Publication on Dreams and Diaries of the War

Today, we would like to share the news about the publication of "Psychosocial and Cultural Perspectives on the War in Ukraine. Imprints and Dreamscapes", which is one of the results of the Center for Urban History's documentary project "Diaries and Dreams of the War". 

In 2022, immediately after the outbreak of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, the Center for Urban History, in cooperation with the Ukrainian Catholic University Departments of Cultural Studies and Psychology and the Department of Philosophy at Lviv National University, invited students to record what they see, hear, and experience – more than 70 participants joined the group. This project was conducted at the intersection of psychology, anthropology, history, philosophy, and art, and has academic and human value.

The result of the joint work was a book published by Routledge in 2024, edited by Magdalena Zolkos (University of Jyvaskyla, Finland) and Bohdan Shumylovych (Center for Urban History, Department of Cultural Studies, Ukrainian Catholic University).

The book examines the war in Ukraine through the prism of creative and artistic material, as well as scientific analysis, to emphasize the multiplicity of subjective experience. The essays presented in the publication are complemented by materials from “war diaries,” which include diaries, dream diaries, artistic and poetic materials recorded in February and March 2022. In chapters on fear, rupture, and resistance, the book explores various aspects of the subjective, cultural, and embodied experience of war. It examines elements that are often overlooked: everyday, personal, and emotional experiences, both individual and collective, across societies and cultures.

The publication is available in the Center's library.

Credits

Cover Image: a fragment of the book's cover, Routledge, 2024