Historical Memory During the Russo-Ukrainian War: Etatism, Securitisation, and Decolonisation
Free 10-Week Online Seminar
Hosted on Zoom – Register for Link
Every Wednesday, March 6 – May 8, 2024
9:00 – 10:30 AM ET
Course Description:
This 10-week seminar will focus on historical memory as one of the main battlefields of the war between Russia and Ukraine. Not only in Ukraine and Russia, but also in other Central and Eastern European countries, states have increased their control over historical memory, securitized the sphere of humanitarian policy, and continue to discuss the “cleaning” of imperial markers from public space.
One of the primary characteristics of the memory landscape of Central and Eastern Europe is the state’s pivotal role in shaping the politics of memory through legislation and public institutions (institutes and commissions of national memory). It will examine the concept of a “vulnerable nation,” history, and memory, all of which are constantly threatened by prohibitions and destruction. We will explore historical memory as an important means of legitimizing the existence of the nation and state, consolidating society, and preventing the recurrence of past tragedies. Participants will also examine the legacy of post-communist, post-Soviet “Eastern Europe” within the imagined boundaries from the Cold War period and the consequences of this paradigm for Eastern Europe today.
Seminar Co-Leaders
Dr. Olena Kondratiuk
Dr. Olena Kondratiuk is the former head of the Department of Ethnology of the State Scientific Center for the Protection of Cultural Heritage from Technological Disasters in Ukraine. Since then, Kondratiuk has been recording testimonies of Ukrainian refugees. As a researcher, she is associated with the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, The Mieroszewski Centre, Institut für die Wissenschaften vom Menschen Institute for Human Sciences, Department of Artes Liberales, the University of Warsaw, and projects such as “02.24.2022, 5 AM: Testimonies from the War” and “Documenting Ukraine”.
Dr. Yurii Latysh
Dr. Yurii Latysh is a displaced scholar from Ukraine, previously an Associate Professor of History at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and a Visiting Researcher at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. While at Tara Shevchenko National University, he created and headed the undergraduate degree program, “Applied (Public History”. His research focuses on memory studies, historiography, Ukrainian history, Russian history, and public intellectuals. Dr. Latysh is currently a Visiting Researcher at the European Humanities University in Vilnius, Lithuania.
More Information
Participants who attend at least 8 out of 10 complete seminar sessions will receive a certificate of satisfactory completion signed by the Dean of The New School for Social Research. In order to obtain the certificate, participants must register and log in with the same email address each week.
Registration will remain open for the duration of the seminar. Registrants will receive a reminder email with the Zoom link each week. The seminar sessions will be recorded and available to registrants on Vimeo the following week.