Perpetual War with the Brother Nation: An Analysis of Ukrainian Veterans, Cultural Identity and Historical Trauma

Abstract

Understanding historical and cultural dimensions of pain is an area relatively understudied by scholars. This is particularly the case for those affected by war, such as combat veterans. Using in-depth interviews, this study analyses interpretations of the pain by Ukrainian combat veterans serving in the current war in the east of Ukraine. Our findings reveal two core themes that shape meanings of pain: Ukrainian cultural identity and historical trauma. Being Ukrainian is a salient construct, shaped by respondents’ identities as soldiers, nationality, and the understanding of pain as an integral part of Ukrainian soldiers’ identity. Historical trauma is experienced more broadly as a nation and is drawn from shared experiences of pain that transcend through history, as Ukraine has wavered between legitimacy as a sovereign state and colony of a ‘brother-nation’ to Russia.

Keywords:

• Ukrainian-Russian War
• veterans
• cultural identity
• historical trauma
• pain
• grounded theory
• symbolic interactionism

Notes on contributors

Roberto Cancio is a Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Psychology Applied Research Center at Loyola Marymount University. His work is focused on the intersection between the biological, behavioural mechanisms, and pathways underpinning resilience and susceptibility to adverse social and health conditions that disproportionately affect racial and ethnic minority veteran populations. Dr. Cancio is a U.S. Navy veteran.

Anastasiia Kuptsevych-Timmer is a PhD student at the University of Miami. Her research lies at the intersection of criminology and medical sociology. She is interested in causes of violence and delinquency, health of vulnerable populations and cross-national research.

Marisa Omori’s work focuses on racial inequality in the criminal justice system. She is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Miami.

Notes

1 The study focused on the sample of males because men traditionally serve in combat more frequently and directly than women (Cancio, 2018). Interviewing men also provides an awareness of masculine cultural values.