contributors

Articles by Gustav Strandberg

1. Erika Öhlund (139) More than food production: Multifunctional agriculture in policy and practice

    Abstract [en] Over the course of the past century, European agriculture has transitioned from small-scale, manual farming to more mechanised, […]

2. Russia Through the Eyes of Its Neighbours: The Ongoing War and Regional Security

   The international conference “Russia Through the Eyes of Its Neighbours: The Ongoing War and Regional Security” which was held in Stockholm on September 18–19, 2025, brought together leading scholars and policy experts from across Europe, providing a platform to assess how Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine continues to reshape the geopolitical and security landscape of the region.

3. Yuri Latysh, Ukrainian historian:  “The politics of memory has become an important part of the Russo-Ukrainian war”

   Yurii Latysh, PhD (Candidate of Historical Sciences), visiting Professor of State University of Londrina (Brazil), deputy editor-in-chief of the journal Historical Expertise (Istoriceskaja Ekspertiza), in a discussion with Denys Kiryukhin on how the Russo-Ukrainian war has affected the politics of memory in Eastern Europe.

4. Introduction. Sounds in times of war Popular music, (contentious) politics and social change since Russia’s war on Ukraine

   That music may connect well with violence contradicts common understandings of music being a force of good which brings people together. While acknowledging that music can harmonize social relations, this special issue highlights the idea that music can equally justify war and ignite conflicts. Exploring music from such a matter-of-fact viewpoint shifts scholarly attention to the relationship between music, politics, and societal dynamics. This special issue does so in the context of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

5. Listening to alternative histories through independent sound media in Ukraine

   This essay, based on broader research on independent radio stations from Kyiv, Gasoline Radio and 20ft Radio, and an independent label, Shukai, looks at how these sound media can engage with cultural history and offer different ways to think about archiving. Through applying Diana Taylor’s use of repertoire to three specific sound examples (a radio show, an installation, and a record), I argue that these alternative sound media formats allow an open and dynamic reading of cultural works of the past. The role practitioners seem to take up is to look for and fill gaps they see in mainstream public discourse in relation to Ukrainian music, culture, and sound media history. Listening for the missing knowledge from the past allows the audience to attune it with imaginations of the future.

6. Folk music (post)revival in (re)invented Ukrainian military funeral. A research note on wartime ritual practice

   This research note investigates the revival of Ukrainian folk music in the (re)invented military funeral rituals during the ongoing war on Ukraine. Since the 2022 full-scale invasion, elements of folk music – such as historical Cossack songs, the Carpathian trembita, and lullabies – have re-emerged in urban civic mourning, symbolizing national grief, resistance, and identity. Drawing on concepts of revival, postrevival, and (re)invention (Livingston, Bithell & Hill, Hobsbawm, Prickett), the article examines how these musical forms are recontextualized in response to trauma and loss. Through three specific case studies, the article explores how Ukrainian folk music has been adapted to contemporary urban ritual settings and examines its role in shaping symbolic expressions of memory, resilience, and cultural continuity in wartime Ukraine. The study contributes to the broader discourse on the role of music in ritual transformation in the context of war and conflict.

7. Raving, rebuilding, and resisting. Rave tolokas as communal electronic music practices in wartime Ukraine

   This research examines the uncharted phenomenon of rave tolokas, where electronic dance music practice merges with cleaning war-torn villages in Ukraine, fostering community, resistance, and cultural identity amidst the full-scale war in Ukraine. It interprets rave tolokas as embodied, physicalaffective experiences that intertwine dance and labor to restore cultural spaces. Through music and sonic material, participants actively confront war, challenging narratives of rave culture as escapism. Contributing to (ethno)musicology and conflict studies, this work highlights music’s multifaceted roles in armed conflict. It draws on participatory digital ethnographic methods, including in-depth interviews, addressing the challenges of conducting wartime research.

8. Processing of the Russian war against Ukraine in the lyrics of Ukrainian rappers in Ukraine, Germany, and Russia

   This article is a linguistic exploration of the lyrics and selected social media posts of nine contemporary rappers from Ukraine, Russia, and Germany, all of whom are of Ukrainian descent. The selection of these artists is based not only on their ethnic background but also on their considerable popularity and cultural influence within their respective countries. The primary objective of this study is to examine the pragmatic aspects of their lyrics and linguistic behavior, with particular attention to potential instances of language shift or code-switching, which can be socio-politically motivated. Additionally, the article explores the role these artists play in the sociopolitical landscape shaped by Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine. Given that rap has emerged as one of the most dynamic genres in global mainstream music, it is imperative to analyze the messages conveyed in its lyrics, as they now reach a significantly broader audience compared to the genre’s early decades (1970s–1990s). Many of these musicians have attained the status of opinion leaders, amplifying their sociopolitical influence. Within the broader context of East Slavic linguistic dynamics, the choice of language – regardless of its pragmatic function – can itself serve as a potent political statement.

9. Remixing nationalism. Gender and sexuality in Russian popular music and its reception on TikTok and Instagram

   The full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022 has exacerbated Russian nationalism, as reflected in popular music and its reception on digital media. This article explores the role of gender and sexuality in formulating and negotiating ideas about the Russian nation since the start of the full-scale invasion, focusing on the circulation and reception of the songs and music videos by the Russian singers Shaman and Tatiana Kurtukova. Both performers occupy a significant place within a broader landscape of Russian popular music and are popular on social media platforms, where users generate content that features their songs. The analysis focuses on the ways (dis)identifications with Russianness in and through popular music are performed and highlights popular music’s symbolic capacity to naturalize normative ideas about gender and sexuality as well as the war in Ukraine.

10. Performing homeland and the de-/legitimation of war. A multimodal analysis of music videos

    How is war legitimated and delegitimated in music videos? We seek to answer this question using the example of depictions of Russia as a homeland in contemporary music videos. Advancing a multimodal, sound-oriented method to analyze music videos, we engage with the interplay of sound, moving images, and lyrics. How is homeland performed in music videos? Analyzing music videos and performances by Sobor (Ukrainian pro-separatist), Shaman (Russian), and Zemfira (in exile), we find that violence remains hidden in pro-war performances, while emphasizing a Russian-Soviet way of life. Depictions of traditional food and binary gender roles play a central role in pro-war, imperialnationalist renderings of homeland while performances mixing Russian food with hand grenades and questioning traditional femininity subvert such romanticization.

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