A conversation on the book "Ecocide in Ukraine," steppes, and the South

On March 27, at 6:30 PM, DCCC will host a conversation on the ecology of war, the South, and environmental humanities with researcher Darya Tsymbalyuk.

Last year, Darya Tsymbalyuk released her book, Ecocide in Ukraine: The Environmental Cost of Russia's War, in which she explores her native South and other regions against the backdrop of war and Russia’s ecocide. She describes the damage inflicted on rivers, steppes, animals, insects, and birds, as well as the everyday experience of people living through the war and coexisting with the consequences of ecosystem destruction.

"I was drawn to the issue of loss and the environment through my interviews with people forced to displace from the Donetsk and Luhansk regions after the war began in 2014. My interlocutors drew my attention to the importance of steppes, apricots, chalk canyons, and thyme for their sense of home.

It is no surprise that the loss of home and the theme of ecocide are closely linked: 'eco' in ecocide comes from the Greek 'oikos' — meaning home. Therefore, ecocide is primarily about the loss of home," Darya explains in her interview for Suspilne Kultura.

During the discussion, we will talk about Ukraine as a living space, relationships with rivers, the destruction of steppes, connections with other countries that have also experienced ecocide, and how the threat of loss brings focus to places, plants, and animals.

The talk will be moderated by Alina Stamenova — communications specialist, editor, and co-founder of POMIZH, a media outlet about Dnipro and its surroundings.

Darya Tsymbalyuk is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of environmental humanities and artistic research. She is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures and the Committee on Environment, Geography, and Urbanization at the University of Chicago. There, she teaches courses on steppes and prairies, autotheory and autoethnography, ecocide, and contemporary Ukrainian culture.

Tsymbalyuk is the author of Ecocide in Ukraine: The Environmental Cost of Russia's War, published by the British publisher Polity in Spring 2025. This year, the book received the Kovaliv Award for the best book in the non-fiction/history category. In addition to her writing, Tsymbalyuk works with visual media — drawing and creating video essays. One of her video works was featured in the exhibition Who Else Holds That Field Dear? at DCCC.

Free admission.

Register via the link.