[Linganth] Research on anti-Black discourses/language in Eastern Europe

[Alexander M. Thomson]

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/17/world/europe/ukraine-putin-nazis.html

Here's another article on how Putin is using a discourse of
“de-nazification” to justify his war in the Ukraine. I found the quote by
Eduard Dolinsky, director general of the Ukrainian Jewish Committee,
insightful: “This problem [i.e. the contemporary existence of neo-nazi
groups and the historical celebration of Ukrainian collaborators] did and
does exist, but it has of course receded 10 times in importance compared to
the threat posed by Russia in its alleged fight against Nazism.”

On Fri, Mar 18, 2022 at 8:49 AM Loralee Donath <donathl at carcosa.net> wrote:

> All,
>
>
> Just to provide some context--
>
>
> I don't claim deep or ethnographic understanding of the Ukraine or the
> surrounding region. Rather, I had discovered the news reports I shared
> following a class discussion related to ethnicity (and race) in which one
> student introduced the war in terms of physical similarities between
> Ukrainians and Russians (with the unmarked assumption that neither of these
> groups of people could physically produce very much melanin); and another
> student highlighted the delay, mistreatment, and verbal and physical
> assault--by Ukrainian guards--of people of African descent (and, it turns
> out, other people of color) trying to board trains and flee Ukraine during
> the initial exodus early in the conflict.
>
>
> <https://time.com/6153276/ukraine-refugees-racism/>
> <https://time.com/6153276/ukraine-refugees-racism/>
>
>
> (The latter student also astutely compared news coverage and discourse
> about the war--on a global stage--to the likewise sorrowful but uneven
> coverage of the disappearance and murder of Gabby Petito last year).
>
>
> Incidentally, in a different class, an international student commented on
> the activity and organization of white supremacists in both the Ukraine and
> Russia; this was after the class viewed a short clip of a Nazi rally in the
> U.S.: 20,000 people at Madison Square Garden, 1939.
> <https://anightatthegarden.com/> <https://anightatthegarden.com/>
>
>
> I don't recommend a handful of news sources as a lit review about
> discourses in the Ukraine, but, alongside Elizabeth Peacock's references,
> it would seem foolish to ignore them. Indeed, this dimension of the
> conflict deserves our close attention as humans and as Americans,
> especially given our home-grown terrorist problem and the prospect of
> another Trump presidency in the U.S.
>
>
> Here is a larger set, in chronological order:
>
>
>
> https://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/azov-far-right-fighters-ukraine-neo-nazis
>
> https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/neo-nazis-far-right-ukraine/
>
> https://theintercept.com/2022/02/24/ukraine-facebook-azov-battalion-russia/
>
> https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/1/who-are-the-azov-regiment
>
>
> https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/02/opinion/ukraine-putin-stalin-history.html
>
>
> https://www.democracynow.org/2022/3/4/far_right_ukraine_holocaust_memorial_neo
>
> https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2022/03/14/neo-nazi-ukraine-war/
>
>
> Best,
> Lori
>
> On 3/17/2022 10:15 AM, Elizabeth Peacock wrote:
>
> Here are some sources your student might be interested in. (As a cultural
> and linguistic anthropologist of Ukraine since 2003, I would take Lori
> Donath's suggestions with a heavy handful of salt...)
>
> *On race:*
> Adriana Helbig.
>
> *Hip Hop Ukraine: Music, Race, and African Migration*.
>
> “On stage, everyone loves a Black”: Afro-Ukrainian Folk Fusion, Migration,
> and Racial Identity in *Ukraine*
> <https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/currentmusicology/article/view/5197>
> "
>
>
> Alaina Lemon
>
> "Without a concept? Race as discursive practice."
> "What are they writing about us blacks?' Roma and Race in Russia"
> "African presence in former Soviet spaces"
>
>
>
> *On language:*
> Laada Bilaniuk
>
> *Contested Tongues: Language Politics and Cultural Correction in Ukraine*
>
> * "Race, Media, and Postcoloniality: ukraine between nationalism and
> cosmopolitanism
> <https://anthrosource.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ciso.12096>" *
>
> Jennifer Dickinson
>
> *Languages for the market, the nation, or the margins*
>
>
>
> Best,
> Liz
> ------------------------------
> *From:* Linganth <linganth-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org>
> <linganth-bounces at listserv.linguistlist.org> on behalf of Jennifer
> Delfino <jdelfino at bmcc.cuny.edu> <jdelfino at bmcc.cuny.edu>
> *Sent:* Wednesday, March 16, 2022 9:37 AM
> *To:* linganth at listserv.linguistlist.org
> <linganth at listserv.linguistlist.org> <linganth at listserv.linguistlist.org>
> *Subject:* [Linganth] Research on anti-Black discourses/language in
> Eastern Europe
>
>
> Hello linganth folks,
>
>
> I have an undergraduate student who wants to do a (short) research paper
> on anti-Black discourses/language in Eastern Europe. She is specifically
> interested in analyzing these discourses in Ukraine, given recent events.
> Does anyone have suggestions for articles or books that would help her
> frame what is going on in Ukraine, or is anyone currently working on this
> very recent issue?
>
>
> Thanks!
>
>
> Jen
>
>
> Jennifer B. Delfino, Ph.D. (she/her)
> Associate Editor, *Journal of Linguistic Anthropology*
> Distinguished CUNY Scholar, Advanced Research Collaborative, The
> CUNY Graduate Center
> Author, *Speaking of Race: Language, Identity, and Schooling Among
> African American Children
> <https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781793606488/Speaking-of-Race-Language-Identity-and-Schooling-Among-African-American-Children> *(2020, Lexington
> Books)
> Assistant Professor, Academic Literacy and Linguistics
> Borough of Manhattan Community College
> The City University of New York
> JDelfino at bmcc.cuny.edu
>
> _______________________________________________
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>
> --
> “I believe firmly that to practice love is to disrupt the status quo, which is masquerading as peace.” --Austin Channing Brown
>
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-- 
Alexander M. Thomson, Ph.D.
Lecturer (2021 to 2022)
Department of Anthropology
University of California, Los Angeles
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