Coffee Shops and the Development of Socially Active Small Businesses in Ukraine during a Full-Scale War
Viktoriia Grivina
University of St. Andrews20.2.2024; 16:00
Library of Center for Urban History
The 2022 full-scale invasion did not only affect individual Ukrainians but sent shockwaves across the local business landscape too. Service sphere – cafés, bakeries, and coffee shops in the front-line cities became the first casualties of the conflict. But oftentimes these small-scale businesses were the first responders as well. In the city of Kharkiv 30 km (about 18.64 mi) from the border with Russia, after the restaurants shut down in February 2022, some cafés switched to volunteer work, preparing food for the temporary displaced people or local defenders, others opened their spaces as public shelters, yet others took use of their social media presence to raise funds for a variety of needs, from medicines to ammunition. As the situation in the region improved by summer 2022, especially after the liberation of the region later in the year, services started a reverse transition to the traditional business scheme. However, many maintained the socially oriented elements, providing percentage of profits for charities, organizing campaigns, fundraising, etc. The role of the newly formed communities in the city's everyday social and cultural processes is already evident.
We invite you to an urban seminar by Victoria Grivina, during which the researcher will consider whether activism in times of war can influence the further development of social small businesses in Ukraine. How will the culture of coffee shops and cafés in our cities change in the long run? What role can communities built around local institutions play in the future?
Working language – Ukrainian.
Viktoriia Grivina
University of St. AndrewsResearcher, translator. In 2020 Viktoriia presented her Master’s thesis (“The Influence of Street Art on Community Development in Kharkiv, Ukraine)”.
During February 2024, Victoriіa is working at the Center for Urban History on her dissertation research “Vulnerable Legacies and Green Re-Imaginings in Kharkiv, Ukraine”. The researcher plans to document the impressions of local residents who moved from Kharkiv before or after the full-scale invasion, or who have experience of living in Kharkiv (at any time) and are open to sharing their impressions of the city, as well as comparing the two cities.
The seminar will be held in the format of a workshop, to which researchers are invited to discuss research projects, projects at various stages of development, and completed researches that are being prepared for publication.
Participation in the urban seminar requires preliminary reading and discussion of the researcher's text. If you would like to join the seminar, please email Yelyzaveta Bobrova ([email protected]) and we will send you the materials in advance.
Credits
Cover Image: photo by Viktoriia Grivina