Culture under the Threat of a New World War: Experts’ Reflections

Olha Smolina, Professor of the Department of Political and Cultural Studies, moderated the scientific conference “Culture in Modern and Contemporary Times: Research, Preservation, Socialization”, which was held as part of the development of the department’s international cooperation with foreign educational institutions.

During the conference, representatives of scientific and educational institutions from Ukraine, Bulgaria, Estonia, Poland, Canada, Italy, Greece, and France discussed the most controversial issues, main problems, ways and results of studying, preserving, and socializing culture. The conference was attended by representatives of various scientific fields studying culture: cultural studies, art history, museum studies, historians, archaeologists, and theologians.

Contemporary culture is a set of distinctive cultures that are in dialogue and interaction with each other, and the dialogue is not only along the axis of the present, but also along the axis of the past-future. Under the threat of a new world war, culture looks particularly fragile.