The media landscape of occupied Mariupol: Practices of Russian colonization and Ukrainian grassroots democracy through city Telegram channels

• Applicant: Privatdozentin Dr. Olena Pavlova, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Modern and Contemporary History ; Theatre and Media Studies
• Term: since 2025
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 556326886

The aim of this project is to report the history of Russia's colonization of the media space of a Ukrainian city and Ukrainian activists' resistance in the context of new formats of information warfare. The focus of this research is the history of the media landscape (primarily the network of Telegram channels) that the Russians began to create in the occupied territories following a full-scale invasion in 2022. During this time, the information environment was constructed and fake civic participation was represented. After the seizure of Mariupol, when the infrastructure and the system of social ties were destroyed, the Russian authorities actively recreated different levels of urban life, from the construction of entire districts and the functioning of factories to specific universities and galleries. All efforts of the occupiers were aimed at recreating Mariupol as a propaganda showcase, a representation of the success of the expansion of the "Russian world". This included several dimensions that affected the residents of Mariupol, the internal self-justification of Russia's war, agitation toward the Ukrainian population, and a wide spectrum of different positions toward foreign countries. The life of the city, both as a whole entity and at the level of individual institutions, was duplicated by media channels. This testifies to the existence of a well thought out cultural policy of colonization and systematic development of the media landscape as basic strategies of occupation of the conquered territory. The purpose of this study is to conduct an empirical and theoretical study of Telegram channel communities active in occupied Mariupol. This study intends to compare content and metadata of channels of contrasting orientation: 1) four channels imposed by the occupants (one of which is a media channel of Mariupol University. Special attention is paid to a channel with gender themes, and 2) two channels run by the Ukrainian resistance. Basic parameters of communication, including metadata, materials of statistical services, and numbers and topics of text messages, will regularly be recorded. In addition, we will regularly monitor the dynamics of changes in the number of city-wide channels and vectors of distribution and media channels of other levels and orientation (in comparison with the structure of the media landscape of occupied Berdyansk). A number of interviews (primarily online) will be conducted to create a collection of oral history materials of participants and moderators of the Telegram channels of the occupied city.

• DFG Programme: WBP Position