Longitudinal, Collaborative, Trauma-Informed: International Project on War Documentation

Living in the war is saturated with situations of radical physical and emotional vulnerability that shape academic practices professionals do not usually question. Previous routines collapsed or became reevaluated. It can take years between the idea for a study and the moment when its results are available to various audiences. Since the full-scale Russian invasion, such stability and predictability is a privilege that researchers in Ukraine are deprived of. In spring 2022, scholars faced a need to react rapidly—personally and professionally—which went against their usual practices within academia. My observations are grounded in the experience of the international documentation initiative "24/02/22, 5 am: Testimonies from the War”—an interviewing project that the Center for Urban History (privately founded academic NGO in Lviv, Ukraine) started in early spring 2022 together with research institutions from Poland, Luxembourg, Germany, and the UK. In 2024, the project entered the second phase: interviewing the same cohort of people whose stories we recorded in 2022. Although the initiative arose under extraordinary circumstances, it is inspired by many traditions: oral history, trauma-informed and feminist scholarship, indigenous methodologies, and critical archival studies. I argue that even though we must act rapidly, the work within protracted uncertainty should include reflection on future scenarios and create tools to enable shared authority. My talk will outline the research design we developed to mitigate power imbalances and conflicted expectations and to nurture sensitivities toward diverse traumatic experiences. It highlights the connection between different temporalities—rapid methodological choices under threat conditions and the long-term consequences of such decisions.