Seminarieledare: Martin Ericsson

Title:Unfolding War and Future Memories: Mnemonic Practices of Ukrainian Virtual Museums in the Russian War against Ukraine

Opponent: Yuliya Yurchuk, Södertörn University

Zoom link: https://lu-se.zoom.us/j/64248265525 

Sebastian Grafs profil i forskningsportalen: https://portal.research.lu.se/sv/persons/sebastian-graf

Abstract

This interdisciplinary thesis examines the nexus of memory, war, and digitality in the
context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since 2014, the unfolding Russian war
against Ukraine epitomizes how rapid technological developments have profoundly
altered the ways in which warfare is depicted, perceived, and waged. These
transformations enabled new and different engagement with war, including shaping
war memories in digital spaces. In this respect, I follow three Ukrainian virtual war
museums: Meta History: Museum of War, Virtual Museum of War Memory, and the
War Fragments Museums to qualitatively examine digital practices of mediation and
memorialization of the unfolding war.

Applying an ecological and relational understanding of memory and warfare, the thesis
considers the Ukrainian virtual war museums not simply as ‘passive’ objects upon
which meanings are inscribed. Rather, these museums are approached as actors
within the museum front that ‘fights against’ the aggressor by not only documenting
and recording war but also evoking affect among their visitors. The three individual
studies that shape this thesis shed light on different aspects of mnemonic practices of
the three virtual museums. More specifically, Study I maps the emerging Meta History:
Museum of War to analyze the production and formation of war memories. Study II
attends to the ways Ukrainian virtual museums construct visions of future and/or non-
futures, whereas Study III investigates how museum visitors engage with the
exhibitions. Together, by analyzing the formation, production, and perception of
mnemonic practices, this work enables a more complex grasp of Ukrainian (digital)
memory culture revolving around recent violent past(s) and present(s). Furthermore,
by focusing on Ukrainian virtual war museums, the studies contribute to a better
understanding of how processes of digitalization and datafication in today’s post-digital
world impact the ways we remember and forget. In this respect, the thesis provides
insights into memorialization in times of ongoing war and crisis when digitality is
omnipresent and affluent, thus contributing to (Digital) Memory Studies, History, and
Museum Studies both theoretically and methodologically.

Keywords: Ukraine, War, Virtual War Museums, Memory Studies, History, Future
Memories, Virtual Go-Along, Affective Encounters, Virtuality and Digitality