Kyiv-Mohyla Humanities Journal

War as a Subject of Modern Humanitarian Discourse

Maryna Tkachuk — 2023-12-28

The Ukrainian Language in the Temporarily Occupied Territories (2014–October 2022)

Michael Moser — 2023-12-28

The protection of the Russian language and Russian “compatriots” has been a major issue of Russian political discourse for years. According to Russian official announcements, it was even a major reason for Russian war activities in Ukraine. In 2014, the Russian Federation introduced its language policy in Crimea and began to control the language policy of Donetsk and Luhansk “People’s Republics.” Both Russian and Ukrainian, as well as other languages, have been affected by these measures. Since 24 February 2022, Russian language policy has entered new temporarily occupied territories. Although Ukrainian has occasionally been declared a “state language” in Crimea, in DNR and LNR and then either been deprived of this status (LNR, DNR) or not (Crimea) it has never actually played this role. On the contrary, it has gradually been removed from the public sphere. Announcements regarding the language policy in recently occupied territories have been contradictory for months. Generally, Russian political discourse regarding the Ukrainian language is still based on traditional double-bind strategies. Official “appreciation for the Ukrainian language” is notoriously accompanied with narratives about the “artificiality” of the Ukrainian language, its “uselessness,” and even its virtually inherent “Nazi ideology.” At present, new textbooks of “the classical Ukrainian language” are allegedly being prepared in the Russian Federation. Historians of the Ukrainian language are curious how this unheard-of language might be designed.

1984 After February 24th: A Philosophical Rereading of Orwell’s Novel

Zlatyslav Dubniak — 2023-12-28

The article offers a philosophical rereading of George Orwell’s novel 1984 in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war, in particular after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24th, 2022. In recent decades, the dystopia of the English writer has become not only a model of literary criticism of totalitarianism but also the subject of constant falsifications and censorship for Russian propagandists. This study aims to clarify the primary philosophical content of Orwell’s novel and its heuristic potency to expose the sociopolitical situation in contemporary Russia. The author of the article turns to biographical descriptions and philosophical interpretations of the novel in the works of leading Western scholars to finally draw reasonable analogies between the dystopian world of 1984 and the contemporary Russian Federation.

War – Writer – Text: Discursive Features (on the Material of Oksana Zabuzhko’s Essays)

Svitlana Kuranova — 2023-12-28

The article is dedicated to a complex analysis of the “war texts”. Discursive features of the triad “war – author – text” are proposed to be researched through the prism of the holistic linguistic act of communication. Discourse analysis of “war texts” is carried out on the material of works of Oksana Zabuzhko, namely, the collection of essays “And Again I Crawl into the Tank” and “The Longest Journey”. The way the topic of the Russian-Ukrainian war is understood and interpreted in the public intellectual discourse is investigated. Such research gives a possibility to acquire data on how the author presents her/his own activity-in-the[1]world and transfers her/his attitude to the events described. It is reiterated that the topic of the Russian-Ukrainian war can be researched within the boundaries of development of the discourse portrait of language personality, as the author’s texts are the information tracks of public discourse. Models of “war texts” of Oksana Zabuzhko are characterized with the help of three types of meaning: experiential (thematic sphere of communication), interpersonal (meaning of social roles), and textual (characterizes the channel of communication). The sense structure of the corresponding respective texts was scrutinized. That helped to acquire new data about their semiotic models.

The Representation of Psychological War-Related Traumas in the Literary Works of Contemporary Burundian and Ukrainian Writers: African and European Perspectives

Audace Mbonyingingo — 2023-12-28

The article explores the representation of psychological traumas afflicted by war in contemporary literary writing by Burundian (African) and Ukrainian (European) authors who were witnesses of the events described in their works. Based on the existing linguistic and psychological theoretical approaches to the phenomenon of a mental wound, a comparative perspective is provided on the nature, literary, and linguistic manifestations of psychological trauma in Burundian novels by Antoine Kaburahe and Marie-Therese Toyi, presenting the tragic, but stoic experience during the civil war in the East African country, and the shocked, but resilient experience of Ukrainian civilians during the full-scale aggression of the russian federation in the Ukrainian diary (Serhiy Zhadan) and essay writing (Ilya Kaminsky, Ludmila Khersonsky, Zarina Zabrisky, Elena Andreychykova, Andrei Krasniashikh) available in English translation. The implemented analysis allows for a deeper understanding of the effects of wartime psychological trauma on the lives of an individual. Due to a more distant time perspective, the protagonists of Burundian texts reveal both the tragedy of the interethnic civil war conflict and the importance of addressing the causes of the conflict to prevent its replication in the future. In the Ukrainian texts, the initial stage of psychological trauma obtaining can be observed, which accounts for a range of the related emotional states among the characters who do not fully realize yet the traumatization process they have been going through during the first days and weeks of the russian military invasion. The narrative structure of the Burundian and Ukrainian texts was also highlighted, which helped identify traces of oral story-telling tradition (African texts) and broad allusions to the historical and cultural phenomena (Ukrainian texts).

The Holocaust Trauma and Autobiographism in Ida Fink’s and Charlotte Delbo’s Stories

Anastasiia Mikhieieva — 2023-12-29

The research is based on a study of short story collections by Israeli writer Ida Fink’s, All the Stories, and French writer Charlotte Delbo’s, Auschwitz and After, to reflect the impact of the Holocaust on autobiographical elements in their work. The authors are representatives of the first generation of Holocaust survivors, which means that the mass systematic genocide during World War II was a personal traumatic experience for them. The works of female writers are studied using the theory of trauma at the genre level. Since autobiography has been considered a documentary genre with its own peculiarities, works about the Holocaust were seen as historical evidence of this event. However, based on the works of Juri Lotman and some principles of Philippe Lejeune’s “autobiographical pact”, we can conclude that autobiography is similar to fiction if it can meet certain aesthetic functions. Under the influence of trauma, the genre of autobiography can be modified in the literary text in such a way that the line between autobiography and fiction is blurred. Ida Fink and Charlotte Delbo write short stories with fictional narrators, but all the situations are certainly the experiences of the writers themselves, who turn to the autofiction and conventions of Philippe Lejeune’s “autobiographical pact” to transfer their memories to literary heroes. The aim of the study is to define the peculiarities of the autobiographical genre, analyze its functions in Holocaust literature, identify poetic elements of autobiography, and prove that there is no canonical form of narration about the Holocaust-Era, as the writers were searching for how to articulate their traumatic experience in experimental forms.

Following the Footsteps of the Oldest Cossack Centre in Zaporizhzhia, founded by Prince Dmytro Vyshnevetskyi

Vitalii Shcherbak — 2023-12-29

The emergence of the Cossack community on the southern border was conditioned by its population growth and the necessity to protect Ukrainian lands from Tatar expansion. The long stay of the Cossacks far from the volosts (rural municipalities) raise the need for uniting into cohesive troops led by an experienced ataman. They built fortified towns and small settlements to defend against Horde attacks and securely store their booty. Russian officials wanted to use the Cossack potential and repeatedly offered the ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to build a powerful fortress on the border with the Crimean Khanate in the 20s and 40s of the ХVІ c. However, due to a shortage of resources, Prince Dmytro Vyshnevetskyi was only able to realize this idea later. There are different versions regarding the castle’s location, purpose, and architectural style. However, the idea of identifying Vyshnevetskyi “town” with the so-called “Khortytska Sich” seems doubtful. No direct evidence of the Sich’s functioning in the 50s of the XVI c. has been found in written sources. Only the presence of a “fortress” or “castle” in Zaporizhzhia is recorded. At the same time, a representative of an aristocratic family made great efforts to defend Ukrainian lands, thus contributing to the consolidation of the Cossack community. This marks the outstanding role of Prince-knight Dmytro Vyshnevetskyi in national history. The castle he built on the Kichkaskii cape of the Dnipro River, also documented in the sources as Mala Khortytsia, served as a prototype for fortifications of the Zaporozhian community. This community, established on the island of Tomakivka in the ХVІ с., came to be known as the Zaporozhian Sich.

Family Library as a Site of Memory: the Rozumovskys’ / Razumovskys’ Book Collection from the Mid-Eighteenth to the Early Twenty-First Century

Svitlana Potapenko — 2023-12-29

This article focuses on the book collection whose history began in the mid-eighteenth century and despite certain losses continues nowadays 1 . This is a sole known book gathering that belonged to the Ukrainian ruling dynasty and still finds itself in the possession of the family. The Counts Razumovsky, who trace their ancestry from the hetman Kyrylo Rozumovsky (1728– 1803), held first-class libraries in their Ukrainian, Russian, Austrian, and Czech estates during almost three centuries. However, it is only the Viennese collection that survived the tough twentieth century and sheds light on the bookish tastes of its aristocratic proprietors. At the same time, the catalogues of 1907 and 1914 reveal the repertoire of the lost assemblages, offering a broader exploration of the family book tradition possible. The theoretical frame of the lecture refers to the contemporary memory studies with a special attention to family memory.

Hetmans’ Land Donations to the Orthodox Church: Motives and Expectations

Oksana Prokopyuk — 2023-12-29

Hetmans’ donations to the Orthodox Church were characteristic of the religious and political culture of the Cossack state already in the era of its emergence in the mid-17th century. In addition to other gifts, hetmans confirmed or provided Orthodox monasteries with land ownership, which was at the center of identity, power, and social prestige. It is clear that certain concrete motives, expectations, and models of behavior stood behind the hetmans’ donations of land. This article suggests considering hetmans’ donations of land to the Orthodox Church as an element of symbolic communication, in which the giver and the recipient interacted, built symbolic communicative ties, and produced centers of communication. The focus is on “communication through donations,” that is, relationships of giving. Religious motivations and the recognition of monasteries as powerful centers of prayer were determinative for the hetmans’ “communication through donations” to the monasteries. The hetmans’ giving land and other real estate to monasteries was based on “piety,” but it was done in the name of Christ-loving rulers. So, in such donations it is quite natural that state interests were prevalent, but also there were complex combinations of religious, social, and political motivations and expectations. These characteristics were evident both in a general sense and in each specific instance of gifting.

From Indifference to Obsession: Russian Claim to Kyiv History in Travel Literature of the 18th–early 19th Century

Kateryna Dysa — 2023-12-29

In this article, I discuss a relatively recent development of Russian interest in Kyiv as a place with symbolic and historical significance for Russian history, which makes it a desirable target in an ongoing war. I trace the changing attitude of Russian travelers towards Kyiv’s history from the mid-eighteenth to the early nineteenth century. Earlier generations of visitors came to Kyiv primarily to visit holy places, with no knowledge of the city’s historical significance, and because it was a more affordable alternative to travel abroad. However, at the end of the eighteenth century, after Catherine II’s royal visit, the publication of guidebooks, and the ascend of history as a discipline, and interest among Russian educated elites, Kyiv’s past became an obsession for many Russian travelers. Their travel accounts were motivated by a search for the past glory of Kyiv. For Russian travelers and authorities, history became one of the key means of appropriation of Kyiv, with a new generation of travelers searching for material evidence connecting Kyivan Rus to the Russian past. However, they were unable to find much material evidence and often used their imagination to present Kyiv as a site of Kyivan Rus history, ignoring the city’s non[1]Russian heritage.

For the “Global 1960s” in Literature: American, French, and Ukrainian Contexts

Yuliia Kulish — 2023-12-29

This article offers an innovative perspective on the literary landscapes of the 1960s in France, Ukraine, and the USA serving as exemplars of a global literary project that views literary works as heterotopias that, while being distinct, collectively constitute a cohesive whole. Using a comparative approach, complemented with distant reading techniques, the study examines how these literary realms are interconnected, revealing shared aesthetic foundations guided by an overarching law. This law, rooted in Theodor Adorno’s concept of negativity, becomes evident in in countercultural movements and consequential shifts in literary form, content, and canon. While not the primary focus of analysis, other unifying elements in this global literary panorama include dissent as defined by Jaques Rancière, and a Sartrian-infused interpretation of existentialism. The article suggests that this global phenomenon may have emerged due to the confluence of two factors: the seismic global impact of events like WWII and the evolving postmodern trajectory of the era.

The Reception of Graham Harman’s Philosophy in Polish and Ukrainian Scholarship

Vasyl Korchevnyi — 2023-12-29

The article aims to explore the ways in which scholars from Poland and Ukraine engage with Graham Harman’s philosophical work1 . The introductory part briefly describes Harman’s ontology and demonstrates the link connecting Harman with Polish and Ukrainian intellectual environments. Harman’s object-oriented ontology (OOO) states that objects are the fundamental building blocks of reality and cannot be reduced either to what they are made of or to what they do, that is, either to their constituents or to their effects. The connection with Poland and Ukraine goes back to the theory of objects suggested by the Polish philosopher Kazimierz Twardowski, whom Harman names among the predecessors of his ontology and who influenced both Polish and Ukrainian intellectual milieus. The next part of the article examines the history of the reception, identifying its key events and publications. The reception in Poland proves to be much more substantial than in Ukraine. A common tendency is determined: a conflation of Harman’s OOO and speculative realism by mistakenly ascribing the features of the former to the latter (broader concept), which suggests that speculative realism is being received through the lens of Harman’s project. The next part establishes the key discursive points that are used to map Harman’s ideas within the contemporary philosophical landscape. They can be summarised by the terms antianthropocentrism and antireductionism. The final part analyses the strategies for applying Harman’s theory showing that it can become the lens for interpretation and direct our attention to nonhumans and the hidden, inexplicable dimension of things or provide an ontological grounding for semi-literary and literary discourses. The methodology of this application, though, needs further development and clarification. Overall, in Poland, two of Harman’s books and two articles have been translated, and at least two books, one Ph.D. dissertation, and around two dozen articles discuss or apply his ideas. Apart from philosophy, his OOO is used for discussing literature, video games, films, humanities in general, education, management processes, antique studies, and ecocriticism. In Ukraine, one of Harman’s articles has been translated, and around ten articles and one collective monography engage with his philosophical project. Some of the Ukrainian works also apply Harman’s OOO in contexts that are not strictly philosophical, namely, in literary criticism, urban studies, film studies, and humanities in general. This paper can be of use to researchers studying OOO and its reception in different countries. In addition, it can help Ukrainian and Polish scholars who want to discuss or use OOO to familiarize themselves with the previous reception in their countries, thus facilitating domestic philosophical interaction.

Nicholas Denysenko. The Church’s Unholy War: Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine and Orthodoxy. Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2023. xvii, 160 pp.

Olena Chemodanova — 2023-12-29