For almost two years the academic website Ukraina Moderna (https://uamoderna.com) has been publishing a new section titled "In the Thunderstorm of War" containing the interviews with professional historians, anthropologists, and ethnologists who found themselves at the center of the current historical events. In the new reality, these people put on military uniforms or joined the ranks of volunteers, found themselves under occupation, and gained experience of survival under enemy fire.

This project seeks to give Ukrainian academics a voice in a situation when their professional opportunities are limited by the war. It aims to make their unique experiences and reflections visible beyond the borders of Ukraine. The project seeks to weave and embed the individual experiences of Ukrainian scholars into the overall Ukrainian narrative of war tragedy, resistance, and resilience.

One of the aims of the project is to curate an online collection of interviews in German, French, and English and to present it at Swiss universities.

The presentation at the Unit of Social Anthropology will be held by Dr. Oksana Ovsiiuk and Dr. Olena Sobolieva on 16 May, 1:15-3:00pm, in room D230 (PER 21).

The project was created by the website "Ukraina Moderna" in cooperation with the NGO "Center of Applied Anthropology" as a part of the Lysiak-Rudnytsky Ukrainian Studies Programme held by the Ukrainian Institute and Ilko Kucheriv Democratic Initiatives Foundation with financial support of the International Renaissance Foundation.

The speakers:

Dr. Oksana Ovsiiuk – historian and anthropologist. The author and curator of the project "In the Thunderstorm of War". Editor-in-chief of the historical profile website "Ukraina Moderna". Deputy head of the NGO "Center for Applied Anthropology". A visiting scholar at the Social Anthropology Unit of the University of Fribourg.

Dr. Olena Sobolieva – historian and anthropologist. Head of the NGO "Center for Applied Anthropology". A visiting scholar at the Institute of Social Anthropology of the University of Basel. Co-curator of the project "In the Thunderstorm of War".