CONFERENCE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF REGENSBURG

From September 30 to October 2, 2024, the University of Regensburg and Think Space Ukraine, with the support of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, held a conference “Shifting Borders, Changing Landscapes: Research on Industrial Regions in Transition”. The conference was devoted to the study of the past and present of the industrial regions of Eastern Europe – Upper Silesia and Donbas. The conference was also aimed at creating a space for a broader dialogue with scholars who study European industrial zones and border areas, and conduct comparative research.

I took part in the conference and delivered a presentation “Donbas vs. Galicia: Different Modes of Othering and Mythologization” by Mykola Riabchuk, a leading researcher at the Department of Political Culture and Ideologies of the Institute. In his presentation, the scholar argued that the othering of both regions was largely based on old Soviet myths, although they were used in different ways. The post-Soviet stereotyping of Galicia was essentially a continuation of old Soviet myths that demonized the region as extremely nationalistic and xenophobic, while in the case of Donbas, the old Soviet myth of the region as a showcase of “developed socialism” was caricatured into its opposite – the embodiment of all possible social pathologies. However, after 2014, the representation of both regions in the public discourse, according to the researcher, has changed significantly due to a deeper understanding of regional peculiarities and their more responsible political interpretation.

University of Regensburg

Prior to the conference, a photo exhibition of works by four prominent artists whose lives are closely connected with Upper Silesia and Donbas was organized for the participants: Viktor Maruschenko (1946-2020), Karolina Jonderko (1985), Oleksandr Chekmenov (1969), and Michal Kala (1948).