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« 2026. # 2 (188)

The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 2 (188), 313—325

UDK 94(477)-028.16:355.01(470+571-651.1)”20″(09):303.446.4

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

  • Received: 01.03.2026
  • Accepted: 10.03.2026
  • Published: ??.??.2026

BETWEEN DOCUMENTATION AND INTERPRETATION:  ORAL HISTORY IN UKRAINE DURING THE WAR

BODNAR Halyna

  • ORCID: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7972-8111
  • Candidate of History, Associate Professor,
  • Ivan Franko National University of Lviv,
  • Mykhailo Hrushevsky Chair 
  • of Contemporary History of Ukraine,
  • 1, Universytetska Str., 79000, Lviv, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: halyna.bod@gmail.com

Abstract. Introduction. Oral history in Ukraine has undergone significant transformations since the Revolution of Dignity and the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014. The full-scale Russian invasion in 2022 sharply intensified the documentation of wartime experiences. Ukrainian oral history has strengthened its presence in international academic discourse. At the same time, a unique approach to documenting «unfinished history» is emerging, which differs from established global practices for researching crisis events. Therefore, analyzing the current development of Ukrainian oral history studies is a pressing task for historical and interdisciplinary research and has practical significance for the further collection, archiving, and use of oral testimonies of the war.

The purpose of this article is to outline the main trends in the development of oral history in Ukraine after 2014, taking into account the sharp increase in the scale of documentation after 2022, as well as to identify key problems and possible directions for further development. The article examines the state of Ukrainian oral history before the changes of the mid-2010s, the challenges associated with documenting the events of the Revolution of Dignity and the war, as well as contemporary methodological and ethical issues. Special attention is paid to positive developments, problematic aspects and new challenges facing Ukrainian oral history of the war.

The methodological basis of the study consists of historiographical and comparative analysis, a problem-chronological approach, and qualitative content analysis of professional discussions and publications. An analytical-synthetic method and an interdisciplinary approach were used to summarise the results.

Conclusion. During the full-scale war, the personal experiences of Ukrainian scholars combined with an intensified sense of professional responsibility. This situation led to a rethinking of ethical and methodological approaches to recording interviews. An important result of documenting war testimonies is the strengthening of Ukrainian oral history’s participation in international scientific discourse and its entry into a new stage of development. At the same time, Ukrainian oral history of the war faces problems that are only beginning to be systematically addressed. After an intensive phase of field collection of oral testimonies of the war, issues of their proper archiving and analysis are becoming increasingly relevant. Some oral history collections are transferred abroad for security reasons, which raises the issue of Ukraine’s archival sovereignty. Ukrainian oral history is also increasingly moving beyond the academic sphere and becoming an important component of community archiving.

Keywords: oral history in Ukraine, Russian-Ukrainian war, documentation, oral history archive, analysis of oral testimonies.

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