The War and Beyond: Perspectives on Ukrainian culture and society

Keynote lecture: Bohdana Neborak: Culture Bridges in Europe and Ukrainian Literature During Wartime: Identity, Resistance, and Cultural Dialogue

Ukrainian literature during the ongoing war has become a crucial medium for understanding and examining Ukrainian identity and the phenomenon of resistance to Russian aggression. Both within the country and abroad, literature creates a space for discussing and reflecting on contemporary realities. Literature and culture offer tools to comprehend the lives and experiences of individuals and communities we have never encountered, to interpret the past, and to envision the future.
In the 20th century, there were several surges of international interest in Ukrainian culture, closely tied to major geopolitical upheavals. Following the Revolution of Dignity and the onset of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014, Ukrainian culture gained greater visibility on the international stage, partly due to shifts in national cultural policy and Ukraine’s course toward European integration. After the full-scale invasion in 2022, new cultural connections between Ukraine and other European countries emerged, consolidating the collaborations of previous decades and opening space for new conversations.
The keynote lecture will explore these cultural connections and the grand narratives they have brought to light.

Starts
Kl. 10.20


Parallell session 1S Language Policy, Social Capital and Perceptions among Ukrainian Young Leaders in a Ukraine at War


3 Presentations:
Olena Bogdan, Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS), Berlin / NASU Institute of Sociology, Kyiv: State Policy Conundrums at Times of War: Social Cohesion in a Linguistically Pluralistic Context
Tetiana Kostiuchenko, Kyiv-Mohyla Academy (NaUKMa) / Osteuropa-Institut – Freie Universität Berlin: Social Capital in Ukraine During War: The Effect of Displacement and Income
Anna Chebotarova, University of Oslo: A Distant-Close War: WWII Memory and Perceptions among Ukrainian Young Leaders

Starts
Kl. 11.40


Keynote lecture: Uilleam Blacker: Living on the Edge: Ukraine, Overcoming Empire and Cultural Entanglements


Ukraine has, in its various incarnations over the centuries, always been on the edge and in-between. It has caught been between empires, nationalisms, and totalitarianisms. This position has often meant that Ukrainian culture not only existed in and across multiple political entities, but was also marginalised, denigrated, even violently attacked within them. Given this history of fragmentation and repression, it may seem challenging to create a coherent, linear history of Ukrainian culture. But is such a history necessary, or even desirable? This talk will interrogate Ukraine’s complex history not only as a source of difficulty, but as a catalyst for invention, experiment, resilience, and creative and sometimes confrontational engagement not only with the many other cultures that have intersected on the territory of Ukraine, but with global culture more broadly.

Starts
Kl. 14.00


Parallell session 2S Shifting Political Landscapes


Oleksandra Iwaniuk, University of Warsaw: War as Cultural Watershed: Cultural Transformations of Political Elites in Ukraine
Andrew Wilson, University College London: Ukraine: Declining Domestic Political Technology, Russian Political Warfare
Geir Flikke, University of Oslo: Unfaithful Servants? Voting Cohesion and Patronage in the Servants of the People

Starts
Kl. 15.15.