Testimony, Endurance, Tryvoga : A History Open to Shivering Bodies 1

This is a sel -a chi ed e sion o an o iginal a icle. This e sion may di e om he o iginal in pagina ion and ypog aphic de ails. Au ho (s): Ti le: Yea : Ve sion: Copy igh : Righ s: Righ s u l: Please ci e he o iginal e sion: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 h ps://c ea i ecommons.o g/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Tes imony, Endu ance, T y oga : A His o y Open o Shi e ing Bodies 1 © , he con ibu o s 2024 Published e sion Zolkos, Magdalena Zolkos, M. (2024). Tes imony, Endu ance, T y oga : A His o y Open o Shi e ing Bodies 1. In B. Shumylo ych, & M. Zolkos (Eds.), Psychosocial and Cul u al Pe spec i es on he Wa in Uk aine : Imp in s and D eamscapes (pp. 274-287). Rou ledge. h ps://doi.o g/10.4324/9781003449096- 16 2024 PSYCHOSOCIAL AND CULTURAL PERSPECTIVES ON THE WAR IN UKRAINE Imp in s and D eamscapes Edi ed by Bohdan Shumylo ych and Magdalena Zolkos Fi s published 2024 ISBN: 978-1-032-58224-5 (hbk) ISBN: 978-1-032-58219-1 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-44909-6 (ebk) 10 TESTIMONY, ENDURANCE, TRYVOGA A His o y Open o Shi e ing Bodies Magdalena Zolkos (CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0) DOI: 10.4324/9781003449096-16 The unde o he Open Access e sion o his chap e is Uni e si y o Jy äskylä, Magdalena Zolkos’ S a ing G an . 10 TESTIMONY, ENDURANCE, TRYVOGA A His o y Open o Shi e ing Bodies 1 Magdalena Zolkos Rep esen ing People 2 The ex s and images included in Dia ies o Wa and Li e o e hei eade s/ iewe s ep esen a ions o a people—people in he g ip o iolence, people expe iencing ea , loss and g ie , people ‘shocked in o ac ion’ 3 by he iolence o wa ha hey wi ness and endu e, and people engaged in ac s o esis ance and de ence. The ques ion o wha kind o poli ical people Uk ainians ha e shown hemsel es o be in he ace o he unp o oked in asion by Russia in 2022 has been asked by commen a o s and analys s alike. 4 Among o he s, Timo hy Snyde in his in luen ial analyses o he wa has w i en and spoken a leng h abou he Uk ainian demos ha mani es s h ough pe o ma i e p ac ices o ci izenship, which cen e on quo idian ac s o solida i y, humani a ianism, and popula suppo o na ional de ence. Re e encing E nes Renan’s well-known o mula ion ha ‘ he exis ence o a na ion [is a] daily plebisci e’ (1882/2018), Snyde has sugges ed ha Uk aine’s social mobilisa ion and esis ance e o s should be in e p e ed as an exp ession o poli ical p e e ence—a kind o a ‘ o e’ o na ional sel - de e mina ion and poli ical eedom—and hus as g ounds o in e na ional ecogni ion (Snyde , 2022). F om his pe spec i e, ci ic na ionhood is ‘no abou ge ing i s his o y in o de ’, as Snyde pu i in con e sa ion wi h Ez a Klein (2022); a he , i consis s o p ac ical e o s o ‘asse ing [one’s] own exis ence day o day’ by a ‘collec i i y [ ha exis s] because i is di ec ed owa ds [a] u u e’. The c ux o Snyde ’s a gumen is ha people eme ge h ough esis ance agains impe ialis and y annical powe ha h ea ens hei poli ical (and physical) exis ence, and ha h ough hei ‘ea nes s uggle’—a ph ase DOI: 10.4324/9781003449096-16 This chap e has been made a ailable unde a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. Snyde bo ows om he Ame ican aboli ionis F ed ick Douglass— hey a i m hei eedom (Snyde , 2022). The s uggle e eals he limi s o y annical powe no simply because i us a es he mili a y objec i es o conques ( hough ha o cou se is also he case in Uk aine); a he , i becomes a poli ical e en inso a as he s uggle cas s in o elie ha in spi e o all i s des uc i e capaci y, he agg esso is unable o quell people’s desi e o eedom. This imb ica es closely wi h how he F ench philosophe o isuali y Geo ges Didi-Hube man desc ibes images o people ising in e ol agains y annical powe (2008/2018, 2016b). Th ough hese images, Didi- Hube man a gues (2008/2018, p. 64), we a e a o ded ‘signals’ o ‘glimpses’ in o he ac ha he wo k o des uc ion, no ma e how ho i ic and calami ous, emains o e e ‘unaccomplished’ and ‘pe pe ually incomple e’. The ele ance o Didi-Hube man’s concep ual nexus be ween eedom s uggle and wha he calls, ollowing F eud, ‘ he indes uc ible cha ac e o a desi e’ (2008/2018, p. 85) in he con ex con empo a y o Uk aine is s iking. As Bohdan Shumylo ych also sugges s in his con ibu ion o his olume ( e e encing Didi-Hube man), he i s -hand accoun s o he wa ound in he dia ies, d eams and images a e akin o ‘ i e lies’ appea ing in he da k o he nigh . They a e ‘ lashes’ and ‘in e mi en ligh ’ ha signal li e, lo e and desi e ha su i e he wo k o des uc ion, appea ing in spi e o and agains he ca as ophic ho izon o wa (Didi-Hube man, 2008/2018). 5 Snyde ’s pe o ma i e concep ion o ci ic na ionhood aligns hen wi h Didi- Hube man’s no ion o up ising as he i ep essible impulse owa ds eedom exp essed by images (and ex s) p oduced in esponse o wa and a oci y. In bo h accoun s, he poli ical people appea h ough ac s o esis ance agains agg ession ha a ge s hei poli ical, cul u al and physical exis ence (2013/2016a, p. 95). The es imonies in Dia ies o Wa and Li e abound in na a i es o people’s inpu in he collec i e s uggle agains he in asion, and o daily exp essions o kindness, gene osi y and b a e y ha demons a e hei capaci y o wi hs and ha dship and o s and in solida i y wi h o he s in hese one ous ci cums ances. In his con ex , he eminis unde ones o many o hese na a i es a e also qui e s iking. They a e isible in s o ies o ‘mino ac s’ o esis ance, many o which cen e on ca e ela ions, including hospi ali y and hos ing displaced people, sha ing ood and esou ces, olun ee ing and engaging in humani a ian elie e o s, p oducing cam- ou lage ne s, secu ing medical supplies, assis ing o eign jou nalis s, lea ning sel -de ence, e c. The ela ional aspec o hese ep esen a ions is appa en as people a e equen ly depic ed being oge he and ela ing o each o he ; hos ing and isi ing, in con e sa ions, seeing each o he o o sa e y, welcoming and ecei ing o he s, cooking oge he , sha ing ood and booze, connec ing on social media and in pe son, emb acing, kissing, ouching, making lo e and shel e ing each o he ’s bodies. 6 These ‘mino Tes imony, Endu ance, T y oga 275 ac s’ o esis ance and he communal p ac ices o ca e a e bo h, in my iew, pe o mances o poli ical people (in Snyde ’s sense) and an exp ession o ‘people ising’ in hei ‘indes uc ible desi e’ o eedom (Didi-Hube man, 2016b). A he same ime, he ela ional ca e pe spec i e also expands he no ion o he people eme ging in a s uggle agains in asion and un eedom in ha he dia ies and d eams depic people no only ising ( oge he ), bu also holding (one ano he ). Tha ela ional o ien a ion links he eme gence o a poli ical people o social ca e ac i i ies ha , ollowing Winnico (1953), we could iden i y as ‘holding en i onmen s’ o ‘holding spaces’ c ea ed h ough quo idian e o s. Endu ing wa , oge he , means helping each o he bea i s bu dens. I also means o bea he unbea able, bea he auma o he wa ’s iolen imp in s and uins o he psychic and social li e. Noc u nal People A he same ime as he ex s and images in Dia ies o Wa and Li e suppo and illus a e he no ion ha poli ical people eme ge h ough quo idian ac s o de iance and s uggle agains in asion—and agains condi ions o un eedom— hese es imonies also poin o he limi s and pe haps e en blindspo s o an analysis ha associa es people solely wi h ac i e subjec hood and wi h wha I will call ‘ he diu nal domain’ (c . B on en, 2013). While hese ex s undoub edly es i y o he ways in which he h ea posed by he in asion mobilised and ac i a ed he ci il socie y and gal anised people in o igo ous and (hype ) ene ge ic modes o being and doing, hey also o e glimpses in o he ‘noc u nal domain’— unde s ood bo h li e ally (as ha which goes on a nigh , in d eams, e c.) and as a me apho ical idiom o he dimensions o subjec i e li e ha come in o isibili y when people abs ain om ac ion and wi hd aw om he hus le and bus le o public li e unde condi ions o wa . Admi edly, hese a e o en momen s when s illness and inac i i y a e no desi ed o sough by he subjec s olun a ily, bu a e imposed upon hem; he wi hd awal om ac i i y can be en o ced by he call o shel e ( om ai aids) and come om a demand pu on he bodies o emain s ill in enclosed spaces. A subs an ial pa o hese es imonies consis s o nuanced accoun s o noc u nal li e, including na a i es and images o d eams, a ec s, ea s, and desi es. W i ing o he dia ies o en goes a nigh as sleeping is epe i i ely in e up ed by ai ala ms (see esp. Iho K., passim). The spa ial igu a ion o he ‘noc u nal people’ is hei con ainmen wi hin he unde g ound bomb shel e . I ea u es in he d eams and dia ies as a ma e ial con aine o human and animal bodies immobilised wi hin i , wai ing o he dange o pass (see e.g. Kh ys ia M., Ma ch 2, p. 51; S e aniia K., Ma ch 11 & Ap il 18, p. 61, 63). 7 Shel e is also a me apho 276 Magdalena Zolkos o a s uc u e ha is simul aneously p o ec i e and h ea ening as in Yelyza e a B.’s d eam when bombing u ns he shel e in o a mass o deb is and ans o ms i s shielding ca apace in o a omb (Ma ch 06, p. 215). 8 The ‘noc u nal’ designa es hose aspec s o subjec i e li e whe e conscious- ness loosens i s g ip on he subjec : d eaming, an asising, o in ense a ec i e expe iences. A ending o his domain, and o ela ing i mo e closely o he poli ical no ion o he people, oubles he idealised no ion o ci icness as a social mobilisa ion and akes s ock o he psycho-social cos s o (hype ) ac i i y and exci abili y induced by he condi ions o wa . The la e leads o deple ion o ene gy, exhaus ion, bu nou and a igue. 9 The e is a ecu ing pendula dynamic in con ibu ions o Dia ies o Wa and Li e as hei cha ac e s mo e be ween ac i e, diu nal li e and i s suspension o b acke ing by momen s o noc u nal wi hd awal om ac i i y, s illness and wai ing. This peculia wa - ime e sion o he F eudian ‘ o -da’ game (‘now you see me, now you don’ ’) 10 o eg ounds a no ion o he subjec caugh up in he oscilla ing mo emen be ween psychic, social and co po eal exci a ion and ac i i y and he sel ’s wi hd awal om he public eye in o a space o in ense eelings, obsessi e hough s, he unconscious, and en o ced s illness, whe e he auma ic e ec s on he psyche and he body become appa en (see also F osh in his olume). Cen i ugal Voices As igu a ions o poli ical people, Dia ies o Wa and Li e a i ms wha Didi- Hube man calls he ‘double di icul y’, o ‘double apo ia’, o ep esen ing ‘a people’ (2013/2016, p. 65). Fi s , ha di icul y is due o he ac ha any a emp s a g ounding ‘a people’ in no ions o oneness, cohe ence and indi isibili y, e en he people’s coming oge he is he e ec o he wa is oubled by he i educible plu ali y o iews, a ec s, expe iences and posi ions exp essed in hese dia ies. D awing on Hannah A end ’s discussion o kinship ha , when inco po a ed in o imagina ies o democ a ic oge he - ness, A end desc ibes as a ‘pe e sion o poli ics’ (1993/2005, p. 94), 11 Didi-Hube man a gues ha he eme gence o a poli ical people in ol es plu ali y. He w i es: ‘[poli ics] is in e es ed p ecisely in […] [ hose] men, whose mul iplici y is modula ed di e en ly each ime, whe he i be in con lic o communi y’ (Didi-Hube man, 2013/2016a, p. 65). 12 The second di icul y is ha jus as poli ics akes mul iplici y and di e ence as condi ions o possibili y, he aes he ic ield also deals wi h ‘ he ac o plu ali y’ (A end , 1993/2005, p. 93). The e is no singula o o al ‘image’; in ac , as Didi-Hube man a gues, he wo d ‘image’ is a misnome . The e a e only e e images ‘whose e y mul iplici y [ esis s] syn hesis’ (Didi-Hube man, 2013/2016a, p. 65). Tes imony, Endu ance, T y oga 277 The poli ical impo o Dia ies o Wa and Li e is mos appa en when i s con ibu ions do no comply wi h a uni o m image o a uni ied na ion. On nume ous occasions he na a i e and isual ep esen a ions a hand esis he colla ion and homogenisa ion o peoples’ expe iences o wa in o an indi isible o ali y o ‘oneness’ o people who a e uni ed in hei su e ing. Ins ead, by asse ing he i educible mul iplici y o posi ions, expe iences and iews, he dia ies, d eams and images depic wi h unapologe ic ankness subjec i i ies ha di e ge om he dominan ep esen a ions o he wa and o he ci ic mobilisa ion in esponse o i (including he ecu en homo- genising and idealising depic ions in he Wes ). 13 An impo an pa o such homogenised and uni ied ep esen a ions conce ns he domain o e ec and emo ions whe e ce ain ways o eeling a e an icipa ed and app o ed, while o he s a e ill- i ing and ma ginalised, so as o bu ess he dominan ep esen a ions o collec i e cou age in he ace o he wa , mo al supe io i y and ic imhood. Wha is s iking abou he emo ional depic ions in Dia ies o Wa and Li e is p ecisely he ex en o which many con ibu o s esis and de y hese hegemonic ep esen a ions and expec a ions. Wi h his, hey e use o g a i y and be disciplined by he ‘Wes e n gaze’ ha exe s p essu es on hem o comply wi h hese (o en con adic o y) ep esen a ions: b a e y in he ace o wa ha mani es s as an un al e ing will o igh , he ou pou ing o g a i ude and hanks o s a es g an ing p o ec ion o e ugees and o e ing mili a y and humani a ian help, uncomp omised social solida i y, e c. Examples o esis ing hese ep esen a ions in he dia ies abound, such as Anas asiia B.’s desc ip ion o seeking p o ec ion in K akow, in which she de ies he ame o a g a e ul e ugee and e uses o be educed o ic imised subjec posi ion. Cha ac e is ically succinc in he depic ion o he hos socie y, Anas asiia makes only wo obse a ions: she no es he palpable ea among Polish people as po en ial a ge s o a u u e a ack and ema ks on he quo idian di icul ies caused by he in lux o e ugees, such as s ains on he u ban in as uc u es and ailu es o he sewage sys em (Ma ch 30, p. 205). Pi ing he physical eali y o blocked oile s and he linge ing s ink agains he in a ua ing na a i es o Polish-Uk ainian kinship, he ex esis s discu si e idealisa ion and s ops in hei acks hose eade s who c a e g a i ica ion o being ‘on he igh side o his o y’. Re using he dominan no ms o socially sanc ioned beha iou and eelings (wha emo ions a e ‘app op ia e’ o he ‘g a i y’ o wa ?), o he au ho s also gi e a s ikingly hones and non-idealis ic accoun o a gamu o emo ions, na a ing ambi alence, annoyance, us a ion, disillusionmen e en e ulsion and disgus . They admi being eluc an owa ds pa icipa ion in di ec comba (Dana K., Ma ch 17, p. 229; Bohdan S., Ma ch 5, p. 238), ankly eco d ailu es o solida i y and suppo (such as ins ances o he a ain s a ions c owded wi h e ugees), a imes oice a e sion owa ds humani a ian and 278 Magdalena Zolkos olun ee wo k, and, on nume ous occasions, exp ess desi e o e enge (e.g. Dana K., Ap il 3, p. 230). Las bu no leas , hey a e unabashed in hei ep esen a ions o some o he Wes e n esponses o he wa , calling ou cases o igno ance, nai e y and oppo unism. This quali y o psychic hones y o he na a i es and pho og aphs ex ends o hei ep esen a ions o beau y, joy, and pleasu e as ‘ hings’ ha do no disappea du ing wa , hough hey migh ‘clash’ wi h some o i s ep esen- a ions (see e.g. Dana K., Ma ch 14, p. 228; Kh ys ia M. Ma ch 2, p. 51; Anas asiia I., Ma ch 9, p. 233). These quali ies a e pe haps e e mo e impo an as hey ancho he subjec in li e-nou ishing and li e-a i ma i e expe iences and ela ions wi h o he s. A s iking case o a c i ical esponse o censo ship o aes he ics and eelings deemed ‘incompa ible’ wi h he wa si ua ion is in Dana K.’s dia y en y om Ma ch 14. She eco ds being en aged a a Ge man pho og aphe who edi s a sunse image o align i wi h he dominan iconog aphy o wa , hus oning down he pho og aph’s colou s o a ‘d ama ic e ec ’. ‘To my mind [i is] almos he same as lying abou he numbe o ic ims’, Dana K. w i es. And she asks: ‘[w]hy is i necessa y o lie abou he ac ha he e is beau y du ing he wa [?]’. To use once mo e Didi-Hube man’s wo ds, he beau y is he sunse o ms a ‘ end’ in he cul u al aes he ics o wa image y; a ‘suddenly mani es ed kno o an a bo escence o associa ions o con lic ual meanings’ (1990/2005, p. 19) ha needs o be he eby neu alised o emo ed. In con as , he pe spec i es in Dia ies o Wa and Li e o e an asso men o dispe sed and cen i ugal oices ha ‘pull away’ om he singula and uni ied image o a singula and indi isible ‘people’. In his analysis o images om he Ringelblum A chi e Didi-Hube man speaks o ‘sca e ed ways o looking’ and ‘sca e ed mo al pe spec i es’ (2019, pp. 10, 16), making he poin ha esis ance agains opp essi e powe o en akes he o m o seemingly mundane and discon- nec ed ac ions and ges u es. They a icula e poli ical people in spi e o (o because o ) emaining ‘plu al, di ided by b eaches, issu es, con lic s’ (2019, p. 38). Dia ies o Wa and Li e a e p ecisely such ep esen a ions o he e ogeneous, disuni ied and ‘sca e ed’ people, who cons i u e a poli ical communi y h ough ela ional p ac ices o endu ance. The T embling Subjec In he p e ious sec ions, I ha e sugges ed ha he con ibu o s o Dia ies o Wa and Li e a icula e ‘noc u nal people’ by b inging in o he ield o isibili y elemen s om ou side o he (‘diu nal’) domain o ac i e li e, including he na a ion o sec e ea s, d ead and anxie y; ou lining d eam- images; pains akingly mapping in ense a ec i e expe iences. The signi icance o emo ions and e ec s ha can be u he illumina ed by si ua ing hese ex s is-à- is Pie e Rosan allon’s axonomy o democ a ic ep esen a ion, Tes imony, Endu ance, T y oga 279 which dis inguishes be ween ‘opinion-people’, ‘na ion-people’ and ‘emo ion- people’ (1998). The ‘opinion-people’ (le peuple-opinion) highligh s he e ec s o e bal a icula ions o posi ions and iewpoin s o he o ma ion o he democ a ic subjec , and he ‘na ion-people’ (le peuple-na ion) ocuses on cul u al and poli ical a ibu es ha o m he sca olding o na ional iden i y. In he case o he ‘emo ion-people’ (le peuple-émo ion) collec i e poli ical iden i y is exp essed ‘in a pa he ic mode’ (Rosan allon ci ed in Didi- Hube man, 2013/2016a, p. 67). D awing on ha axonomy o ep esen ing (and imagining) people, Didi-Hube man (who c i iques Rosan allon o his ques ioning o he democ a ic ele ance o emo ions) p oposes ha a en ion o eelings, e ec s and embodied sensa ions is key o opening c i ically he ques ion o who coun s as a his o ical subjec . I is by paying a en ion o no only he quo idian, bu , I a gue, also o he noc u nal ha his o ical subjec i i y (and his o ical expe ience) can be plu alised beyond he domi- nan s a e-cen ic, masculine discou ses o wa and na ionhood. In his con ex , he impo ance o he a chi e o Dia ies o Wa and Li e lies in hei depic ion o how people as (in A le e Fa ge’s wo ds) ‘beings o he lesh’ become subjec s o his o y; how hey a e ‘ac ed upon’ by his o y and, in u n, how hey also ‘ac upon’ he sel (Fa ge, 2007, pp. 9–10, ci ed in Didi- Hube man, 2013/2016a, p. 77). These psycho-social eco ds o wa imb i- ca e closely wi h a heo e ical posi ion acco ding o which ‘his o y is no ecoun ed solely h ough a sequence o human ac ions bu also h ough en i e cons ella ions o passions and emo ions el by he people’, which ‘opens his o y’ o he p esence o ‘a ec ed bodies’ and ‘a ec i e bodies’ (Didi-Hube man, 2013/2016a, pp. 77–78). One way in which such a ec i e his o y mani es s in hese ex s is h ough he igu e o a shi e ing body. A shi e ing, embling body is nei he mo ing no s a ic. In he dia ies, he bodily shi e can come in he absence o means o e balise an expe ience: ‘I [ eel speechless all he ime] as i wo ds we e apped om me like blood. I am shi e ing, eezing and e e ing wi hou wo ds’ (Yelyza e a B., Ma ch 29, p. 217). Ma iana H. w i es: ‘my hands emble, and I s a con using wo ds and me ging se e al in o one’ (Feb ua y 26, p. 207). The shi e a ies in in ensi y and ola ili y. I egis e s on he body wa ’s iolence and as such i places he subjec wi hin he wa ’s his o y as pa o he poli ical people a ec ed by i . I is bo h in he p esen and in ela ion o he pas and u u e: [M]y body is al eady shaking so much I jus can’ keep mysel on my ee . And I wouldn’ say ha I was shaking wi h ea , no. I I was wo ied, I was mos a aid […] o he u u e o my coun y. E e y hing looked consis en in my head: he e will be no coun y, no u u e o my people […]. (Polina S., Feb ua y 24, p. 88) 14 280 Magdalena Zolkos