This interview focuses on the southwestern part of Ukraine and the neighboring south of the Republic of Moldova. Both regions have a very heterogeneous population structure, but what does this mean in terms of language politics? Which languages exist in this area? What does this have to do with the historical territory of Bessarabia, and why is it divided between two countries? What role do ethnic and linguistic minorities and their languages play in the Republic of Moldova and Ukraine? These and other topics are discussed in this episode. The podcast hosts, Tinka and Vadym, meet with Dr. Martin Henzelmann - a researcher at the University of Greifswald and a member of the UNDIPUS project.

How can citizenship be “sexual”? What does the notion of sexual citizenship actually mean? How can we study it elsewhere and, more specifically, in Ukraine? And what does it have to do with coloniality and war? In this episode, the podcast hosts, Tinka and Vadym, meet with Dr. Olga Plakhotnik from the University of Greifswald. Olga is a researcher and a PI of the UNDIPUS project.

The Russian aggression against Ukraine is often explained in geopolitical or ethical categories. Though Ukraine’s EU and even more NATO aspirations are important pretexts for the Russian invasion, this interview invites us to analyze deeper reasons behind the attack – the distrust and cultural alienation that built up over decades and play a central role in the national identity narratives of the adversaries. In this episode, the podcast hosts, Tinka and Vadym, meet with Prof. Dr. Roman Dubasevych from the University of Greifswald, also a member of the UNDIPUS project, to discuss: What the impact of symbolic war – language, memory, or religion – that preceded the military confrontation? Which role did the respective trauma narratives – Russian distrust of the Western encroachment and Ukrainian anxiety of annihilation play in the aggravation of this conflict? And finally, given the dominance of the narratives of militant and heroic masculinity and self-sacrifice in both cultures, what role the specific gender regimes did play in the escalation or even re-enactment of the war, which for both enemies seems like the repetition of their worst historic traumata?

Why would an academic project be called “undisciplined”? What does it mean - to pluralize Ukrainian studies? How do scholars of sociology, linguistics, and cultural studies work together to advance Ukrainian studies in Germany? In this episode, the podcast hosts, Tinka and Vadym, meet with three researchers from the University of Greifswald: Roman Dubasevych, Olga Plakhotnik, and Martin Henzelmann.