Authors

Roman Dubasevych¹;  ¹ Greifswald University, Germany

Discussion

Russia’s attack on Ukraine is generally explained in geopolitical or civilizational categories. While the former rationalizes its aggression as an act of necessity, survival and “self-defence,” the latter tends to frame it as an inevitable “clash” between a backward, oriental, and despotic civilization (Russia) vs. an advanced, Western-oriented, and democratic one (Ukraine). However, amidst the competition between these two antagonistic metanarratives much less attention is given to the symbolic tensions that preceded and fuelled the conflict – the various memory, language, and, finally, religious “wars.”

Along with the different dimensions of the Kulturkampf ahead of the military escalation, this talk focuses on the role of gender, in particular on the heroic masculinities dominant in both countries. Centred on the image of the “unbroken” or “undefeated” military heroes and leaders, they open up new perspectives on the ways in which post-Soviet societies have reacted to the disruption of the socio-political and moral order brought about by the decline of the Soviet Union and the arrival of turbo capitalism. Starting from the historical role models of anti-fascist (Russia) vs. anti-Soviet (Ukraine) resistance, they highlight crucial interfaces between the Mythomotorik (Jan Assmann) of the antagonistic masculinities and the current war. Moreover, despite significant differences, cultural productions such as the Russian film Brother I/II (1997/2000) by Aleksei Balabanov and Ukrainian novels, such as Black Raven (2009) by Vasyl’ Shkliar or Voroshylovhrad (2010) by Serhii Zhadan, as well as films (e.g., The Guide, 2013, by Oles’ Sanin) reveal significant similarities. Nothing summarizes them better than the recent Russian TV series The Boy’s Word: Blood on the Asphalt (2023) by the filmmaker Zhora Kryzhovnikov. By extending the focus further back into the late Soviet society and its criminalization, The Boy’s Word not only elucidates the continuity between the late- and post-Soviet “humiliated masculinity” (Nancy Chodorow) and the present-day apocalyptic violence, but also offers a powerful allegory for the functioning of modern nation-states at war.