Authors

Bartosz HordeckiAndrzej Stelmach ¹ Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznan, Poland

Discussion

The phenomenon of imagining Ukrainians among Poles has a long history. Numerous critical moments influenced Polish approaches to Ukrainianness.

Long-lasting processes have provided Polish culture with a rich collection of potential perceptions of Ukraine (positive and negative alike). These patterns are sometimes subjected to rapid updating. Moreover, the existing reservoir of mental schemes is never closed.

The Russian Federation’s invasion of Ukraine seems to be a milestone in reshaping Poles’ perception of Ukrainians. After February 24, 2022, the issue of Russia’s aggression and a huge-scale migration of Ukrainian refugees to Poland and other countries have been among the dominant subjects of social discourse. Its intensity and complexity are associated with the involvement, modification and creation of various new patterns depicting Ukrainian culture and its representatives in the Polish communication space.

The paper aims to present and interpret data from monitoring content published on Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. Referring to extensive research material, we intend to compare how Ukrainians are portrayed in Polish-language social media before and after the outbreak of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia.

The differences and similarities discovered will be theorised. By interpreting them, we will try to diagnose the relevance of the changes taking place.