A1 Journal article (refereed)
Peace and War in Our Bodies and Minds : Public Subversion vs. Mass Totalization (2023)

Romashko, T. (2023). Peace and War in Our Bodies and Minds : Public Subversion vs. Mass Totalization. Visual Anthropology, 36(4), 421-442. https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2023.2210031

JYU authors or editors

Romashko, Tatiana

Publication details

All authors or editors: Romashko, Tatiana

Journal or series: Visual Anthropology

ISSN: 0894-9468

eISSN: 1545-5920

Publication year: 2023

Volume: 36

Issue number: 4

Pages range: 421-442

Publisher: Routledge

Publication country: United Kingdom

Publication language: English

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08949468.2023.2210031

Publication open access: Openly available

Publication channel open access: Partially open access channel

Publication is parallel published (JYX): https://jyx.jyu.fi/handle/123456789/92543

Abstract

This article explores the political impact of street art and symbolic creativity in challenging official hegemony. It focuses on the Russian case of social conflict around the 2022 war in Ukraine, specifically analyzing pro-war “Z” propaganda and anti-war resistance in different cities. Using post-structuralist and visual biopolitical perspectives, the article examines the meaning and effects of “Z-tification” and the underground resistance to it. It argues that visual biopolitics reveals hidden aspects of political agency in a conformist society, and that Glynos and Howarth’s explanatory logics approach highlights the nature of popular protests. The research is based on an analysis of visual material from both oppositional and pro-government Telegram channels.

Keywords: Russian invasion of Ukraine 2022; totalitarianism; hegemony; propaganda; activism; resistance (politics); visual culture; graffiti; symbols; post-structuralism; biopolitics