National Memorial to the Heavenly Hundred Heroes and Museum of the Revolution of Dignity
4th Academic Forum, 2022
“Revolution of Dignity: Towards History”
November 17-18, 2022
Online
At the end of the 20th and beginning of 21st century, “Maidan” – as a way of defending political rights and freedoms – became a significant phenomenon in Ukrainian history, arising as an important component of the Ukrainian socio-political movement and influence on geopolitical processes.
The Russian Federation saw the mass protests, where Ukrainian citizens defended their democratic principles, independence, and right to choose, as acts of defiance. Revolutions on the Maidan were viewed as threats to the Kremlin’s regime and as obstacles to fulfilling their global ambitions. Ukraine has been successful in forming civil society since gaining its independence, whilst Russia has allowed for the revival of a dictatorship that threatens the entire democratic world.
Maidan's victory in 2014 was a geopolitical failure for the Kremlin. In response, a hybrid war was launched against the Ukrainian state, with Russian forces occupying the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Eight years later, on February 24, 2022, the Russian Federation began a war of conquest in the heart of Europe: Ukraine. Since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukraine as a whole has transformed into a Maidan itself, ready to defend its democratic freedoms, independence, and territorial integrity.
Current events prove the importance of an in-depth study of the “Maidans,” from the 1990 Revolution on Granite to the 2013 Revolution of Dignity. Russia has demonstrated its desire to keep Ukraine under its influence by destroying those that oppose unity with Moscow and committing genocide against the Ukrainian people. For several decades, Russia has used various methods to suppress Ukrainian resistance and civilizational choice, with weapons ranging from cultural expansion and information wars to full-scale military aggression.
Two years ago, the National Museum of the Revolution of Dignity held an Academic Forum on the topic of Maidan in the context of the global protest movement of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. During Russia's war against Ukraine, it is now crucial to research the struggle of Ukrainians for their freedom and independence, including the struggles on Maidan.
What was the ratio of external to internal factors affecting the course and consequences of the Ukrainian Maidans? Should we consider the modern-day Maidans as stages of Ukraine's struggle for independence in line with the current war? How does the full-scale Russian invasion affect the creation of academic discourse related to the topic of Ukrainian Maidans and national liberation struggles in general? These and other questions will be discussed during the fourth Academic Forum, which will be devoted to the role of Maidans as socio-political phenomena in the context of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Topic of the 4th Academic Forum 2022:
“Maidans” and the Russian-Ukrainian War in National and Global Dimensions
The purpose of this year's Academic Forum is to initiate a discussion of conceptual approaches to the study of the Maidan phenomenon among Ukrainian and foreign academics and to disseminate reliable information about the causes and consequences of protest movements in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Forum topics:
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Maidan as an event and phenomenon in the dimensions of the Russian-Ukrainian war.
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Maidans in the context of global and national processes; regularities and paradoxes.
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Explicit and implicit antagonists of the Maidans as the basis of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
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The Ukrainian national liberation struggle and Maidans as a challenge to Russian imperialism.
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(Re)thinking and (re)presentation of Maidan’s events; futurological predictions.
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Cultural trauma in the context of Maidans and the Russian-Ukrainian war; ways to overcome cultural trauma.
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Maidans and the Russian-Ukrainian war in the information space.
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Presentation of Maidans and the Russian-Ukrainian war in the museum space in Ukraine and around the world.
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.
Partners: Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance, Institute of History of Ukraine of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Taras Shevchenko Kyiv National University, Ukrainian Catholic University, National University “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”.
Participation in the forum is free.
It is planned to prepare and publish a collection of scientific works based on the materials of the forum. Publication is free.
Registration continues until October 28, 2022, inclusive, via the link.