Patriotic Neototemism in the Realities of Ukrainian Tempus Belli

Author

Diedush Oleksii

a Ph.D. in History, a junior research fellow at the Archival Scientific Funds of Manuscripts and Audio-Recordings Department of M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine).

ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1040-2241

Patriotic Neototemism in the Realities of Ukrainian Tempus Belli

Abstract

The concept of «patriotic neototems» is considered in the article. It concerns popular cultural-symbolic patterns that hold protective and ideological-identifying significance in reflecting the realities of Ukrainian’s wartime everyday life. Ukrainian patriotic neototems trace their roots back to the Cossack era. During the periods of statelessness and occupation, the image of Taras Shevchenko has become such a neototem, with his depiction practically becoming a civic-religious icon in the home of a conscious Ukrainian. The national liberation struggle of 1917–1921 gave rise to new forms of patriotic reflection, particularly through the image of the «Red viburnum» («Chervona kalyna») in the eponymous song. A new and significantly broader layer of such phenomena has emerged with the beginning of Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2014, and this list increases significantly during the full-scale invasion of Moscovian terrorists. We identify a clear name, realistic or mythical origin, moral ambivalence, and the ability to function as a brand among the features of patriotic neototems. By types, such neototems can be divided into animalistic, technological, mythological, sententious-poetic, and presentational-clothing. This phenomenon can perform a number of functions, including symbolic-protective, nation-identifying, propagandistic, educational, branding, motivational-demotivational, and palliative. The origin of patriotic neototems can be media-based, internet-folkloric (folkloric), or authorial. In addition to the positive aspects of their circulation, this phenomenon has also become the object of ruthless commercial exploitation, leading to the inflation of their identification value. However, existing and new patriotic neototems are an integral, «living» part of the life of Ukrainians during wartime.

Keywords

patriotic neototems, Ukrainian national identity, Russian-Ukrainian war, national identities, Ukrainian wartime everyday life.

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