THE ESSENTIALIST PARADIGM OF NATIONALISM AND THE FUTURE OF DONBASS IN THE MEMOIRS OF THE FIGHTERS OF THE TERRITORIAL DEFENSE BATTALIONS

DOI: 10.33876/2311-0546/2021-3/88-104

Abstract

The article examines the representations of the ongoing military conflict in the east of Ukraine in literary works created by the veterans of Ukrainian paramilitary formations. The problem of radical nationalist views’ representation through literature based on the traumatic military experience of the ATO/JFO veterans is in the spotlight. The volunteer battalions members' perceptions of themselves and Donbass, its inhabitants, and its future are analyzed. Based on the theoretical framework of B. Rosenwein, authors propose to view representatives of this group as a specific "emotional community" while the literature written by them should be seen as a space for reproducing not only the modern version of the "Cossack myth" but also the far-right narrative of "nationalizing nationalism”. In the studied corpus, Donbass Russian-speaking inhabitants’ future is presented in the range from total Ukrainization and ethnolinguistic discrimination to mass killings or deportations outside of the state borders. On the one hand, this position stems from the combatants' experience of communication with the population in the conflict zone and, on the other hand, is conditioned by the already existing perception of Donbas as a "sick" region of Ukraine, populated by intra-Ukrainian "Others". Thus in Ukrainian paramilitary discourse, Donbass territory and population are viewed as a bet in a zero-sum game.

For Citation: Plekhanov, A.A., U.K. Herasimau. 2021. The Essentialist Paradigm Of Nationalism And The Future Of Donbass In The Memoirs Of The Fighters Of The Territorial Defense Battalions. Herald of Anthropology (Vestnik Antropologii) 3: 88–104