Ambicoloniality and War

This book proposes a new notion of ambicoloniality to speak about the current situation when Ukraine has become Russia's territory of obsession, and Russia, in its desire to occupy Ukraine, has in effect subjected itself to Ukraine's symbolic dominance. Ambicoloniality presents a key point of divergence from already existing models. The mutual impact of the two countries over centuries has gone both ways, over a shared borderin contrast to many other empires that established their colonial power relations at a distance. The Ukrainian-Russian case is different from the examples covered by both postcolonial and decolonial theorists. To explore the reasons and consequences of such a differing process of colonial expansion, anti-colonial struggle, and decolonial release, the book inquires into the historical and cultural reasons for the emerging gap between the two states. It examines the role that cultural hybridity plays in political self-identification in both Ukraine and Russia, and how this hybridity has manifested in society and culture (including examples of art and literature) following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, until 2023.

Discusses the applicability of postcolonial and decolonial theories to the situation in Ukraine Aims to provide an understanding of Ukraine's diversity and internal hybridity, rather than postcolonial hybridity Proposes new terminology for the description of the particular colonial relationship between Ukraine and Russia

Autorentext

Svitlana Biedarieva is an art historian, artist, and curator. She received her PhD in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute of Art, University of London, UK. She is the editor of the books Art in Ukraine between Identity Construction and Anti-Colonial Resistance (2024) and Contemporary Ukrainian and Baltic Art: Political and Social Perspectives, 1991-2021 (2021), and co-editor of At the Front Line. Ukrainian Art, 2013-2019 (2020).

Inhalt

Introduction.- Ukraine.- The In(di)visible Land.- Chapter 1. Anti-Colonialism Vs Self-Colonization.- Chapter 2. Ambicoloniality.- Chapter 3. (R)evolution of Identity.- Chapter 4. War.- Chapter 5. Desire.- Chapter 6. Ruin and Regeneration.- Conclusion.