Free 10-Week Online Seminar
Open to the Public
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, securitised 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 by the state. Consequently, historical politics is seen as an important means of legitimising the existence of the nation and state, consolidating society, preventing the recurrence of past tragedies. During war, historical memory is viewed as an integral part of state security. The securitization of historical memory acts as a means of ensuring the security of the national historical narrative by delegitimizing and criminalizing the “enemy” narratives, which are considered a threat to the state and society.
Dealing with Eastern Europe still often means dealing with the post-communist, post-Soviet “Eastern Europe” within the imagined boundaries from the Cold War period. The mental map of “Eastern Europe” also affects the organization of academic research in the Russia-focused approach of Western academia. This seminar will analyze the reasons and consequences for the “decolonisation” politics of memory for society, and its connection with the ongoing war in Ukraine. Participants will examine research on historical memory and gender stereotypes among Ukrainian refugees and displaced Ukrainian scholars.
Presented by The New University in Exile Consortium at The New School for Social Research.
Participants who attend at least 8 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.
Syllabus and suggested readings are available on the New University in Exile Consortium website.
Dr. Olena Kondratiuk is the former head of the Department of Ethnology of State Scientific Center for 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 Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of 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 is a displaced scholar from Ukraine, previously an Associate Professor of History at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and 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.
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