UKRAINIAN CULTURAL STUDIES DISCOURSE: ANTICOLONIAL, POSTCOLONIAL, DECOLONIAL

Abstract

This article attempts to examine the genesis of Ukrainian cultural studies thought within the sphere of discourse related to state- and nation-building processes during the Russian-Ukrainian war. Considering Russia’s evident expansionist policy and imperial resentment, the Ukrainian sociocultural space is being shaped in accordance with a strategy of national resistance, which today is implemented not only on the battlefield but also in the sphere of culture. Cultural studies discourse plays a leading role in the formation of these new practices of resistance, having undergone significant qualitative and quantitative changes over the past thirty-five years. The article analyzes the main theoretical and methodological foundations of anticolonial, postcolonial, and decolonial approaches, while also outlining the limits of their application within the contemporary Ukrainian wartime context. It is argued that classical theories of colonialism do not fully correspond to the contemporary Ukrainian context; instead, Ukrainian scholarly achievements are becoming an important part of global practices in the study of colonialism. The article emphasizes that the typical dichotomy of colonizer – colonized likewise cannot fully explain the complexities involved in the formation of the Ukrainian sociocultural space, both within the empire and in the struggle against it. It is concluded that contemporary cultural studies discourse functions as an effective space for the creation of new forms of humanitarian resistance, within which new tools are developed for understanding war, memory, trauma, identity, and cultural creation.