From Propaganda to Memes: Popular Culture as a Battleground in the Russia-Ukraine War
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In this lecture, professor Dmytro Iarovyi from Kyiv School of Economics looks at how the war between Russia and Ukraine is being fought not only on the front line but also in films, TV shows, memes, and social media.
Dmytro Iarovyi is Associate Professor at the Department of Social Sciences at Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), where he teaches courses on propaganda, disinformation, and popular culture in politics. At KSE, Dmytro is also an Academic Director of a PhD program in Public Policy. He holds a PhD in Political Psychology (2019), with a thesis on the psychological practices of civic confrontation on social media, and an MSc in International Administration and Global Governance from the University of Gothenburg. He is also a Lecturer and Researcher at Vytautas Magnus University in Lithuania, where he works on the issues of societal resilience to information disorders in Lithuania and Ukraine. In 2026, Dmytro was a visiting scholar at Harvard's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.
This lecture looks at how the war between Russia and Ukraine is being fought not only on the front line but also in films, TV shows, memes, and social media. Popular culture shapes public understanding of the war - and, at the same time, it becomes a battlefield of its own, where propaganda, humor, and art compete for the viewer's attention. The lecture will provide examples from both sides of the conflict and discuss why memes and films are not just entertainment, but part of the information war itself.
Program:
- Professor Geir Flikke, University of Oslo, gives s short introduction
- Professor Iarovyi holds his lecture on popular culture in times of war
- Questions and answer session
The event is open to all! Scene HumSam is situated in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library in Georg Sverdrups hus at Blindern campus.
Dmytro Iarovyi is Associate Professor at the Department of Social Sciences at Kyiv School of Economics (KSE), where he teaches courses on propaganda, disinformation, and popular culture in politics. At KSE, Dmytro is also an Academic Director of a PhD program in Public Policy. He holds a PhD in Political Psychology (2019), with a thesis on the psychological practices of civic confrontation on social media, and an MSc in International Administration and Global Governance from the University of Gothenburg. He is also a Lecturer and Researcher at Vytautas Magnus University in Lithuania, where he works on the issues of societal resilience to information disorders in Lithuania and Ukraine. In 2026, Dmytro was a visiting scholar at Harvard's Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies.
This lecture looks at how the war between Russia and Ukraine is being fought not only on the front line but also in films, TV shows, memes, and social media. Popular culture shapes public understanding of the war - and, at the same time, it becomes a battlefield of its own, where propaganda, humor, and art compete for the viewer's attention. The lecture will provide examples from both sides of the conflict and discuss why memes and films are not just entertainment, but part of the information war itself.
Program:
- Professor Geir Flikke, University of Oslo, gives s short introduction
- Professor Iarovyi holds his lecture on popular culture in times of war
- Questions and answer session
The event is open to all! Scene HumSam is situated in the Humanities and Social Sciences Library in Georg Sverdrups hus at Blindern campus.
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Where is it happening?
UiO : HumSam-biblioteket, Moltke Moes vei 39, 0851 Oslo, Norge, Oslo, Norway
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
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Host or PublisherUiO : HumSam-biblioteket
