Listening in heritage diplomacy: Ukrainian heritage experts’ perspectives and Ukraine’s digital diplomacy narrating the EU

This article examines the importance of listening in EU heritage diplomacy towards Ukraine, drawing on the “spectrum of listening” (Di Martino, 2020). It asks: What perceptions and narratives of the EU as a heritage diplomacy actor exist in Ukraine’s eyes, and how do Ukraine’s self-narratives offset them? How do Ukraine’s diplomatic communicators narrate the EU in this issue-area? The first case analyses 21 interviews with Ukrainian heritage experts as a tool of active and background listening for the EU. The second examines the digital heritage diplomacy of Ukraine’s embassies in selected countries, revealing a positive yet limited presence of the EU and its Member States and offering opportunities for tactical and listening-in types of listening. Listening to Ukraine helps counter the Eurocentrism of EU foreign policy and aligns with the EU’s support for intercultural dialogue. The article concludes with recommendations for EU and Ukrainian strategic communicators.