Global dialogues during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Commendable efforts to include Ukrainian researchers in academic debates on the Russian invasion of Ukraine nevertheless reflect knowledge hierarchies that characterise contemporary academia, which is compounded by the difficulties that scholars face when they study violence in their own communities. On a practical level, 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. Some Ukrainian scholars also engaged in tone (self)policing in order to prevent their arguments from alienating key audiences or being dismissed as too partisan or naive. The peculiarities of Ukrainian contemporary history and politics – (for instance, its self-perceived belonging to ‘the West’ and the fact that ‘Western' countries have contributed the most to Ukraine's self-defence) at times resulted in a lack of common vocabulary with postcolonial and critical 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.