Mamedova V. Cultural relocation in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war: identity and new formats of cultural practices

For the first time in Ukrainian humanities, this thesis conducts a comprehensive study of the activity of cultural and artistic institutions, as well as creative collectives and сertain artists in conditions of forced internal (regional and interregional) and external (international) cultural relocation caused by sociocultural and economic factors (1991–2024), the Russian-Ukrainian war (since 2014), the open attack of Russian troops of the Ukrainian territory (from February 24, 2022 to the present). The activity of regional theatres, libraries, musical establishments, museums, folk art centres, scientific research and methodical organisations, cultural centres, etc., functioning in relocation circumstances, are analysed. The relevance of the offered research is connected with the urgent need for objective studying peculiarities of the activity establishment of cultural and artistic institutions, as well as certain representatives of this field in conditions of forced internal and international relocation. The object of this study is the cultural relocation of establishments and certain figures in the sphere of Ukrainian culture and arts. The subject of this research is the specifics of the manifestation of cultural relocation and the formats of cultural production in war conditions. The scientific novelty of the obtained results grounds on implementing a culturological reflection of cultural relocation as a phenomenon of modern Ukrainian sociocultural space. In this thesis: for the first time: a periodisation of cultural relocation in Ukraine is offered; issues of intra-regional cultural relocation in Ukraine, 2014–2022, in the context of preserving cultural practices and under conditions of the Crimea annexation, the Anti-Terrorist Operation in Eastern Ukraine and the Joint Forces Operation are studied; peculiarities of the activity of Ukrainian cultural institutions in conditions of relocation caused by the beginning of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war using the example of museum establishments, as well as library, theatre and club institutions are revealed; creative work of Ukrainian artists under conditions of forced international relocation, 2022–2024, in the context of creative collaboration is highlighted; promising directions of culturological research of cultural relocation in Ukraine in conditions of the full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war are outlined; clarified and supplemented: a content of the concept of “cultural relocation”; got further development: offers for the activity of cultural and artistic institutions in conditions of forced relocation. In Section I “Theoretical and methodological principles of the study”, the state of scientific development of the problem is figured out and the source base of this research is presented, as well as the essence, types and specifics of the cultural relocation manifestation are revealed. Section II, “International and internal cultural relocation: influence on identity and cultural services”, studies the challenges to national identity in the aspect of international cultural relocation and the peculiarities of cultural practices and services under conditions of internal cultural relocation. Section III, “Forced cultural relocation in conditions of a full-scale Russian-Ukrainian war: emergence of innovative formats and activation of creative cooperation”, reveals the activity of cultural establishments in relocation under conditions of a full-scale invasion, and also considers forced international relocation as a factor in grounding innovative cultural practices.