City Research Online

Abstract

Commendable efforts to include Ukrainian researchers in academic debates on the Russian invasion of Ukraine after February 2022 nevertheless reflect knowledge hierarchies that characterise contemporary academia, which is compounded by the difficulties that scholars face when they study violence in their own countries. First, Ukrainian researchers were busy performing the physical work of surviving or, if based abroad, the emotional work of worrying about the safety of friends and family. Many volunteered their time and resources for Ukrainian causes. The pastoral care and public engagement elements of their job expanded. This left limited time for contributing to academic debates. Second, Ukrainian scholars engaged in tone (self)policing in order to prevent their arguments from alienating key audiences or being dismissed as irrational. Third, peculiarities of Ukrainian contemporary history and politics – for instance, its self-perceived belonging to ‘the West’ and the embrace of economic and political liberalism – at times resulted in a lack of common vocabulary with postcolonial, critical, and ‘progressive’ scholarship. This article calls for deeper understanding and closer engagement between academics and activists working in and on the ‘Global East’ and the ‘Global South’, as well as for more self-aware and caring ways of researching war.

Publication Type:	Article
Additional Information:	This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Journal of International Relations and Development. The definitive publisher-authenticated version is available online at https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-023-00315-0
Publisher Keywords:	Knowledge production; Ukraine; Global South; Global East; Russian Invasion
Subjects:	J Political Science > JZ International relations L Education > LB Theory and practice of education > LB2300 Higher Education
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > International Politics
SWORD Depositor:	Symplectic Administrator

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