Bitter Victory

Garrard, John; Garrard, C.C.

doi:10.1007/978-1-349-22796-9_1

Cited by 2 publications

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“…Another image used after 2014 in relation to the Ukrainian soldiers, 8 and for their commemoration, 9 that later became popular was that of the archangel Michael, the sword-bearing patron of the Ukrainian Cossacks (Karpov, 2016: 20). Swords are a common feature on many Soviet WWII memorials; according to John Garrard and Carol Garrard, they convey the Biblical idea (albeit secularised in the Soviet context) of ‘Live by the sword, die by the sword’ (1993: 17). While the range of symbolic meanings conveyed by this usage of swords in Ukraine’s present-day culture can be clarified with reference to academic literature on Ukrainian mythology and iconography, it is also essential to determine how ordinary citizens, as memory actors, understand this symbolism.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Narrating war through visual language: Commemorative activity of ordinary people in Central Ukraine (Poltava oblast) in 2014–2021

Glew

2023

Journal of European Studies

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This article examines how ordinary people in the Poltava oblast (Central Ukraine) commemorated the Russia-Ukraine war during the 2014–2021 period (prior to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022). Focusing on physical commemorative objects constructed by ordinary people, this article investigates the commemorative activity of ordinary people in Central Ukraine who are ‘activated’ to carry out commemorative work by this turbulent and emotionally charged event in Ukraine’s recent history and seek to project their individual, private memories into the public arena. This article’s central argument is that ordinary people in Central Ukraine actively exercise their agency in the area of commemoration, to ensure the memory of the Russia-Ukraine war is present in the commemorative landscape, playing an important role in public meaning-making. Thus, by utilising different types of visual language, ordinary people narrate soldiers’ sacrifice in the name of the nation, presenting Ukraine’s response to Russia’s aggression as a righteous and noble struggle. Through linking this event to other periods of Ukraine’s history, they create plotlines of Ukraine’s centuries-long struggle for sovereignty and self-determination. Therefore, ordinary people contribute to the construction of narratives about history and the identity of the Ukrainian nation. This article is an empirical contribution to the body of knowledge on the commemorative activity of ordinary people as social memory actors, and it also contributes to the knowledge of how ongoing violent conflicts are commemorated.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%