Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 2026, 27 (1): 25-50 | DOI: 10.13060/gav.2026.008

Decolonised Gendered Subjects at War for Freedom and Self-Determination: Women in Combat in Real-Time and in Digitalised Memory

Mariya Shcherbyna ORCID...a,b, Tetiana Havlin ORCID...b
a Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus-Senftenberg
b Politecnico di Torino

Women’s history has long been marginalised in dominant narratives, with archives and institutional memory omitting or minimising women’s contributions. Recognising and documenting women’s roles across warfare, social movements, science, and culture is essential to shaping collective memory and challenging persistent gender bias. The digitalisation of archives and memory practices has democratising potential, expanding accessibility, diversity, and global engagement with women’s histories. Online platforms transcend geographical and institutional barriers, integrating testimonies and artefacts in multimedia formats that foster inclusive, participatory representations of women’s experiences. In post- and decolonial, postsocialist contexts, these tools create alternative spaces to contest state-controlled historical discourses. In Ukraine, digital public history initiatives such as Incredible Women (Gender Museum 2024) and Beading the Womantory (Gender Culture Centre 2025) recover the contributions of marginalised women, while Invisible Battalion (2025) and Her War Story (Gender Museum 2025b) document women’s wartime experiences. Drawing on 25 testimonies of women in or formerly involved in combat, we examine self-representation, identity, and agency to explore how digitalised memory practices transform collective remembrance and commemoration in the context of the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war. We argue that these digital narratives function as epistemic repair, reclaiming women’s subjectivity within androcentric and imperial memory regimes, and propose the figure of the ‘woman at war’ as a discursive and decolonial subject of commemoration.

Klíčová slova: digitalised memory, women in combat, Russo-Ukrainian war

Vloženo: 5. listopad 2025; Revidováno: 9. červenec 2026; Přijato: 9. červenec 2026; Zveřejněno online: 8. září 2026; Zveřejněno: 9. září 2026  Zobrazit citaci

ACS AIP APA ASA Harvard Chicago Chicago Notes IEEE ISO690 MLA NLM Turabian Vancouver
Shcherbyna, Mariya and Tetiana Havlin. 2026. "Decolonised Gendered Subjects at War for Freedom and Self-Determination: Women in Combat in Real-Time and in Digitalised Memory." Gender a výzkum / Gender and Research 27(1):25-50.
Sdílet...
Stáhnout citaci
  • BibTeX (.bib)
  • Bookends (.ris)
  • EasyBib (.ris)
  • EndNote (.enw)
  • EndNote 8 (.xml)
  • ISI WoS (.isi)
  • Medlars (.medlars)
  • Mendeley (.ris)
  • MODS (.xml)
  • Papers (.ris)
  • RefWorks (.txt)
  • RefManager (.ris)
  • RIS (.ris)
  • MS Word (.xml)
  • Zotero (.ris)
    • Zobrazit celý článek

    Reference

    1. Adair, C., L. Nakamura. 2017. The Digital Afterlives of This Bridge Called My Back: Woman of Color Feminism, Digital Labor, and Networked Pedagogy. American Literature 89 (2): 255-278, https://doi.org/10.1215/00029831-3861505. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    2. Alexievich, S. 2018. The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II. New York: Random House Publishing Group.
    3. Bhabha, H. K. 2007 [1994]. The Location of Culture. London: Routledge.
    4. Bignall, S. 2010. Postcolonial Agency: Critique and Constructivism. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    5. Billson, J. M., C. Fluehr-Lobban (eds.). 2005. Female Well-Being: Toward a Global Theory of Social Change. London & New York: Zed Books. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    6. Birks, M., K. Hoare, and J. Mills. 2019. "Grounded Theory: The FAQs." International Journal of Qualitative Methods 18: 1-7. https://doi.org/10.1177/1609406919882535 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    7. Bogachenko, T., O. Oleinikova. 2023. The Ghosts of 'Internal Colonisation': Anthropogenic Impacts of Russian Imperial Ambitions in Ukraine. Ethnicities 24 (4), https://doi.org/ 10.1177/14687968231219774. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    8. Bohachevsky-Chomiak, M. 1995. Білим по білому: Жінки в громадському житті України, 1884-1939 (White on white: women in the public life of Ukraine, 1884-1939). Kyiv: Lybid.
    9. Charmaz, K. 2014. Constructing Grounded Theory. 2nd ed. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
    10. Charmaz, K. 2017. The Power of Constructivist Grounded Theory for Critical Inquiry. Qualitative Inquiry 23 (1): 34-45, https://doi.org/10.1177/1077800416657105. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    11. Corbin, J., A. Strauss. 1990. Grounded Theory Research: Procedures, Canons and Evaluative Criteria. Zeitschrift für Soziologie 19 (6): 418-427. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    12. Corbin, J. M., A. L. Strauss. 2015. Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. 4th ed. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.
    13. Elias, N. 1988. Über die Zeit (About time). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.
    14. Esposito, E. 2002. Soziales Vergessen: Formen und Medien des Gedächtnisses der Gesellschaft (Social forgetting: forms and media of social memory). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp Verlag.
    15. Esposito, E. 2017. Artificial Communication? The Production of Contingency by Algorithms. Zeitschrift für Soziologie 46 (4): 249-265, https://doi.org/10.1515/zfsoz-2017-1014. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    16. Fricker, M. 2007. Epistemic Injustice: Power and the Ethics of Knowing. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    17. Gender Culture Centre. 2025. Beading the Womantory (Жіноча історія у бісері / Women's history in beadwork). Retrieved 17/1/2025 (https://www.genderculturecentre.org/proekt-zhinocha-istoriya-u-biseri-beading-the-womantory/).
    18. Gender Museum. 2024. Incredible - Women Figures in the History of Ukraine (НЕЙМОВІРНІ - жіночі постаті в історії України). Retrieved 12/2/2025 (https://gendermuseum.com/2024/04/nejmovirni/).
    19. Gender Museum. 2025. Herstory of the War. Retrieved 1/5/2025 (https://gendermuseum.com/herstory-of-the-war/).
    20. Glaser, B. G., A. Strauss. 2006 [1967]. The Discovery of Grounded Theory: Strategies for Qualitative Research. New Brunswick: Aldine Transaction.
    21. Hagengruber, R. E. 2020. The Stolen History - Retrieving the History of Women Philosophers and its Methodical Implications. Pp. 43-64 in S. Thorgeirsdottir, R. E. Hagengruber (eds.). Methodological Reflections on Women's Contribution and Influence in the History of Philosophy. Cham: Springer. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    22. Havlin, T. 2015. Shift in Social Orders - Shift in Gender Roles: Migration Experience and Gender Roles. Current Issues in Personality Psychology 3 (3): 185-191, https://doi.org/ 10.5114/cipp.2015.53229. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    23. Havlin, T. 2019. Geschlechterrepräsentationen in der Alltagskultur Deutschlands: Zwischen Tradition und Gegenwart (Gender representations in everyday culture in Germany: between tradition and the present). Scientific Herald of Izmail State University of Humanities 43. Retrieved 24/7/2026 (http://idgu.edu.ua/naukoviy_visnik).
    24. Havlin, T. 2026. The Dynamics of Immigrant Agency: Identity Formation, Translanguaging and Purposeful Actions of Post-Soviet Migrants in West Germany. Singapore: Palgrave Macmillan. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    25. Hrytsak, Y. 2004. On Sails and Gales, and Ships Sailing in Various Directions: Post-Soviet Ukraine. Ab Imperio 2004 (1): 229-254, https://doi.org/10.1353/imp.2004.0033. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    26. Hundorova, T. 2024. Transgenerational Trauma and Maternal Criticism in a Decolonial Perspective. Pp. 115-130 in A. Artwińska, Á. Calderón, J. Welge (eds.). Family Constellations in Contemporary Ibero-American and Slavic Literatures. Berlin: De Gruyter. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    27. Invisible Battalion. 2025. Невидимий батальйон. Адвокаційний проєкт (Invisible Battalion: The Global Advocacy Project). Retrieved 12/2/2025 (https://invisiblebattalion.org/en/home-2/).
    28. Koobak, R., M. Tlostanova, S. Thapar-Björkert (eds.). 2021. Postcolonial and Postsocialist Dialogues: Intersections, Opacities, Challenges in Feminist Theorizing and Practice. London & New York: Routledge. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    29. Kopytko, V. 2024. "How the Legend of the Ghost of Kyiv Appeared and Who Was 'Hiding' Behind the Heroic Image." RBC-Ukraine, October 1. https://www.rbc.ua/rus/news/k-z-yavilas-legenda-privida-kieva-i-hto-hovavsya-1727777992.htmlKristeva, J. 2002. The Portable Kristeva. New York: Columbia University Press.
    30. Khromeychuk, O. 2018. "Experiences of Women at War: Servicewomen during WWII and in the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Conflict in Donbas." Baltic Worlds 4: 58-70. http://balticworlds.com/experiences-of-women-at-war/
    31. Martsenyuk, T. 2023. "Women and Gender Equality in the Ukrainian Armed Forces." In Dispossession: Anthropological Perspectives on Russia's War Against Ukraine, edited by Catherine Wanner, 208-224. New York: Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003382607-13 Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    32. Mbembe, A. 2003. Necropolitics. Public Culture 15 (1): 11-40. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    33. Melman, B. 1993. Gender, History and Memory: The Invention of Women's Past in the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. History and Memory 5 (1): 5-41.
    34. Noiret, S. 2018. Digital Public History. Pp. 111-124 in D. Dean (ed.). A Companion to Public History. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    35. Pain, E. 2016. The Imperial Syndrome and Its Influence on Russian Nationalism. Pp. 46-74 in P. Kolstø, H. Blakkisrud (eds.). The New Russian Nationalism: Imperialism, Ethnicity and Authoritarianism 2000-15. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    36. Petkova, K. 2025. Digital Mobility as an Opportunity for Social Inclusion: Forms of Participation and Social Perspectives among Roma Youth. SCIENCE International Journal 4 (2): 101-107, https://doi.org/10.35120/sciencej0402101p. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    37. Ponzanesi, S. 2020. Digital Diasporas: Postcoloniality, Media and Affect. Interventions 22 (8): 977-993, https://doi.org/10.1080/1369801X.2020.1718537. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    38. Radio Svoboda. 2025. "Ministry of Defence: More than 70,000 Women Serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, More than 5,500 on the Frontline." Radio Svoboda, March 8. https://www.radiosvoboda.org/a/news-minoborony-zhinky-armia/33340821.html
    39. Robinson, N. 2018. Digitizing Women's and Gender History. Journal of Middle East Women's Studies 14 (2): 213-216, https://doi.org/10.1215/15525864-6680244. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    40. Sánchez Hernández, N., D. Martos Garcia, A. López Navajas. 2017. Las mujeres en los materiales curriculares: el caso de dos libros de texto de educación física (Women in curricular materials: the case of two physical education textbooks). Retos 32: 140-145, https://doi.org/10.47197/retos.v0i32.49344. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    41. Sestry. 2025. Sestry - Human Stories (Sestry - Шлях додом: Історії / Sestry - the way home: stories). Retrieved 12/6/2025 (https://www.sestry.eu/kategoriyi/rozpovidi).
    42. Shcherbina, M. 2020. Beading the Womantory: Art Project as a Way to Tell about Women's History. Cultural Studies and Art Criticism: Things in Common and Development Prospects: 18-22, https://doi.org/10.30525/978-9934-26-004-9-72. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    43. Shcherbyna, M. 2020. Beading the Womantory [Жіноча історія у бісері / Women's History in Beadwork]. Retrieved 21/8/2025 (https://www.genderculturecentre.org/proekt-zhinocha-istoriya-u-biseri-beading-the-womantory/).
    44. Shcherbyna, M. 2025. Beauty Practices and Ukrainian Women Refugees in the Context of Russia-Ukraine War: Another Double Bind. Pp. 109-126 in J. Muller (ed.). Women and Their Body: A Cultural and Historical Struggle Against Tradition. Berlin: De Gruyter. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    45. Shcherbyna, M., T. Havlin. 2025. Intersectional Trap of (in)Visible Identities and Belongings: Between Engagement and Entrapment of Displaced Ukrainian Women Scientists. Gender Studies 24 (1): 23-51, https://doi.org/10.2478/genst-2025-0002. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    46. Strelnyk, O., M. Shcherbyna. 2023. Wissenschaft, Gender und erzwungene Migration: Ein auto-ethnografischer Blick zweier ukrainischer Wissenschaftlerinnen (Science, gender and forced migration: an auto-ethnographic perspective of two Ukrainian scholars). Retrieved 1/2/2024 (https://geschichtedergegenwart.ch/wissenschaft-gender-und-erzwungene-migration-ein-auto-ethnografischer-blick-zweier-ukrainischer-wissenschaftlerinnen/).
    47. Tlostanova, M. 2015. Can the Post-Soviet Think? On Coloniality of Knowledge, External Imperial and Double Colonial Difference. Intersections: East European Journal of Society and Politics 1 (2): 38-58. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    48. Tlostanova, M. 2024. The Deadlocks of Memory and the (no Longer) Post-Soviet Coloniality, or Can Memory be Decolonized? Södertörn Academic Studies 17 (4): 57-66.
    49. Tlostanova, M. V., W. Mignolo. 2012. Learning to Unlearn: Decolonial Reflections from Eurasia and the Americas. Columbus, OH: Ohio State University Press.
    50. Zaagsma, G. 2023. Digital History and the Politics of Digitization. Digital Scholarship in the Humanities 38 (2): 830-851, https://doi.org/10.1093/llc/fqac050. Přejít k původnímu zdroji...
    51. Zhukovska, N. 2025. 'Буду розповідати онукам, як їхня бабуся Валькірія боронила небо' (I will tell my grandchildren how their grandmother Valkyria defended the sky). Retrieved 15/5/2025 (https://www.sestry.eu/statti/budu-rozpovidati-onukam-yak-yihnya-babusya-valkiriya-boronila-nebo).

    Tento článek je publikován v režimu tzv. otevřeného přístupu k vědeckým informacím (Open Access), který je distribuován pod licencí Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0), která umožňuje nekomerční distribuci, reprodukci a změny, pokud je původní dílo řádně ocitováno. Není povolena distribuce, reprodukce nebo změna, která není v souladu s podmínkami této licence.


    Zpět na obsah