‘More than a Museum’: Amateur Musealization of Russo-Ukrainian War

• In Event: Remembering the Present: Memorialization of Russo-Ukrainian War in Memorials, Museums, Literature and Rituals II

Abstract

From almost the beginning of 2014, the Russo-Ukrainian War has been the subject of musealization. In 2021, The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance reported that practically each history and local lore museum in Ukraine had created war exhibitions leading to a phenomenon of a “totality of war musealization.” Folk or “amateur” museums tend to exemplify this phenomenon by highlighting the roles of ordinary people in documenting, perceiving and exhibiting the war. This presentation focuses on 20 “amateur” museums located in different regions of Ukraine and aims to discuss the following questions: Who are the initiators of such museums and what goals are they trying to achieve while collecting and exhibiting war artifacts? What is the war narrative being created? What are the dynamics, regional specifics and peculiarities from musealizing the Russo-Ukrainian war?
In an article, Journalists referred to the “Visiting a grandfather” museum located in Pavlograd, Dnipropetrovsk Oblast’ as “More than a museum.” This characteristic can likely be applied to all “amateur” museums: when considering the methods of gathering and preserving the collection, structuring the exhibition space, and engaging with visitors, guests might have difficulties in recognizing them as “museums.” However, they perform typical museum functions and may additionally serve as gathering places for veterans and volunteers, classrooms where children learn patriotic lessons, memorials where fallen heroes can be remembered by their families, as well as repositories for collecting humanitarian aid and building community cohesiveness. These “museums” testify to the readiness and solidarity of ordinary Ukrainians in the creation of such exhibition projects. This war is felt nationally, and the “amateur” museums, through musealization of the war, share this feeling.

Author

• Valentyna Kharkhun, Mykola Hohol State U of Nizhyn (Ukraine) / American U