On November 21, 2023, Ukraine will celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Revolution of Dignity. This event not only marked the beginning of radical changes within our country but also became the first transformation stage of the world order and security environment.
Starting with European integration slogans, the Maidan witnessed the birth of a truly independent Ukraine. It prevented our country from becoming a puppet state, as the Yanukovych regime was preparing it to be. Protesters made a claim to the country's real subjectivity - a subjectivity that the Ukrainian people have had to defend and prove since independence.
Considering Russia's military aggression as a response to the victory of democratic pro-European forces in Ukraine in the winter of 2014, we state that Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022 caused a noticeable shift in the minds of both Ukrainian citizens and the European community and influenced the reformatting of the international balance of interests and forces. The Russian-Ukrainian war destroyed the stereotypes about Ukraine and Europe that had been formed during the twentieth century, especially in the period after World War II. For Ukraine, the Russian aggression was an impetus to intensify the rethinking of the imperial and Soviet heritage, its history, and its place in the European community. In Europe, the Kremlin's aggression against our country has eliminated the dichotomy between the concepts of "security" and "democracy," making European society realize the inextricable link between these categories, and prompting a rethinking of the traumas and stereotypes of the past and the struggle for political leadership on the continent.
In the future, Ukraine's place among the leading geopolitical players will depend not only on the results of our struggle but also on the ability of Ukrainian society to incorporate the demands of the Maidan into the national development strategy and to promote its implementation through the development of an effective system of public administration and public control.
The causes, consequences, and significance of the processes at the epicenter of which Ukraine, supported by the democratic world, is now, will undoubtedly be the subject of research in the postwar period. Therefore, it is crucial to create a source base that will not only allow for the passing of judgments against those who have committed crimes against humanity but will also provide future researchers with the necessary information, contribute to the formation and implementation of memory policy, and overcome traumatic experiences.
In Ukraine, the first notable experience of documenting significant socio-political events was associated with the Revolution of Dignity. The events of November 2013-February 2014 were actively recorded by researchers, journalists, and representatives of various civic initiatives. The collection of evidence, including oral testimonies, visual materials, diaries, social media content, and physical evidence, has become an important element in the formation of the source and partly legal evidence base of the Maidan. The experience gained was also useful during the Russian intervention, including the full-scale invasion. Since February 2022, a significant number of researchers and representatives of NGOs and government institutions have begun documenting and archiving the events of the war, which has become one of the tools of resistance to the aggressor. These projects are based on the methodologies and methods used to record the events of the Maidan. The collection of materials, from artifacts to oral testimonies, allows us to document and preserve the experience of participants and eyewitnesses, as well as to investigate war crimes and humanitarian disasters in Ukraine.
Initiated by the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity, this year's fifth academic forum is dedicated to discussing both theoretical issues related to the relevance of the Maidan challenges in the process of post-war development of Ukraine, determining the place of the Revolution of Dignity in the historical memory of society and Ukraine's role in the geopolitical structure of the world, and purely practical issues related to documenting the Maidan, War, and Freedom in the Context of Socio-Political Transformations in Ukraine and the Worldevents of the Maidan and the Russian-Ukrainian war, the methodology of collecting evidence and artifacts, and the principles of their storage and use.
The topic of the 5th academic forum:
Maidan, War, and Freedom in the Context of socio-political Transformations in Ukraine and the World
November 20-21, 2023
The purpose of the forum is to discuss the results and impact of the Revolution of Dignity and the Russian-Ukrainian war on geopolitical, political, and social transformations in Ukraine and the world, as well as to analyze the peculiarities of documenting the events of the Maidan and the war.
Forum topics:
Block 1. Contextualizing the Ukrainian struggle for freedom in the XXI century
The impact of Maidan and Russia's war with Ukraine on Europe: between security and democracy
(Un)learned lessons from the Maidan and the national strategy of Ukraine's development
Ukraine after the war: progress towards Europe
Looking through the law: Maidan and the Russian-Ukrainian War, the danger of unpunished evil
Block 2. Reminiscences of Maidan in the documentation of the Russian-Ukrainian war
Ways of documenting traumatic events of the modern era
Maidans and the Russian-Ukrainian war in eyewitness accounts
Reflections on the Maidan and the war: ego-documents, diaries, posters, and artworks
Documentation of protests and armed conflicts by the media
Maidans and War in Museum Exhibitions: New Approaches and Narratives
Historians, political scientists, sociologists, philosophers, lawyers, museum professionals, cultural experts, communication specialists, and other academics of social and humanitarian sciences, focused on protest movements and the Maidan phenomenon, particularly in the context of the current Russian-Ukrainian war, are invited to participate in the Academic Forum.
Participation in the forum is free.
It is planned to prepare and publish a collection of academic works based on the materials of the forum.
The forum will be held online and offline (at the Information and Exhibition Center of the Maidan Museum at 18/2 Independence Square, Kyiv).
Partners: Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Institute of History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukrainian Catholic University.
Registration to participate in the forum (in ENG) is open until November 6, 2023, at https://forms.gle/vQN7rnmUrLV2FW7J6 Pleаse send an application form and an abstract (up to 300 words), which will be published together with the program of the event.
Registration for viewers is available
The organizers reserve the right to select applications.
For more information: +38 067-793-64-75, naukforum2020@gmail.com