Decolonization of museum narratives of Donbas

Title: Decolonization of museum narratives of Donbas
Source document: Museologica Brunensia. 2021, vol. 10, iss. 2, pp. 12-26
Extent
12-26
  • ISSN
    1805-4722 (print)
    2464-5362 (online)
Type: Article
Language
 

Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.

Abstract(s)
This article describes the analysis results for the Donbas museums in Ukraine regarding the region's cultural peculiarities. The analytical assessment allowed us to identify a set of chief regional characteristics such as cultural hegemony, Soviet and colonial narrative domination with implicit onward compliance, and sporadic inner resistance in the form of tolerating local identity or counternarratives. The study shows that such phenomena induced by the loss of priority status upon the collapse of the USSR currently penetrate the Donbas cultural landscape. It also explains the nature of this phenomenon through the processes of the proclamation of Ukraine's independence, followed by the region's deindustrialization, switching from cultural priorities to national ones. It led to disorientation and apathy of the local population and thus to a comeback of old pre-Soviet colonial narratives of the Russian Empire times. Concurrently, the museums' narratives keep specific ingrained Soviet-time imprints.
Článek prezentuje výsledky muzejního výzkumu kulturních specifik v ukrajinském regionu Donbas. Na základě provedené analýzy byl identifikován soubor hlavních regionálních charakteristik, jakými jsou kulturní hegemonie, přetrvávající nadvláda implicitně dodržovaných sovětských a koloniálních narativů a občasný projev vnitřního vzdoru formou tolerování lokální identity či protinarativů. Studie ukazuje, že tyto jevy, které byly vyvolány ztrátou dominantního postavení po rozpadu Sovětského svazu v současnosti, pronikají do kulturní krajiny Donbasu. Vysvětluje také podstatu tohoto fenoménu prostřednictvím procesu vyhlášení nezávislosti Ukrajiny následovaného deindustrializací regionu, kdy se na první místo dostaly místo kulturních národnostní zájmy. To vedlo k dezorientaci a apatii místního obyvatelstva a tím i k návratu starých předsovětských koloniálních narativů z dob ruského impéria. Muzejní narativy však zároveň uchovávají i specifické hluboce zakořeněné stopy sovětské éry.
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