WOMEN`S PERSPECTIVES ON THE RUSSIAN -UKRAINIAN WAR: WOMEN`S ROLES AND STRATEGIES FOR OVERCOMING PSYCHOLOGICAL AND POSTCOLONIAL TRAUMA IN CONTEMPORARY UKRAINIAN DRAMA

Abstract

Summary. Objective. The article aims to classify female roles and describe strategies for overcoming psychological and postcolonial traumas as depicted in contemporary Ukrainian women’s drama about the 2022–2024 Russo-Ukrainian war. Methodology. The study employs a comprehensive analysis of literary works, classification methods, and a systematic approach to examining the artistic structure of the text using feminist strategies in literary criticism, psychological theories, and concepts. These include Carl Jung’s theory of archetypes, the trauma theory, and the collective psychotrauma theories of T. Hübl, J. A. Cohen, E. Deblinger, J. L. Herman, and A. P. Mannarino. Novelty. The research is based on the analysis of plays by female playwrights about the Russo-Ukrainian war from the Ukrdramahub portal of contemporary Ukrainian drama, which have not yet been the subject of academic study. Conclusions. In contemporary Ukrainian women’s drama, the identification of roles such as warrior, volunteer, mother, refugee, victim, and narrator indicates a significant shift in traditional gender roles and the substantial impact of extreme, crisis situations on the femininemasculine behavioral strategies of women. These roles demonstrate that women in a wartime society assume functions that were previously considered exclusively masculine, such as participating in combat or engaging in active public service. Their behavioral strategies become more flexible and adaptive. A woman can be strong and independent, fulfilling the role of a protector or volunteer, while simultaneously retaining traditional feminine qualities, such as motherhood, empathy, and care for family, the weak, and the needy. The blurring of rigid gender boundaries and the creation of new, more complex models of female behavior, as embodied in the figures of heroines in theatrical-performative narratives by Ukrainian female playwrights, coexists organically with another trend – the actualization of the symbolic image of the Guardian of the Family and the archetype of the Great Mother. This trend contributes to the processing of collective intergenerational traumas, the activation of connections with family and ancestral memory, processes of conscious national identification, and the break with the colonial past.