The Maidan Museum: Preserving the Spirit of Maidan

The book examines the relation between art created during the so-called Revolution of Dignity–Maidan Events (November 21, 2013 – February 23, 2014, Ukraine) and the mission of the Maidan Museum (Kyiv, Ukraine) born from the ashes of Euromaidan, to preserve the ‘Spirit of Maidan’. The Maidan events, defined as the Maidanization process, produced a post-colonial discourse language, a new apolitical ideology based on the concepts of dignity and Ukrainianness; generated symbols, social myths, and collective imaginary; triggered the ‘Spirit of Maidan’ that changed the consciousness of the participants in the demonstrations; and functioned as a ritual of intensification-aggregation-initiation passage, in which the identity of new Ukraine was shaped. In this transformative process, in which the human being is seen as an ‘animal identitarium’ struggling, defending, and fighting for his/her own identity, artists played a crucial role in assembling the main elements of the post-Maidan Ukrainian identity (homo Maidan), were able to empower the whole movement with concrete ideas, and finally reworked objects, symbols, and music already present in the Ukrainian DNA through a process of meaningization, symbolization, mythization, canonization, sacralization, and interpellation. This volume is based on interviews with artists who dramatically participated in the Maidan events and fieldwork at the Maidan Museum, and unfolds and identifies the main elements, emotions, expectations, and motivations of the relation of art creation and Ukrainian post-Maidan identity formation based on the ‘Spirit of Maidan’.

"This book gives voice and place to the memories and identities-crafting processes in course since the Maidan revolution, projecting itself in the current war context. A must-read."

—Maria Raquel Freire, Professor of International Relations, University of Coimbra, Portugal

"In one word only, I can summarize The Maidan Museum: Preserving the Spirit of Maidan by Giovanni Ercolani as brilliant."

—Nilüfer Narli, Professor of Political Sociology, Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey

"This intriguing study by Giovanni Ercolani, with sometimes unexpected conclusions, is a deep immersion—emotional and scientific—into the labyrinths of Ukrainian archetypes and symbols, historical memory, and cultural identity. The book will help its readers to look behind the scenes of the heritage war that Russia wages against Ukraine, and to better understand the unfairly forgotten nation in the heart of Europe, which has currently activated the transformation processes of the whole world."

—Ihor Poshyvailo, PhD in History, General Director of the Maidan Museum, Ukraine

"This book is a fundamental contribution to thinking about the relationship between social revolution and contemporary cultural policies."

—Tomas Peters, Assistant Professor of Sociology of Arts, University of Chile

"The book is an incisive and insightful interdisciplinary study meticulously unraveling a tangled nexus of identities, art, and social practices. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in Ukrainian—and European!—history, politics, and cultural production."

—Igor Torbakov, Professor of History, University of Uppsala, Sweden

Giovanni Ercolani

Dr. Giovanni Ercolani studied Political Science, Oriental Studies, Art Management and Production, and was awarded a PhD in Social Anthropology with the University of Murcia (Spain) and a PhD in International Relations and Security Studies by the Nottingham Trent University (UK). He is both a Researcher at the ‘Society and Culture’ Research Group at the University of Murcia (Spain), and a Research Associate at ‘LADEC - Laboratoire d’Anthropologie des Enjeux Contemporains’ at the Université Lumière Lyon 2 (France), while also an active Thesis Advisor for the ’Peace Operations Training Institute’ (USA). Previously, he was lecturer on ‘Global Terrorism’ and ‘Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution’ at the Bilgi University and Yeditepe University in Istanbul (Turkey). He is member of the Editorial Board of ‘The Journal of Security Sciences’ (Turkey), and Fellow (elected) of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (UK). His previous books include the co-edited Anthropology and Security Studies (Editum 2013). His papers have been published by, among other outlets, theCentral European Journal of International and Security Studies.

Chris Farrands

Dr. Chris Farrands was formerly Head of the International Relations team at Nottingham Trent University. Now retired, he continues to publish, research, and supervise there.

Delivery time	Delivery time 2-3 working days.
Foreword by	Chris Farrands
Number of Pages	214
Publication date	25.04.2023
E-book format	PDF
Language	English
Type	E-Book
e-book DRM	Digital Rights Management - Watermark
ISBN	978-3-8382-7763-9
Product safety information (EU GPSR)	read more

Through an anthropological-ethnographic approach to the study of the Maidan Museum, a living project waiting for a permanent building, Giovanni Ercolani immerses himself in feeling, listening, trying how art and identity shape each other and translate the many faces of the Revolution of Dignity. This book gives voice and place to the memories and identities-crafting processes in course since the Maidan revolution, projecting itself in the current war context. A must-read.

—Maria Raquel Freire, Professor of International Relations, University of Coimbra, Portugal
In one word only, I can summarize The Maidan Museum: Preserving the Spirit of Maidan by Giovanni Ercolani as brilliant. The book explains the transformative power of the Maidan movement in creating a new Ukrainian identity and sprit in the post-Soviet context, a phenomenon that explains why Ukrainian men and women resist the Russian invasion with bravery and dignity.

—Nilüfer Narli, Professor of Political Sociology, Bahcesehir University, Istanbul, Turkey
This intriguing study by Giovanni Ercolani, with sometimes unexpected conclusions, is a deep immersion—emotional and scientific—into the labyrinths of Ukrainian archetypes and symbols, historical memory, and cultural identity. The book will help its readers to look behind the scenes of the heritage war that Russia wages against Ukraine, and to better understand the unfairly forgotten nation in the heart of Europe, which has currently activated the transformation processes of the whole world.

—Ihor Poshyvailo, PhD in History, General Director of the Maidan Museum, Ukraine
This book is a fundamental contribution to thinking about the relationship between social revolution and contemporary cultural policies. By means of a rigorous methodology and a cutting-edge theoretical analysis, Ercolani systematizes the emergence of the Kyiv Maidan Museum in Ukraine and how the concept of “dignity” lies at the center of the analyzed issue. The study’s contribution to both the sociology of culture and museum studies is unquestionable. But above all, it is a key book for understanding how social conflict is a laboratory of images, identities, and hopes that are poured into a museum which is relentless in its mission of questioning history and imagining the future.

—Tomas Peters, Assistant Professor of Sociology of Arts, University of Chile
Giovanni Ercolani’s The Maidan Museum: Preserving the Spirit of Maidan is a significant intellectual achievement. A sharp-eyed social anthropologist, Ercolani focuses on the seminal event of Ukraine’s contemporary history—the 2014 Revolution of Dignity—, on its spirit, its multiple meanings as well as on its mythologization and memorialization. The book is an incisive and insightful interdisciplinary study meticulously unraveling a tangled nexus of identities, art, and social practices. It’s a must-read for anyone interested in Ukrainian—and European!—history, politics, and cultural production.

—Igor Torbakov, Professor of History, University of Uppsala, Sweden