Affects of the Russo-Ukrainian War in Georgia: Russian Voices in the Urban Spaces of Tbilisi
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22333/ijme.2025.10416Keywords:
Affect; voice; memory; Russian language; Russo-Ukraine war; Russian imperialism; Tbilisi; Georgia.Abstract
The paper investigates the ongoing transformation of the urban spaces in Tbilisi, Georgia, after the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine starting from February 2022. More specifically, the authors focus on the increasingly frequent sounds of the Russian language in different public spaces of the capital city, triggering various unsettling emotions and anxiety among locals. By building on the affect theory, the paper explains how and why specific uncanny feelings emerge among Georgians while encountering Russian-speaking newcomers after 2022. Based on interviews and digital ethnography, the article connects individual affective responses to the larger historical and geopolitical events through the categories of voice, memory and language.
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