{"id":152039,"date":"2026-06-11T11:34:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-11T08:34:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theukrainians.org\/fiona-greenland\/"},"modified":"2026-06-11T14:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-06-11T11:54:10","slug":"fiona-greenland-en","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theukrainians.org\/en\/fiona-greenland-en\/","title":{"rendered":"Fiona Greenland: \u2018Documentation serves to affirm that these works and people existed\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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This interview was made possible thanks to the support of The Ukrainians Media community \u2014 hundreds of people who believe in independent, high-quality journalism.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

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Your new book, \u201cTo Kill a Nation,\u201d is set to be released this year. What is it about?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book examines Ukraine\u2019s resistance to Russia\u2019s continuous attempts to destroy the Ukrainian nation. I use the term \u201cnationcide,\u201d coined by Ukrainian legal scholar Volodymyr Pylypenko. He identified in Raphael Lemkin\u2019s works the criteria by which Lemkin defined the process of a national community being destroyed by an aggressive state. This refers to institutions that support social life: schools and hospitals, cultural institutions, workplaces, as well as informal practices that give people a sense of unity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pylypenko is a lawyer, and I am a sociologist, so my approach is different: instead of law, I think about social cohesion and culture. My expertise in the field of culture spans 30 years \u2014 I started out as an archaeologist, then became a cultural sociologist. That is why I focus on language, religion, symbolic traditions and aesthetic practices \u2014 on everything through which a community perceives itself as such.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The book starts by documenting Russia\u2019s assault on Ukraine\u2019s national identity, and then explores how Ukrainians have resisted it and how they envision their country\u2019s future. I focus primarily on language and literature: following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a network of authors, translators, publishers and editors has mobilized to defend and strengthen Ukrainian literary output. Along with this, a new readership is emerging, along with tangible investments in promoting Ukrainian books.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, while looking for information about your upcoming book, I saw at least two versions of the title: \u201cTo Kill a Nation: Literature and Resistance in Wartime Ukraine\u201d and \u201cTo Kill a Nation: Russia\u2019s War and Ukraine\u2019s Cultural Survival.\u201d So, which will be the final title?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

True, it has changed a bit as the project has progressed. In the subtitle, I\u2019d like to highlight Ukrainian creativity and defiance, without placing undue emphasis on Russia. This book should be about Ukrainians \u2014 Ukrainian ideas, Ukrainian creativity and Ukrainian decisions regarding their democratic and sovereign future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I like the first part of the title \u2014 \u201cTo Kill a Nation\u201d \u2014 because it captures the essence of the Russian project. And this, of course, isn\u2019t just about 2022. The Russian Empire has sought to subjugate Ukraine, dominate it and keep it within its borders for many reasons, be it its symbolic and strategic importance, wealth or resources. So, I assume that readers of this book will have varying degrees of familiarity with Ukrainian history. For those just starting out, it\u2019s important to see Ukrainian resistance in the context of a longer history. That\u2019s why I tried to do this through the lens of language and literature and to explain just how important it is that the Ukrainian language survived despite repeated attempts to destroy it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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As an American, how did you become interested in Ukraine, its history and its culture?<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first became interested in Ukraine while working as an archaeologist. I was a classical archaeologist, specializing in the Mediterranean region \u2014 I studied the Roman Empire and Ancient Greece. Many of my colleagues worked in the Black Sea region, and that part of the world captivated me. I knew about the rich cultural exchanges between different peoples in antiquity, but as an archaeologist, I never had the opportunity to visit Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then, in 2023, the U.S. State Department invited me to join a project documenting war crimes \u2014 Conflict Observatory Ukraine. I was selected because of my experience documenting the destruction of cultural heritage in Syria, as well as my research on crimes against art and the global trade in looted artifacts. I worked together with Ukrainian experts, and finally got the chance to visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n