Without the State: Self-Organization and Political Activism in Ukraine

by Emily Channell-Justice

Overview

Without the State explores the 2013–14 Euromaidan protests – a wave of demonstrations and civil unrest in Ukraine – through in-depth ethnographic research with leftist, feminist, and student activists in Kyiv. The book discusses the concept of "self-organization" and the notion that if something needs to be done and a person has the competence to do it, then they should simply do it.

Emily Channell-Justice reveals how self-organization in Ukraine came out of leftist practices but actors from across the spectrum of political views also adopted self-organization over the course of Euromaidan, including far-right groups. The widespread adoption of self-organization encouraged Ukrainians to rethink their expectations of the relationship between citizens and their state. The book explains how self-organized practices have changed people’s views on what they think they can contribute to their own communities, and in the wake of Russia’s renewed invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it has also motivated new networks of mutual aid within Ukraine and beyond. Based on ethnographic fieldwork, including the author’s first-hand experience of the entirety of the Euromaidan protests, Without the State provides a unique analytical account of this crucial moment in Ukraine’s post-Soviet history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781487509767
Publisher:	University of Toronto Press
Publication date:	10/03/2022
Series:	Anthropological Horizons
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	302
File size:	6 MB

About the Author

Emily Channell-Justice is the director of the Temerty Contemporary Ukraine Program at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Note on Language

Introduction: “we provide the content of Maidan!”
1. Without Any Help from the State: Self-Organization in Ukraine
2. Twenty-First Century Leftists
3. Decommunization and National Ideology
4. #LeftMaidan: Violence, Repression, and Re-creation
5. “For free education”: Education Activism and Maidan
6. “These aren’t your values”: Gender and Nation on Maidan
Conclusion: Volunteerism after Maidan

Afterword
Notes
Bibliography
Index

What People are Saying About This

Julie Hemment

"Compelling, well-represented, and engagingly written, Without the State is an important work of scholarship that presents fresh research on a topic of great contemporary interest and (geo)political significance. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork with left-oriented activists, as well as Emily Channell-Justice's own participation in the protest events of Maidan, this book offers a rich and nuanced account of the protests and their implications for contemporary Ukrainian politics."

Catherine Wanner

"This is a wonderfully animated ethnographic study of efforts to forge new forms of political activism during an acute political crisis. Emily Channell-Justice presents emerging political actors, who seek to pioneer new methods of 'self-organization' to introduce sweeping and lasting political change. Without the State has echoes far beyond Ukraine, or even the post-Soviet space, and illustrates the spectrum of possible responses to political polarization and state dysfunction."

Editorial Reviews

“Anchored in events in Kyiv in 2013–2014, Without the State offers insights relevant for other societies that were once part of the Soviet Union and that may be currently engaged in their own efforts to extricate themselves from Moscow’s grasp. This book sheds needed light on the ideational struggles of people worldwide seeking participatory alternatives to the neoliberal economic order.”—Jessica Pisano, New School for Social Research, The Russian Review
“This book is of interest to anyone who studies protest or civil society, providing valuable insight into how activists navigate diverse and sometimes hostile spaces, adapt their tactics, and make pragmatic decisions about engaging with actors and ideologies they disagree with. It also offers an excellent example of how to write an ethnography of a protest movement: it is rigorously researched, remains compelling to read, and centers the voices of those it studies.”—Emma Mateo, Columbia University, American Ethnologist
“As an academic who writes about Ukraine, I have read many accounts of the Euromaidan. What this book delivers that no other book has offered is an intimate portrait of the activists who executed the revolution on Kyiv’s potholed pavement, and the view from 30,000 feet. Channel-Justice accomplishes these objectives simultaneously within the covers of a single book.”—Greta Uehling, University of Michigan, Slavic Review
“This short review does not do justice to all the serious issues Channell-Justice discusses in her monograph. Beyond her focus on leftist activists, she provides an excellent overview of Euromaidan’s impassioned undercurrents.”—George O. Liber, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Europe-Asia Studies

"Compelling, well-represented, and engagingly written, Without the State is an important work of scholarship that presents fresh research on a topic of great contemporary interest and (geo)political significance. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork with left-oriented activists, as well as Emily Channell-Justice’s own participation in the protest events of Maidan, this book offers a rich and nuanced account of the protests and their implications for contemporary Ukrainian politics."

—Julie Hemment, Chair and Professor of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts Amherst

"This is a wonderfully animated ethnographic study of efforts to forge new forms of political activism during an acute political crisis. Emily Channell-Justice presents emerging political actors, who seek to pioneer new methods of 'self-organization' to introduce sweeping and lasting political change. Without the State has echoes far beyond Ukraine, or even the post-Soviet space, and illustrates the spectrum of possible responses to political polarization and state dysfunction."

—Catherine Wanner, Professor of History, Anthropology, and Religious Studies, Pennsylvania State University and author of Everyday Religiosity and the Politics of Belonging in Ukraine

From the Publisher

“Anchored in events in Kyiv in 2013—2014, Without the State offers insights relevant for other societies that were once part of the Soviet Union and that may be currently engaged in their own efforts to extricate themselves from Moscow's grasp. This book sheds needed light on the ideational struggles of people worldwide seeking participatory alternatives to the neoliberal economic order.”

The Russian Review - Jessica Pisano