Identity Contestations in Soviet Ukraine: A Look Through the Prism of Contemporary Cinema and Fiction - Einzelansicht

Please note that Ms Grebeniuk`s seminar will start on 08.06.2023. Sessions that cannot take place by then will made up in the form of a block course. The time and date of the block course will be determined together with the students.

Please also note that there will be a Zoom meeting on 20.04.2023 at 10:15 a.m. in which Ms Grebeniuk will present her seminar and discuss organisational issues. All interested students are invited to attend the meeting:

Thema: Introductory meeting
Uhrzeit: 20.Apr. 2023 10:15 AM Amsterdam, Berlin, Rom, Stockholm, Wien

Zoom-Meeting beitreten
https://uni-potsdam.zoom.us/j/67891292597
Meeting-ID: 678 9129 2597
Kenncode: 60923879

The focus of the course offered is placed on the conflicted relationhips between Ukrainian and so-called Soviet identity, which developed during the Soviet period and have left an indelible imprint on the cultural memory of contemporary Ukrainians.
The aim of the course is to consider the traumatogenic conflict between national and Soviet identities mediated through the works of contemporary Ukrainian cinema and fiction as well as to identify narrative strategies connected with work of memory in the texts under scrutiny.
The text corpora that can be discussed in the seminar include works of fiction (or fragments of these works): ”To Speak” by Tania Maliarchuk, ”The Museum of Abandoned Secrets” by Oksana Zabuzhko, ”Tango of Death” by Yuriy Vynnychuk, ”Who are You?” by Artem Chekh, ”Dom's Dream Kingdom” by Victoria Amelina, ”My Grandfather Danced the Best” by Kateryna Babkina, ”Amadoka” by Sofia Andrukhovych; films and series (or fragments thereof): ”The Guide” by Oles Sanin, ”Haytarma” by Akhtem Seitablayev, ”The Red” by Zaza Buadze, ”Felix and Me” by Iryna Tsilyk, ”Saga” by Dmytro Laktionov.
The study of the factors contributing to the current popularity of these texts, the way in which they influence the recipients, and their current role in the process of creating a national identity are further aims of the consideration.
The research tools of textual analysis will be cognitive and transmedial narratology. Notably, it is planned to consider the fictional material through the lens of the concept of narrative immersion developed by Marie-Laure Ryan.

Tetiana Grebeniuk is a Doctor of Philology, Professor of Department of Cultural and Ukrainian Studies at Zaporizhzhia State Medical University, Ukraine. Her scholarly specialties are Theory of literature and Ukrainian literature. Courses: ”History of Ukrainian Culture”, ”Historical Trauma in Contemporary Ukrainian Fiction”, etc. The list of her publications encompasses 128 works, including the monograph ”Event in the System of Contemporary Ukrainian Fiction: Morphology, Semiotics, Reception”, chapters in collective monographs, scholarly articles, reviews etc. Her area of expertise includes contemporary Ukrainian literature and art culture; memory and trauma studies, postcolonial studies; cognitive and transmedial narratology. Her current research focuses on cognitive processes while reading and viewing works of fiction and film that address issues of memory and trauma.

3 ECTS (for appropriate modules):

- 15-minute presentation on a chosen topic

6 ECTS (for appropriate modules)

- 15-minute presentation on a chosen topic

- 10-page course paper on a chosen topic for Bachelor students;

- 15-page course paper on a chosen topic for Master students and for modules on key competences