About the Author

Mihai S. Rusu

E-Mail: mihai.rusu@ulbsibiu.ro

Mihai S. Rusu is an Associate Professor in Sociology at the Lucian Blaga University of Sibiu, Romania. His work combines cultural sociology and political geography to examine the politics of memory, identity, and space in Central and Eastern European countries. His papers were published in peer-reviewed journals such as Memory Studies, Annals of the American Association of Geographers, Political Geography, Cities, Journal of Historical Geography, PLoS ONE, International Review for the Sociology of Sport, European Societies, Death Studies, Omega–Journal of Death and Dying, Mortality, Europe-Asia Studies, and Nationalities Papers among others.

Contributions by Author: Mihai S. Rusu

Issue 20
national days
state rituals
commemoration
mourning
celebration

The Limits of Celebration

National Days as ‘Commemobrative’ Rituals

In 2022, six months into the Russian Federation’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, gov-ernmental authorities announced that there would be no public celebrations on Ukraine’s National Day. Celebrated since 1991 on 24 August, Ukraine’s national day marks the country’s declaration of independence in the context of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Until the Russian Federation’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, however, the holiday struggled to capture…