Gendered Narratives of Grief for a Fallen Soldier in a Course of the Russian Full-Scale Invasion of Ukraine as Expressed Online

Abstract

This article explores gendered narratives of grief for fallen servicemen and women in the course of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine after February, 24 2022. While the public image of a soldier typically represents a plethora of traditionally masculine features, the public nature of the private grief in the age of digitalization challenges this image. Moreover, a rather significant participation of women in combat roles adds to the distortion of the traditional expressions of grief in a public space. Another prominent factor is the sheer scale of invasion and the proximity of the soldiers to the civilians, which forges the bonds of micro-solidarities and changes the perception of the military. Drawing on the narrative analysis of the public expressions of grief in the social media, this text explores how the decentralization of grief granted by the social media and the changed demographical landscape among the soldiers are echoed in the process of mourning online. This article focuses solely on the death of the soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the volunteers who died as the result of the military action and does not touch upon the death of Russian servicemen and/or deaths of the soldiers and volunteers that occurred beyond the combat zone and military action.