Memory, Heritage, and Grassroots Diplomacy in the Context of Ongoing War

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

Abstract

The paper is based on the case study of the exhibition “Crossroads: 1000 years of Ukrainian-Swedish relations” that came in result of the cooperation between the Army Museum in Stockholm and a range of museums in Ukraine. The exhibition was opened in February 2024 and will last till February 2025. The paper analyses the exhibition (materiality, presentation of history, structure, and timeline) and the discourses around the exhibition (speeches during the opening ceremony, coverage in the press, announcements in the media and on the museum’s website). The paper argues that the exhibition as an example of heritage diplomacy reveals a complex entanglement between different actors and structures driven by different (sometimes opposite) motivations ranging from efforts to preserve, rescue, and help to resist Russian aggression. At the same time, the project shows that heritage diplomacy is based on the deep-rooted traditions of Swedish society to present itself as a “soft power” with considerable moral capital. This self-perception of Swedish actors about Sweden and Swedish identity shapes how heritage diplomacy is realized.

Author

• Yuliya Yurchuk, Södertörn U (Sweden)