specific vocabulary commonly used in English when discussing this: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population\_transfer\_in\_the\_Soviet\_Union](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_transfer_in_the_Soviet_Union)
Money_Canary_1086•
Gentrification is what we (USA) call it when we displace minorities out of their neighborhoods by demolishing old buildings, replacing them with expensive buildings/housing. Imminent domain is what it’s called when the government in the USA takes over property like we did to create Central Park and demolished a bunch of houses where black citizens lived. I think when the US took Indian/Native American land, it was more like a war/conquer/overtake situation. I believe “forced out” is what we’d call the situation from the victim’s standpoint.
Tapir_Tazuli•
That's a kinda weird problem statement. People get relocated, how do you relocate a nation though?
JustAskingQuestionsL•
Expulsion
ReddJudicata•
Expulsion/Expel.
Particular-Move-3860•
The USSR referred to this as "internal exile" when it was imposed on individuals rather than on whole groups. Prominent but problematic dissidents sometimes received this sentence from courts in the Soviet Union. One famous example was the nuclear physicist Andrei Sakharov.
EGBTomorrow•
Exiled? Displaced? (Although this wouldn’t have the political undertones with the Stalin example.). Banished?
the_palindrome_•
I've definitely seen "forcibly expelled" or "expulsion" used to describe this situation