Music Research Seminar: Anna Glew

Anna Glew (University of Liverpool) will join us to present on 'Ukrainian popular music after Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion: narrating trauma in times of war'

Location: Lecture Theatre 2, School of Music

This event is part of the 2024/25 Music Research Seminar Series.

Speaker bio:

Dr Anna Glew is a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Liverpool (UK). Her PhD thesis (University of Manchester) analysed the commemorative activity of ordinary people in Central Ukraine, focusing on memorials to the Euromaidan protests (2013-2014) and the Russia-Ukraine war (covering the period from 2014 to 2021). Her post-doctoral research examines how popular music in Ukraine narrates the Russia-Ukraine war after Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Abstract:

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 has been an extremely traumatic experience for the Ukrainian society, with thousands of casualties, displacement of several million people, continued shelling, power outages, large-scale destruction of cities and towns, and high-intensity battles. The topic of war has been extensively covered by Ukrainian popular music across a range of genres (including hip-hop, rock, pop, and electronic), featuring multiple themes. This presentation will examine Ukrainian popular songs that deal with such topics as witnessing war, loss, separation and displacement, and mental health issues (including as a result of combat experience). It will focus on the following two key questions: What narratives of trauma are constructed by Ukrainian popular music in times of war? What insights does this creative process provide about the role of music in large-scale crisis situations? The paper will be guided by academic literature on trauma and cultural narratology, and it will examine the lyrics and music videos of Ukrainian popular songs that were created after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and have a significant number of views on Youtube.

This will be a hybrid event. The guest speaker will be present with us in the School of Music, and colleagues and other guests are encouraged to join us there. But if you are unable to do so then please consider joining us via Zoom.

No booking is required. Those wishing to attend online should contact series convenor Dr Ellis Jones (e.n.jones@leeds.ac.uk).