At the end of 2013, with a pro-Russian government turning its back on Ukraine’s aspirations to join the European Union, Ukrainians gathered in protest in what would become the Euromaidan Revolution. In addition to ousting the president, various groups of activists mobilized to shape the post-Maidan political sphere. With the illegal annexation of Crimea and the Russia-backed separatist movements inciting war in the Donbas in 2014, civil society networks remained critical as Ukraine fought for its democracy and territorial integrity for eight years and counting. When Russia invaded on February 24 and brought the full force of its army upon Ukraine, the smaller and lesser-armed country responded with unimaginable tenacity. The concept of self-organization has been fundamental to the country’s ability to respond with agility, efficiency, and efficacy. In this talk, Emily Channell-Justice will present her original research from the 2013-2014 Euromaidan mobilizations and discuss how the phenomenon of self-organization – that if something needs to be done and you have the capacity to do it, you should do it – was embraced during the Euromaidan, shaped Ukrainians’ attitudes toward their relationship with the government and their communities, and established trust networks Ukrainians were able to build on to meet urgent needs in 2022.
Mo 20 Mär 2023 | 17:00–18:30
Self-Organization in Ukraine: From Euromaidan to Russia’s Invasion
Dr. Emily Channell-Justice presents her new book, Without the State: Self-Organization and Political Activism in Ukraine.
Hybrid Event
Emily Channell-Justice is the Director of the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University. She is a sociocultural anthropologist who has been doing research in Ukraine since 2012. Her book, Without the State: Self-Organization and Political Activism in Ukraine (University of Toronto Press, 2022), is based on research on political activism and social movements among students and feminists during the 2013-2014 Euromaidan mobilizations. She received her PhD from The Graduate Center, City University of New York, in September 2016, and she was a Havighurst Fellow and Visiting Assistant Professor of International Studies at Miami University, Ohio from 2016-2019. Her current research is about forced displacement in Ukraine since 2014.
The event takes place at Forum Transregionale Studien, Wallotstraße 14, 14193 Berlin, and online via Zoom. If you plan to attend on site, please register by writing an e-mail to prisma(at)trafo-berlin.de.