Marta Dyczok

Associate Professor (Joint Appointment with History)

Marta_Dyczok

D.Phil., University of Oxford
Telephone: 519.661.2111 ext. 84982
E-mail: mdyczok@uwo.ca
Office: Lawson Hall 2246

Research Interests

Professor Dyczok specializes in international politics and history, with a focus on East Central Europe and Eurasia, and specifically Ukraine. Her research interests are on the politics of history, mass media, migration, post-communism and World War II.

Current Research Projects

1. How Has Media in Ukraine Changed Since Independence?

This project analyses media developments in Ukraine since it gained independence from the USSR. It aims to provide a broad overview by looking at the main issues and trends and is based on in-depth interviews with key actors as well as on documents, reports, and sociological data.

2. The Volunteer

This project will produce an authorized biography of a young man who joined a volunteer battalion in Ukraine in spring of 2014, whom I met during an oath taking ceremony and stayed in contact with. His story will illustrate the personal experience of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

3. Ukraine Calling

In summer 2016 I began producing and hosting a weekly English language show Ukraine Calling on Public Radio Ukraine (Hromadske Radio. The show features interviews with politicians, diplomats, scholars, journalists, activists, artists and other interesting individuals. 124 episodes have been produced by July 2019. One of my favourites was the interview I did with Canada's first diplomat to Ukraine on 1 December 2016. He revealed what was happening behind the scenes from 1991 for the first time! You can listen to all the episodes on the show’s website: https://hromadske.radio/en/podcasts/ukraine-calling

4. Media and Memory: Representations of Ukrainians Displaced by World War II Then and Now

This research project examines how media representations of Ukrainians displaced during World War II shaped collective memory and how this story challenges dominant narratives. It draws on my two earlier studies: The Grand Alliance and Ukrainian Refugees (2000) and Media, Democracy and Freedom (2009). (This project was put on hold when Russia launched an undeclared, hybrid war against Ukraine and I turned my research focus to topics related to current events. It will be resumed at a later date.)

Selected Publications

Books

Refereed Journal Articles

  • Under Review: Dyczok, Marta. “Ukraine’s Media 2014-2018: Reacting to War. Nationalities Papers.
  • 2016: Dyczok, Marta, “Rückblick auf die Entwicklung der Medien in der Ukraine – zwei Jahre nach dem Euromaidan,” Ukraine-Analysen No. NR. 163 ukraineanalysen 10.02.
  • 2015-16: Dyczok, Marta, “History, Memory, and Media,” Harvard Ukrainian Studies, Vol. 34, No. 1-4: 431-446.
  • 2014: Dyczok, Marta, “Ukraine’s Media in the Context of Global Cultural Convergence,” Demokratizatsiya, Vol. 22, No. 2 (Spring).
  • 2014: Dyczok, Marta, “Information wars: hegemony, counter-hegemony, propaganda, the use of force, and resistance,” Russian Journal of Communication, Vol. 6, Issue 2 (April).
  • 2006: Dyczok, Marta, “Was Kuchma’s Censorship Effective? Mass media in Ukraine  before 2004.” Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 58, No. 2: 215-238, NOMINATED for the AAUS Article Prize 2007.
  • 2006: Dyczok, Marta, Sketches from Crimea’s Media Landscape, MediaKrytyka Journal, University of L’viv, Ukraine No. 13 (October).
  • 2005: Dyczok, Marta, “Breaking Through the Information Blockade: Election and Revolution in Ukraine 2004,” Canadian Slavonic Papers/Revue canadienne des slavistes Vol. XLVII, Nos. 3-4. (September-December 2005): 241-266; [Reprinted in Bohdan Harasymiw, in collaboration with Ilnytzkyj, Oleh S. eds. Aspects of the Orange Revolution II. Information and Manipulation Strategies in the 2004 Ukrainian Presidential Elections (Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society, vol. 64 Stuttgart & Hannover: ibidem-Verlag].

Book Chapters

  • 2021: Dyczok, Marta and Diana Dutsyk. “Ukraine’s Media: A Field Where Power is Contested,” in Matthew Rojansky, Georgiy Kasianov, and Mykhailo Minakov (eds.) From 'the Ukraine' to Ukraine: History of Contemporary Ukraine (1991-2020) (Hanover: ibidem-Verlag/Wilson Center, distributed by Columbia University Press).
  • 2018: Dyczok, Marta, “Ukraine’s Media in the Context of Global Cultural Convergence,” in Marlene Laruelle and Peter Rollberg (eds.) Mass Media in the Post-Soviet World: Market Forces, State Actors, and Political Manipulation in the Informational Environment after Communism (New York and Hanover: Columbia University Press and ibidem-Verlag) (nominated for book prize).
  • 2016: Dyczok, Marta, “History, Memory, and Media”, in Serhiy Plokhii (ed.) The Future of the Past: New Perspectives on Ukrainian History (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, forthcoming).
  • 2015: Dyczok, Marta, “Mass Media Framing, Representations, and Impact on Public Opinion,” in David Marples and Frederick V. Mills (eds.) Euromaidan (ibidem-Verlag and Columbia University Press) (refereed).
  • 2015: Dyczok, Marta, “Threats to Free Speech in Ukraine: The Bigger Picture,” in Giovanna Brogi, Marta Dyczok and Oxana Pachlovska (eds.) Ukraine Twenty Years After Independence: Assessments, Perspectives, Challenges (Bern: Peter Lang).
  • 2015: Dyczok, Marta, “The Ukraine Story in Western Media,” in Agnieszka Pikulicka-Wilczewska and Richard Sakwa (eds.) Ukraine and Russia: People, Politics, Propaganda, and Perspectives (London: e-international relations) (refereed).
  • 2012: “Ukraine” in The Oxford Companion to Comparative Politics (Oxford University Press).
  • 2012: “Re-examining the World War II Ukrainian Refugee Experience,” in Vladyslav Hrynevych and Myron Stakhiv (eds.) Сучасні дискусії про Другу світову війну [Contemporary Debates about World War II] (L’viv, Nova Doba).
  • 2011: Dyczok, Marta, “Media Power and Ukraine’s Revolutionary Moments,” in Jerzy Onuch and Olya Onuch (eds.) Revolutionary Moments (Kyiv).
  • 2009: "Do the Media Matter? Focus on Ukraine," in Marta Dyczok and Oxana Gaman-Golutvina (eds.) Media, Freedom and Democracy: The Post-Communist Experience. (Bern: Peter Lang).
  • 2009: “Ukraine’s Changing Communicative Space: Destination Europe or the Soviet Past?” in Larissa M. L. Zaleska Onyshkevych and Maria G. Rewakowicz (eds.) Contemporary Ukraine and Its European Cultural Identity (New York, M. E. Sharpe).
  • 2009: “Media in Ukraine: Between Revolution and Election (2004-2006),” in Andrej N. Lushnycky, and Mykola Riabchuk, (eds.) Ukraine on its Meandering Path Between East and West. Interdisciplinary Studies on Central and Eastern Europe. Vol. 4 (Bern: Peter Lang).

Other Publications

  • 2019. “Media image belies lack of substance,” in Serving the People: Will Ukraine’s Political Culture Change? HURI Experts Weigh In, Commentary, https://huri.harvard.edu/serving-people-will-ukraine%E2%80%99s-political-culture-change-huri-experts-weigh.
  • 2016: Dyczok, Marta, “Rückblick auf die Entwicklung der Medien in der Ukraine – zwei Jahre nach dem Euromaidan,” Ukraine-Analysen No. NR. 163 ukraineanalysen 10.02.2016.
  • 2016: Dyczok, Marta. “Ukraine’s Media after 25 Years of Independence,” e-international.relations, 24 August.
  • 2015: “Finding Small Moments among the Wounded,” Western News, (10 December).
  • 2015: Dyczok, Marta, “Voices During the Maidan as Captured by Public Radio Ukraine", Kennan Institute, (1 April).
  • 2015: Dyczok, Marta, Ukraine Country Report on the Status of Media Freedom, Freedom House Index of Media Freedom.
  • 2014: “What’s Next for Ukraine’s Maidan Protesters?” The Toronto Star (1 June).
  • 2014: “Masked Men vs Journalists,” Wall Street Journal (29 April).
  • 2012: Dyczok, Marta, “Ukraine’s New Political Colours,” in e-International Relations, 19 December.
  • 2009: Dyczok, Marta, “Media and the Failed Coalition,” in Western Expert Commentaries on Constitutional Reform in Ukraine,” Ukraine Analyst, Vol. 1, No. 19 (June).

Recent Conference Presentations

  • Virtual Presentation at Woodrow Wilson Center: http://cup.columbia.edu/book/from-the-ukraine-to-ukraine/9783838215143.
  • Virtual: Columbia University: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/ukraine-calling/9783838214726.
  • Virtual: Harvard University: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Dp_t3QtoZQ.
  • Virtual: Podcast on New Books Network: https://newbooksnetwork.com/ukraine-calling.
  • 2019: “Infotainment on Steroids: How and Actor Won a Presidential Landslide without Campaigning.’ Invited lecture, University of Victoria, BC.
  • 2019: "What Does the Election of Volodymyr Zelensky Mean for Ukraine" Panel participant, Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, The Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine, University of Toronto.
  • 2019: “Ukraine’s media,” paper presented at Symposium Assessing the Euromaidan of 2014 Five Years Later: The State of the Ukrainian State, Pennsylvania State University.
  • 2019: “War and Memory,” Presentation at “Voices of War” Panel at the Tarragon Theatre, Toronto.
  • 2018: “Media in a Post-EuroMaidan Ukraine,” invited presentation at Symposium, The Future of Ukraine: Realities, Risks, and Opportunities.at George Washington University, Elliot School of International Affairs, Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (IERES).
  • 2018: “Media and the Maidan,” presentation at panel Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, The Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine, University of Toronto (panel co-organizer).
  • 2018: Panel moderator featuring Crimean Tatar leader Mustafa Dzhemilyev commemorating Stalin's 1944 deportation of Crimean Tatars.
  • 2017: “War of Words. Journalism and War in Ukraine,” The War in the Donbas and Ukrainian Society Conference, University of Victoria, BC.
  • 2017: “What's Changed? The Evolution of Ukraine's Media Since Independence,” Canadian Association of Slavists, Annual Conference, Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, Ryerson University, Toronto.
  • 2017: “Unrest on NATO’s Eastern Flank: Ukraine, Baltic States, Russia,” Crisis Response – Canada and the World, NATO Association of Canada Conference, Toronto.
  • 2017: “Twenty-Five Years of Media in Ukraine,” 20th Annual Mohyla Lecture, University of Saskatchewan.
  • 2016: “The Evolution of Ukraine’s Media Since Independence,” University of Cambridge, UK.
  • 2016: “Ukraine in Western Media,” Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies -MAG Summer Convention, L’viv, Ukraine.
  • 2016: “Journalistic Standards in Conditions of War,” Donbas Media Forum, Mariupol, Ukraine.
  • 2016: “Information Wars,” Panel Discussion, Petro Jacyk Educational Foundation, Canadian Forces College, Toronto.
  • 2016: “Faces of Displacement in Ukraine,” Conference, Critical Contexts of the Ukraine Conflict: Uncommon Perspectives, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto.
  • 2015: “Information Security,” III Odessa NATO Academy, Odessa University.
  • 2015: “Ukraine’s Media,” The Riga Conference, Riga, Latvia.
  • 2015: “Does Ukraine Need Nationalism?” Conversation with Pulizer Prize Winner Anne Applebaum, America House, Kyiv, Ukraine. [Watch Video]
  • 2015: Media and Memory, Researching World War II: New Approaches, National Institute of History, National Institute of Memory, Kyiv, Ukraine.
  • 2015: “Is Dialogue Possible During War?” Mohyla Debates, National University of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy, co-organized event with Diana Dutsyk, Vice Dean, School of Journalism, Kyiv, Ukraine.
  • 2015: “Identification. Demonization. De-humanization of the Enemy: The Power of Media?” The Seduction of Propaganda, International Conference organized by the Jewish Ukrainian Encounter, Kyiv, Ukraine. [Watch Video]
  • 2015: “The Human Cost of War: Internally Displaced Ukrainians,” Ukrainian Civilians in the Crossfire, Borderless, University of Toronto.
  • 2015: “The Role of Media in the Ukraine Conflict,” Ukraine and Russia: Prospects for Peace, Conference, University of Toronto.
  • 2015: “Ukraine in Perpetual Transition: War, Law and Corruption”, University of Toronto.
  • 2015: “Western Media Representations of Ukraine,” Anniversary of Ukraine’s Euromaidan Revolution of 2014 Symposium, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta.
  • 2014: “Media Wars,” The Fate of EuroMaidan in Ukraine,” Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto.
  • 2013: “Ukraine’s Media in a Global Context,” Media and Democratization in Post-Soviet Nations, George Washington University, Washington, DC.
  • 2013: “Memory, Media, and Ukrainians Displaced by World War II: Then and Now,” Landscapes of the Uprooted: Refugees and Exiles in Postwar Europe, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC.
  • 2013: “Ukraine’s Media in the Context of Global Cultural Convergence,” Braking News: Censorship, Media and Ukraine, Columbia University, New York (Conference Co-organizer).
  • 2012: “Threats to Free Speech in Ukraine: The Bigger Picture,” Ukraine Twenty Years After Independence, University of Roma Tre, Italy.
  • 2012: Keynote Address, “Media in Ukraine and the Struggle for Power, Fifth CRCEES Research Forum, University of Glasgow, Scotland.
  • 2012: “Politics of History, World War II, and Displaced Ukrainians,” Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto, Jacyk/CERES Program  (mini-symposium organizer).

Awards and Distinctions

  • 2011: Fellow Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute
  • 2011- 2013 Adjunct Professor National University of the Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine
  • 2005-2006 Fellow, Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC
  • 1998-2013 Fellow European, Russian and Eurasian Studies Munk Centre, University of Toronto
  • 2001-13 Coordinating Committee Member Petro Jacyk Programme for the Study