Ukraine Insider, Part 4: Invisible Hierarchies in Russian Cultural Domination of Ukraine

IGA has published the fourth part of its paper series “Ukraine Insider”, where international experts on Ukraine analyze the crucial political-historical, media, and economic developments taking place in the country since the start of the Kremlin’s invasion. The series aims to better acquaint the Bulgarian and international audience with trends on the ground and counter Russian disinformation’s misrepresentations and falsifications about Ukraine by featuring cutting-edge expertise.

In the fourth paper, Mariam Naiem offers an inside look into into Russia’s historically continuous enforcement of cultural hegemony over Ukraine, including through repression of the Ukrainian language and stereotyping. In the midst of the Kremlin’s military invasion, the paper provides a much needed focus on the ideational counterpart to Russian wartime aggression based on cultural denigration that produces false dichotomies between a ‘civilized Russian center’ and an ‘uncivilized Ukrainian periphery’.