EU heritage diplomacy towards Ukraine: The battle of narratives in global media in the context of heritage securitization

Professor Natalia Chaban will discuss the role of cultural heritage within the EU’s external action in the context of securitisation of heritage and culture. The lecture will explore narratives of Ukraine’s cultural and historical heritage and the EU in this frame at time of Russia’s war against Ukraine. In focus are leading media of geopolitical ‘heavyweights’ in the West and Global South. The lecture will examine three conceptual intersections impacting the ongoing global ‘battle of narratives’ in the issue-area of heritage: “What is there?, “What is needed?”, and “How to move on?”

This lecture is one of the results of the project Challenges and Opportunities for EU Heritage Diplomacy in Ukraine, co-funded by the EU within the ERASMUS+ Jean Monnet Policy Debate action. The project brings together a consortium of 15 universities working at the intersection of EU foreign policy, heritage diplomacy, and memory politics in Ukraine and Eastern Europe. This lecture is an outcome of the network’s Work Package 5 “Strategic Communication”, which explores effective strategies for communicating Ukraine’s cultural heritage during times of war.