Kherson Invasion Chronicles: Occupation, Liberation, and the Battle for Normality and Identity

• In Event: Accountability and Justice for Atrocities in Ukraine: Lessons from the Past and Present

Abstract

How does foreign military occupation of a territory affect its social dynamics before and after the liberation ? In order to answer this question, I propose to study the case of Kherson (Ukraine). I focus on three main axes : occupation and resistance, everyday life, memory work and trauma. Indeed, both the occupation and the months since the liberation have brought trauma to the local populations, but also are contributing to the development of a sense of normality in everyday life, especially under constant shelling. All of this results in both forced and deliberate changes in identity markers, mainly from a mnemonic and linguistic point of view. I base my argument on participant observation, informal conservations and autoethnography conducted online during the occupation period (24th of February-11th of November 2022) and in person in August 2023, November 2023 and July 2024 (total of 10 weeks spent in the liberated city and region). In total, I have collected testimonies from 15 people currently living or having lived in Kherson oblast since February 2022.

Author

• Katerina Sviderska, U of Cambridge (UK)