Séminaire de l'axe « Interactions et créativité religieuses : perspectives anthropologiques » du GSRL, en salle 5.067, du bâtiment Nord du Campus Condorcet, Le 16 janvier 2026, de 10h à 12h : Nino Aivazishvili-Gehne, anthropologue, FHAB / Leibniz-Institut für Ost- und Südosteuropaforschung

Silence and Avoidance: Conversational strategies around the war in Ukraine

Résumé Based on social anthropological research, this article analyses the specific “ways of (not) talking” among people from the former USSR in Bavaria in times of war. Particular attention is paid to political issues. Analyzing fieldwork material from diverse places and social contexts, I argue that people from the former USSR – ethnic Germans (Spätaussiedler) and Jews (Kontingentflüchtlinge) often coming from Russia or Ukraine – have carefully and consciously developed specific conversational strategies to deal with sensitive political issues related to the current war in Ukraine. These strategies could be described as avoidance or refusal strategies for maintaining peaceful and respectful sociality. Examples vary depending on the situation and include “silence(ing)”, “asking to stop”, or talking in a “detached” way. Nous espérons vous retrouver nombreux ! Dmitriy Oparin (dimaoparin@hotmail.com), Detelina Tocheva (Detelina.tocheva@cnrs.fr), Virginie Vaté (virginie.vate-klein@cnrs.fr).