Ukraine-Russia Memory Wars: Understanding Ukrainian and Russian Publics’ Perspectives on the Past Weaponized on Social Media

• In Event: Memory Politics in Times of the Russia-Ukraine War

Abstract

Recent studies on Ukraine-Russia memory wars indicate that the war aggravated polarized, mirroring and reversed historical narratives on media. However, we do not know if and to what extent these conflicting interpretations resonate with Ukrainian and Russian publics. Taking into account that a significant part of Ukrainians as well as Russians relocated outside their countries of citizenship since 2022, this might have impacted their visions on memory conflicts, generating transnational patterns. Drawing on social media qualitative and quantitative analysis – 2191 posts (2022-2023) from pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian Telegram channels identifying themselves as broadcasting on Ukrainian territory, including annexed and occupied regions; as well as on interviews with Ukrainians (located in Ukraine, relocated inside the country, from occupied, annexed territories, abroad) and Russian citizens (moved out of Russia since 2022), this paper aims at understanding patterns and reasons of shaping certain publics’ perspectives on historical periods/events/figures most extensively involved in digital memory and monument wars on pro-Ukrainian and pro-Russian social media since 2022.

Author

• Anastasiya Mykolayivna Pshenychnykh, Loughborough U (UK)