Documenting the War: Between Ukraine and the World. Presentation of a Collection of Essays and Conversations

We kindly invite you to the presentation of a new publication of the Centre for Urban History, Documenting War: Between Ukraine and the World, and the discussion with Inha Kozlova, Terrell Starr, Sasha Dovzhyk and Natalia Otrishchenko.

Documenting Russian aggression against Ukraine is important not only for preserving Ukrainian experiences of war and resistance for future generations, but also because we are conducting this self-reflection from within the historical process. This position allows us to think of documentation as a translation between the bearers of experiences and those who want to learn about them. Such reflection from within is valuable for both Ukraine and the international community. It is the opposite of the colonial and extractivist vision of documentation, where collecting sources is a practice of extracting resources, while reflection and knowledge production based on these sources takes place outside.

The collection of essays and interviews, Documenting War: Between Ukraine and the World (edited by Sasha Dovzhyk, Taras Nazaruk and Natalia Otrishchenko), focuses on the refraction of perspective, the (in)materiality of borders, inequality and solidarity and the practice of transition. The collection is based around the theme of the second annual symposium "The Most Documented War: Ethics and Practice of International Cooperation" (2024). Its task is to map the specifics of the field, in which expertise from inside and outside Ukraine intersects, as well as various tensions and opportunities present in it. 

— 18 December, 6:30 p.m..
— 6/2 Akademika Bohomol'tsya St., Centre for Urban History, conference room.
— The event will be held in English and Ukrainian with simultaneous interpretation.

• Sasha Dovzhyk — Head of INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange and editor-in-chief of London Ukrainian Review. She holds a PhD in English and Comparative Literature from Birkbeck University, has taught at Birkbeck and University College London (UCL SSEES), worked as a special projects curator at the Ukrainian Institute in London and is the editor of three books. 
• Inha Kozlova (Ukrainian Catholic University) — sociologist, PhD in Sociology, Associate Professor of Sociology and Head of the Sociology Program at Ukrainian Catholic University. Her research interests include urban sociology and urban studies, the right to the city, collection and analysis of qualitative sociological data and internal migration processes related to the Russian war against Ukraine.
• Natalia Otrishchenko (Centre for Urban History) — researcher and coordinator of oral history projects at the Centre for Urban History, PhD in Sociology. In 2019-22, she was affiliated with the Centre for Contemporary History in Potsdam, and in 2024-25 she was a UNET researcher at ZOiS. Since March 2022, she has been involved in the international documentation initiative “24.02.22, 5 am: Testimonies from the War.“
• Terrell J. Starr — independent journalist covering the intersection of foreign policy and race. His work outside of Ukraine combines the tools of reportage, social commentary and racial analysis. He publishes his video reports on his YouTube channel “Terrell J. Starr Official” and analytical materials and op-eds in his newsletter on Substack.