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Paper short abstract:

This presentation is dedicated to the social media meme "Saint Javelin", which spread globally as a digital form of solidarity in response to the Russian war in Ukraine. It attempts to explain how stereotypical identity is formed and consumed through the depiction of a stylized armed virgin.

Paper long abstract:

With the beginning of Russia's attack on Ukraine, many forms of solidarity have quickly developed globally. Especially within social media such as Twitter, Instagram and TikTok those have spread quickly. One of these phenomena is "Saint Javelin", a meme of a stylized Madonna holding a US anti-tank weapon in her hands.

The stylized use of an armed virgin in the context of the iconography of orthodox Christianity in its use as a pop-cultural propaganda Symbol for the Ukrainian resistance allows for the exploration of intriguing relationships and connections in the context of Religion and national Identity.

While the low-key interpretation corresponds to a mass appeal in the sense of modern media, it reflects forms of exoticization of Eastern European orthodoxy in order to simultaneously construct an stereotype of Ukrainian nationality, which needs to be questioned.

The presentation will try to show how pop culture uses religious imagery while constructing an external stereotype of quasi-national-religious ukrainian identity.