Politics of Cinematic Representation of Crimean Tatars in Ukraine: 2003-2018

The Euromaidan protest brought tremendous challenges to the political, social-cultural and everyday life in Ukraine and abroad. The military invasion by the neighboring country and annexation of the Crimean Peninsula marked the appearance of newly constructed discourses. The events raised questions about the continuity of the popular paradigm of conceptualization of national identity in Ukraine. Such dichotomies as national vs regional and /or ethnic were re-constructed through practices of civic and national unity. The simultaneous emergence of diverse discourses that ideologically competed with each other (multiculturalism, ethnic nationalism and other), and simultaneously co-existed in the same physical landscape have shed light on the plurality, complexity and fluidity of visions of national identity. Focusing on the representation of Crimean Tatars in Ukraine offers a unique possibility to observe the dynamics of imaginative shifts in Ukrainian media discourses that have appeared during the Euromaidan and further occupation of the Crimean peninsula.