(Ab)uses of history in Ukraine. War and cultural heritage

With Julie Deschepper. For the cycle Inheriting 2. Semiotics of transmission, organised by the 'Umberto Eco' International Centre for Humanistic Studies, the Antonio Pasqualino Museum, the TRAME Centre and the Sicilian Semiotic Circle.

  • Date: 11 DECEMBER 2023  from 15:00 to 17:00

  • Event location: Sala Rossa, Centro Umberto Eco, Via Marsala 26, Bologna - In presence and online event

Abstract

This talk focuses on the weoponisation of the past in Putin's propaganda and explores the material aspect of the (ab)uses of history and their translations into Ukrainian land. If cultural heritage is always a tool, in wartime it becomes a weapon. Indeed, since 2014, heritage has played a central role in Russia's war in Ukraine. Russia is corrupting, threatening, attacking and destroying Ukrainian heritage, consciously using it as an offensive weapon. Finally, this presentation shows that the strategies implemented by Russia have multi-layered meanings and purposes and must be understood in a global and trans-historical context. The attacks on Ukrainian heritage are not only part of clearly identifiable strategies specific to this conflict. They also reflect the Russian approach to heritage, largely influenced by long-standing experiences of imperialism and colonialism.

Bio

Julie Deschepper is Assistant Professor in Heritage and Museum Studies at the Section of Cultural History at Utrecht University. Trained as a historian of Russia and in the broad field of heritage studies, as well as a museum curator, she holds a PhD from the National Institute of Oriental Languages and Civilisations (Inalco) in Paris (2019). Her research focuses on material culture and heritage discourses, practices and experiences, especially in (post-)Soviet countries. His first book, under contract with Editions CNRS, is entitled Les temps du patrimoine soviétique. Une histoire matérielle de la Russie. He is preparing the publication of the collective volume (with Antony Kalashnikov and Federica Rossi), Time and Material Culture. Rethinking Soviet Temporalities (Routledge, 2024). She is currently working, both as a heritage scholar and practitioner, on the uses of heritage during the war in Ukraine. Julie is also co-coordinator of the Francophone network of the Association for Critical Heritage Studies (ACHS).

THE LECTURE IS PART OF THE PROGRAM OF THE COURSE "SEMIOTICS, TRAUMA AND MEMORY" FOR THE STUDENTS OF THE PHD COURSE PSCS

Venue: CUE, Via Marsala 26

Online, Teams link: http://bit.ly/3Tipv1F