Traumas and Reconstruction: How Will We Live After the War?
December 2022 - present
A series of publications in the media
Conversations about the reconstruction of Ukraine after the victory began with the first cities liberated from occupation after February 24. However, the issue is not only about architecture and reconstruction of housing but also about how we will live after the war: what will happen to us psychologically, physically, and financially; how to establish justice and conclude a new social contract? How will cultural institutions — Ukrainian and international — work? In what country do we want to live after the victory?
In September, the online symposium "The Reconstruction of Ukraine: Ruination / Representation / Solidarity" discussed all these issues - and more - in detail. Following the conversations about the reconstruction of Ukraine, we are launching a series of materials, "Trauma and Reconstruction: How will we live after the war?".
We will talk about the economy of reconstruction, the trauma of war, cultural institutions, reconstruction infrastructure, and the restoration of justice.
Editor of the series: Daria Badior
Consulting:
- Sofia Dyak (Center for Urban History)
- Marta Kuzma (Yale University)
- Michał Murawski (University College London)

"Talking to friends — already a resistance to Russia's intentions to commit genocide", Beatrice Patsalides Hofmann
LB.ua / 27.12.2022A conversation about how the current war is different from others; whether everyone experiences the same traumatic event; and why it is essential to overcome social isolation and talk to each other.

"National identity should be sought in the future, not by looking back", Peter Osborne
LB.ua / 13.1.2023A conversation about the contradictions between war and art, the crisis of international cultural and security institutions, and whether any ideology can be considered only as a philosophical and political concept in a country at war.

"The Ukrainian war will have precedents that will frame the future of international humanitarian law", Nathaniel Raymond
LB.ua / 27.2.2023A conversation about the situation regarding the collection of testimonies and necessary data for the investigation of war crimes, as well as the ones related to human rights violations, how the international justice system should change and how it is already changing.

"The global north's misunderstanding of its privileges will come back to haunt us", Khaled Malas
Суспільне.Культура / 21.4.2023Why is it so important to talk about rebuilding postwar Ukraine now, to what extent can capitalism influence future decision-making, and what is the problematic nature of the issue of “solidarity”?

"The destruction of critical infrastructure is in a sense tantamount to the destruction of civilization", Sophie Lambroschini
LB.ua / 06.5.2023A conversation with Sophie Lambroschini, a researcher of the socio-economic history of Central and Eastern Europe, about the peculiarities of infrastructure operation during wartime and occupation and the social and civilizational role of public services.
Credits
Cover photo: EPA/UPG