Dissertation ended and the blog renewed.

This blog was created to reflect my PhD route. Although the blog was rather inconsistent, the process of dissertation writing was more consistent and, more importantly, persistent.
In January I was happy to defend my PhD degree. It was a great day, one of the best days I've had. True!
Although my last post here was a couple of years ago, today I just wanted to say that the process of dissertation writing was finished.

Here are several of the photos from the defense (so that you know that it is really finished).

Here is the book! (also available online)

Me speaking on the defense

Here is the pre-defense Swedish ritual, called "spikning" (nailing a cover page of the dissertation to the wall in the library and presenting your thesis to broader public (mainly the colleagues)

I must say that the dissertation was well received in Sweden. Professor Peter Aronsson  reviewed it very nicely in Svenska Dagbladet (one of the leading Swedish newspapers). Professor Per-Arne Bodin also reviewed it very positively in Respons magazine (which is available now only in print, online version will appear in several months). Couple of people also told me that they were in the process of writing review to my book, we'll see..

I am also  glad that people in Ukraine also have a chance to read it. A part of the book was published  at historians.in.ua so that the readers in Ukraine are at least informed that the book was published.

Finally, a lot of changes happened since I last wrote here. In 2013/14 Euromaidan happened in Ukraine, the country has been involved in the war with Russia for more than a year now, Russia annexed the Crimea, and I still cannot believe it. Last time I was in Ukraine couple of months ago, in February,  and I could not help thinking that this world is so surreal. Kyiv is totally different although people are trying their best to keep all things "normal". I felt great solidarity and warmth among people, as if all understood "we're all in  the same boat".... and normality continues.

Well, maybe I will create some new blogg about my ongoing projects, but this one is finished just like my dissertation project.

Literacy, Nationalism and Communist Collapse

Recently I came across quite an interesting article by Keith Darden and Anna Grzymala-Busse in the World Politics* which can shed the light on the differences in coming to terms with Soviet legacies in West and East Ukraine.

On the example of East European Countries the authors convincingly demonstrated that the roots of communist exit** and its divergent outcomes in post-Communist countries lie in pre-communist conditions, and ultimately in schooling "which fomented and fostered nationalist ideas that led to the delegitimation of communist rule. The exit itself was the culmination of decades of nursed nationalist grievances, invidious comparisons, and carefully sustained mass hostility to the communist project as a foreign and inferior imposition" (84). Responding to a vast research on the topic of communist exit Keith Darden and Anna Grzymala-Busse argue that  "structural/geopolitical factors and precommunist legacies (including those of modernisation) explain less of the patterns of communist exit than mass literacy This suggests that [they] may be capturing the unmeasured cultural differences that many scholars have attributed to "regional effects" or the "Soviet legacy".

Moreover, they argue that "[p]rewar democratic statehood is a more likely candidate [to influence opposition and legitimacy of communism], since it may very well engender memories of noncommunist governance and the subsequent identification of communism as an "abnormal" form of governance." (89) The authors add that in the countries with successful communist exit the rescue of the nation from the "abnormal" communist form of governance was realized by the anticommunist opposition which was fused with nationalism. Anticommunism opposition and national sentiments were stronger in the societies where the level of literacy in the pre-communist times was higher (here lies the correlation communist exit - nationalism - strong anticommunist opposition - pre-communist schooling).

Ukraine falls under the exceptional case in this scheme. Belonging to different political entities in pre-war period a part of Ukrainians in the East Galicia had memories of noncommunist governance, had been more literate than their counterparts in Easter Ukraine, moreover, their education was national in content (they were educated as people belonging to a specific nation - Ukrainians), hence, now people in Western Ukraine express stronger anti-communist feelings which are reflected in their voting for anti-communist parties. In the Eastern Ukraine, on the contrary, the literacy rate at onset of Communist schooling was much lower (46 in East Ukraine against 70 in West Ukraine), furthermore, the schooling in East Ukraine was not national, it was Russian/Russophile in content. Here, it is also interesting to look into the intra-regional differences in Western Ukraine: whereas in Lviv the precommunist schooling was nationalist, in Zakarpattia it was procommunist, this pattern is reflected also in the post-communist preferences in voting.

*Keith Darden and Anna Grzymala-Busse: The Great Divide, World Politics, Vol. 59, No.1, October 2006, pp. 83-115

**The importance of communist exit for transitional societies lies in the fact that in the societies where communist was successful (communists represented as only a small minority or not represented at all in result of first three elections after the collapse of socialist bloc), "it has been strongly correlated with subsequent democratic consolidation, successful economic reforms, and patterns of political party competition." (83)

commemoration as interpassive ritual

Recently I've read an interesting article on commemoration: Ben Gook: Being there is everything! in: Memory Studies 2011 4:13.

Ben Gook proposes a novel theory of commemoration as interpassive ritual. Drawing on the works of Edward S. Casey, Robert Pfaller and Slavoj Žižek he explored the role of ideology in commemoration and the potential of subjects to escape subjugation through interpassive rituals. He argues that "commemoration is a moment of intensified public memory in which ideology and the unconscious are deeply embedded" (14). Public memory is understood as "an event of intensified remembering with others" (16). Remembering is done by the means of certain rituals, texts or simply the presence of the other co-rememberers. In the commemoration a subject misperceives him/herself as a passive agent, standing in the crowd whereas other do remembering, but in reality it is the presence of each subject that makes the commemoration and remembering possible: "The commemoration does the memory work for us" (17). It means that "subjects are remembering through commemorative vehicles (ritual. texts)" (18). "These paradoxical effects of commemoration - the vacuity, the use of others and the intensified remembering ritual - can be understood as interpassivity" (17). 

Gook stresses the potential of subjects to escape subjugation through commemoration: "the true performative force of commemoration...lies in the subjectivity of those it addresses. Subjects maintain a capacity to give or withhold assent: subjectivity preceded and resists the ideological identities subjects take on" (16). Drawing on Althuser's theory of interpellation and Pfaller's study of ritual Gook contends that interpassivity is opposed to interpellation: "The possibility to avoid subjectivation appears to be the reason for interpassive practice, and the key source of the strange satisfaction experienced by interpassive individuals" (Pfaller, 2003).

Ukrainian Theme Restaurants

Recently I've come across an interesting atricle on Ukrainian theme restaurants in Lviv. To  have this site somewhere I post it here
http://www.theworld.org/2012/02/ukraine-lviv-theme-restaurants/
Fascinating topic for a student of memory.

Historical Justice and Memory Conference: some reflections

A week ago I came from the conference "Historical Justice and Memory" which was held in Melbourne, at Swinburne University. The conference hosted the Emerging Scholars Workshop that brought together 13 PhD students from different disciplines and different countries, and I was proud to be a part of this small group of very inspiring and thought-provoking people. The workshop itself proved to be a unique experience of interaction and mingling that helped us generate new ideas and open up new perspectives on own PhD projects. At some point I will come up with more detailed reflection on the conference, but in my post here I want to share my general impressions of the conference and the workshop.

First of all, I want to give credit to the idea of organising conference where both scholars of memory and those of historical justice could meet and establish the dialogue. In academia, surprisingly, there is a distinct divide between those two “camps” of scholarship, and the conference (as well as the Historical Justice and Memory Network itself) is the first step in bridging this gap. Another important feature of the conference that I want to underline straight from the beginning was its focus on both scholars and activists. So, the conference featured sessions with officers from Truth and Reconciliation commissions, artists, and architects who are involved in creation of memorial spaces. Mingling of such a diverse audience significantly broadened the perspective on justice and memory. I realized how coming to terms with historical injustices becomes someone's job beyond the cosy space of university office, whereas truth and justice are not so much questioned and conceptualised but tackled with and encountered with the agenda to make after-injustices life of the community (of both victims and perpetrators) possible. Here, I am not saying that someone's job is more important, but what I want to stress is the importance of dialogue between theory (scholars) and practice (activists). I must confess, I was surprised by ‘professionalisation’ of TRCs, whereas experts travel from TRC in one country to another as if the executives of big transnational companies. I was also surprised by the degree of commodification of truth, whereas one’s stories become a commodity with the exchange value.

The conference made me think of a quite broad theme of differences between approaches to the past in post-totalitarian societies. The main difference seems to be between South America, Africa, Asia Pacific and Eastern Europe. While the former tried to tackle the questions of injustices of former regimes by establishing special institutions for telling apart victims from perpetrators (TRCs, court trials, etc), the latter seem to take on the principle of starting from the scratch, without accusations and tangible punishments. Both approaches involve a certain degree of oblivion, the prescribed oblivion, either with knowledge who is guilty, or without such knowledge. I wonder, can the institutes of national memory (IMs) that mushroomed in Eastern Europe be compared to TRCs? I think, not, as the mandate and agenda of these institutions are quite different. Whereas TRCs aim at collecting testimonies from both victims and perpetrators (and granting amnesty for testimony), IMs function more as museums commemorating sufferings of the victims. Another significant difference is that TRCs seem to present an individual approach to each subject they are dealing with, whereas IMs focus on collective representation of victimhood. Moreover, the work of TRCs is limited in time, they have mandate for a specific period after which their work is to be finished (and hopefully reconciliation and normal functioning of the community achieved). In contrast, IMs are not restricted in time and their work does not have the final goal of reconciliation, functionality, whatsoever.

Finally, the most interesting topic for me was spectrality of the past. It came out from presentation to presentation and made me think about the past that haunts us, that somehow matters for us in a way that we cannot get rid of it. This is quite a challenge for Freudian ideas of memory. For the haunted past, remembering does not bring closure; quite on the contrary, it brings suffering as long as we remember (here, James Booth’s ideas on the relationship between memory and violence come to my mind). What should be made to getting rid of the past? Is it possible to get rid of the ghosts haunting us? But is it necessary, really? Rama Mani suggested that we should learn to honour the ghosts, so that they won’t haunt us but be our guards and companions in the present moment. What is the role of historian in this? Does she have to play a role of the Furies from Greek mythology or a role of a person who can tame the ghosts and make them into our companions? I will come back to this in my upcoming posts.

Holodomor in Trash Literature and More

Today I came across reviews of some new books published in Ukraine and two of them are particularly interesting for me because they seem to be connected to memory.
The first one is the book by Mychailo Brynykh "Bread with worms" which is described as trash associated with Holodomor. Here is the part from Iryna Slavinska review:

Михайло Бриних. Хліб із хрящами (Ярославів вал, 2012)
"Михайло Бриних із цим романом став лауреатом "Коронації слова" 2011 року. Пам’ятаю, тоді мені розповідали, як журі конкурсу розділилося на дві частин. Одним роман дуже сподобався, а іншим, здається, не дуже.

Думаю, те ж саме станеться з читачами роману "Хліб із хрящами".

Частина читацької аудиторії з огидою вигукне "який жах". Річ у тім, що цей роман – про зомбі. Жило собі село Міцне, і був у ньому коньячний завод, і почали працівники заводу перетворюватися на зомбі та їсти односельчан. Ось така історія.

У сюжетну лінію зомбі вплітається тема Голодомору та взагалі української історичної кривавої спадщини. Зокрема ідеться про "ген голоду" як пояснення нестримного бажання їсти плоть, тобто "хліб із хрящами".

Найбільше  обурення викличе саме це. Не загальна неапетитність картинки, а спроба ввести серйозні "недоторкані" теми в треш-контекст.

Водночас саме це сподобається іншій частині читачів. Принаймні тим, хто вже втомився від високих жанрів. Масова культура має свої закономірності "перетравлювання" важливих історичних контекстів.

Для прикладу згадайте переосмислення Голокосту у "Безславних виродках" Тарантіно. "Хліб із хрящами" може бути свідченням оздоровлення української історичної пам’яті.

Зомбі – це метафора травматичного минулого. Такий образ дозволяє поговорити про помсту мертвих і відповідальність живих. І ця розмова відбудеться на якісно новому рівні.

"Хліб із хрящами", попри можливі читацькі очікування, не надто заповнений натуралістичними стенами канібалізму. Всі жахи відбуваються в романі суто схематично. Натомість детально описаний психологічний фон подій і стан живих учасників.

Персонажі межують зі штампами масової культури. Тут і бойовик-священик, і цікаві підлітки, і підпільний журналіст із "Радіо Живих мерців" тощо. Саме ця зовнішня впізнаваність забезпечує легке прочитання підтекстів.

Це психологічний роман, який прикидається жахастиком. Тому "Хліб із хрящами" може сподобатися багатьом читачам. Тут знайдуть щось цікаве і шанувальники "Пилки", і любителі серйозних тем злочину і кари."

I will try to find and read this book to have my own impression on this book, but if it is a Holodomor-trash as Slavinska presents it, it will be an interesting example of working out the traumatic experience which is positioned in the center of Ukrainian identity as an "untouchable" and sacrad issue. As soon as I have the book I'll come back here with my impressions.

The second book I am interested in and would definitely like to read is a collection of esseys "Solomon's Red Star", where Ukrainian writers present their reflections on different regions of Ukraine.

Here is again the passage from the review:

Соломонова Червона Зірка (Темпора, 2012)
"Дивна назва книжки походить від назв крайніх точок України. Назва виправдана тим, що книжка – справжня мандрівка зі Сходу на Захід. Все починається в Луганську та закінчується в Ужгороді. Композиційно це 25 текстів про 25 регіонів України.

Поєднати два береги країни спробував упорядник Лесь Белей. Йому вдалося зібрати цікавий контингент на сторінках книжки. Справді, де б ще випала нагода під однією палітуркою зібрати Тараса Прохаська, Леоніда та Сашка Ушкалових, Антона Санченка, Яну Дубинянську та інших?
Як завжди буває в таких "солянках", тексти вийшли різної якості.

Мене найбільше потішили південні регіони України. Текст Яни Дубинянської про Крим і Антона Санченка про Херсонщину – це взірець гумору, (само)іронії та здорового глузду. В цих есеях автори ніби самі для себе відкривають рідні краї. А ще тон текстів такий, що неможливо не закохатись у цей чудовий Південь.

Не менш дотепним є текст про Дніпропетровськ. Місто постає як поєднання винятковості та відсутності особливих прикмет. "Місто не перше, але й не друге" - чудовий підсумок есею. І, як на мене, гарна фраза для опису багатьох інших українських місць.

Іншим прикладом є наскрізь метафоричний нарис Тараса Прохаська про Івано-Франківщину. Край тут постає як краєвид. Важливою тут є метафора простОру за вікном і особливого ландшафту.

Дуже цікавим є погляд на Київщину. Це єдиний текст, де чимало слів присвячено Чорнобилю. В цій історії використано метафору "білої плями",  йдеться про певну порожнечу. Цікаво, що білу пляму бачимо в інших есеях збірки: інші автори про Чорнобиль явно не говорять.

Є в збірці також тексти, які більше личили б путівникам. Вони інформативні, але мають із літературою мало спільного.

Але загалом "Соломонова Червона Зірка" є дуже цікавим проектом. Це ніби моментальний знімок фактів і слів, які бентежать сучасних українських письменників. Вони говорять про політику, говорять про історію, говорять про любов і гордість – про свій краєвид і свою країну.

Книжка сподобається любителям представлених авторів, антологій, путівників і тим, хто шукає місце для бюджетної відпустки. Саме час подорожувати Україною."

This is expecially interesting to my project where I try to look beyond the regional divisions which in my mind oversiplify the complex canvas of memories in Ukraine. It would be really interesting to read these reflections on different regions of Ukraine by different Ukrainian writers. Again, I will come back on this as soon as I get touch on these  books.

The full version of Slavinska's reviews can be found here:

http://life.pravda.com.ua/culture/2012/02/2/94592/

Disneyfication of Museums

An extract from J. G. Ballard's 1990 annotations to his experimental 1970 novel, The Atrocity Exhibition:

All over the world major museums have bowed to the influence of Disney and become theme parks in their own right. The past, whether Renaissance Italy or ancient Egypt, is reassimilated and homogenized into its most digestible form. Desperate for the new, but disappointed with anything but the familiar, we recolonize the past and future. The same trend can be seen in personal relationships, in the way people are expected to package themselves, their emotions and sexuality in attractive and instantly appealing forms.
J. G. Ballard, The Atrocity Exhibitionfound at: www.apieceofmonologue.com/