Ukraine in travel writing (1994–2024)

Abstract

This article analyses representations of Ukraine and Ukrainians in four travelogues spanning 1994–2024: Applebaum’s Between East and West (1994), Nicolay’s The Humorless Ladies of Border Control (2016), Brumme’s Im Schatten des Krieges (2022), and Orth’s Couchsurfing in der Ukraine (2024). Combining imagological theory with reflexive thematic analysis, the study traces hetero-images of Ukrainian national identity across post-Soviet, post-Maidan, and wartime periods and reframes Ukraine through liminality rather than the East–West binary. Recurring hetero-images include hospitality, resilience, and cultural distinction from Russia, alongside a diachronic shift from fragmented post-Soviet identity toward war-forged national consolidation. Tourism implications are integrated throughout: the travelogues’ destination imaginaries are read alongside Ukraine’s emerging memory-tourism infrastructure, including the State Agency for Tourism Development’s Places of Memory route. The study contributes to comparative literature, imagology, and tourism scholarship on travel writing, with practical relevance to destination image management and responsible tourism in conflict-affected contexts.