This paper proposes a conceptual framework for analyzing everyday rituals under full-scale war in Ukraine, focusing on Bakhmut (Donetsk oblast) in 2022–2023 and, more broadly, urban communities in zones of intensive hostilities. Building on the premise that infrastructural breakdown and radical uncertainty catalyze accelerated ritualization of daily coordination practices, I show how repeated forms of action, distribution, and symbolic repair of the environment simultaneously solve pragmatic problems and sustain dignity, manageable boundaries of trust (“us/them”), and a sense of life’s continuity. The framework integrates the anthropology of war and violence in everyday life, theories of ritualization and practice, scholarship on infrastructure and moral economy, and debates on resilience and cohesion under conditions of scarcity. The text formulates the core research question, offers a map of key ritual clusters (information; food and distribution; dignity), and demonstrates the framework’s analytic value through empirical vignettes from Bakhmut, 2022–2023 (field notes and testimonies).
Leila Sabina (Mon,) studied this question.