The post-Euromaidan search for new commemoration practices and the simultaneous attempt to sweep away symbolic elements of the Soviet past resulted, first, in the massive Leninfall and later in the Supreme Council of Ukraine's acceptance of the controversial decommunization laws. 

At the same time, the annexation of Crimea and subsequent armored conflict in Donbass caused a massive resettlement of the affected population, creating displaced cultural spaces. 

All of these processes launched another powerful wave of discussions about the past and the symbolic meaning of spaces in Ukraine. 

This presentation will focus on mapping the changes in attitudes towards the past and the symbolic reconceptualization of space at both the macro- and micro-level in a comparative cross-regional perspective. 

Viktoriya Sereda is the current HURI MAPA Project Research Fellow, as well as an associate professor of sociology at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. Her research focuses on urban sociology, memory studies, nationalism and identity studies. Forthcoming publications include: “Shifts in national, regional and local memories and identities in post-Euromaidan Ukraine,” in Nationalities Papers (coming in 2017); “Ukrainian Past and Present: Legacies, Memory and Attitudes” (co-authored with A.Liebich and O.Myshlovska), in Ulrich Schmid, ed. Unity in Diversity: Region and Nation in Ukraine (Budapest: CEU Press, coming in 2017). 

At HURI, Sereda is conducting research on national identity and historical memory in contemporary Ukraine. Her data is being integrated into HURI's MAPA: Digital Atlas of Ukraine project.

2017 01 03 Victoriya Sereda: Remapping Spaces of Historical Memory in Ukraine after the Euromaidan

Founded in June 1973, the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI) serves as a focal point for graduate and undergraduate students, fellows, and associates pursuing research in Ukrainian language, literature, and history as well as in anthropology, archaeology, art history, economics, political science, sociology, theology, and other disciplines. 