Diána Vonnák on War, Memory and Everyday Life in Ukraine

Our postdoctoral researcher Diána Vonnák spoke to the Czech science and research portal VědaVýzkum.cz about more than a decade of ethnographic research in Ukraine and how the ongoing war is transforming memory, cultural heritage, and everyday life.

In the interview, Diána reflects on how experiences of occupation and displacement are reshaping the ways Ukrainians understand Soviet history and their own family pasts. She also discusses the challenges faced by cultural institutions during wartime, from documenting damage to cultural heritage to evacuating museum collections, as well as the role of international and civil-society support in sustaining cultural life during the war.

The conversation also offers an insight into Diána’s research within MEMPOP. She discusses the project’s comparative focus on former Habsburg borderlands and explains how her own research examines what war does to the past: how memories are transformed under conditions of conflict and how histories of violence become entangled with contemporary politics. Questions of trust in state institutions, particularly against the background of Soviet repression and more recent experiences of corruption, constitute another important strand of her work within the project.

Beyond research, the interview touches upon the everyday realities of conducting ethnography during wartime, Diána’s experiences of the Czech academic environment, and the relationship between her anthropological and literary work. Despite years of war, she emphasizes the persistence of ordinary and cultural life in Ukraine, from poetry readings held in shelters to a thriving stand-up comedy scene.

Read the full interview on VědaVýzkum.cz. https://vedavyzkum.cz/rozhovory-a-osobnosti/rozhovory/diana-vonnak-stand-upu-se-na-ukrajine-dari-lepe-nez-kdy-driv-lide-ziji-sve-zivoty-at-se-deje-cokoliv