History, Identity, and Return of Geopolitics: Russo-Ukrainian War in the Postcolonial Context 3620-HIR-SP-OG

The course analyzes the current Russian-Ukrainian war in the broad context of their historical relations, Russian imperial policy, creation of national identities and invention of national traditions, production of hegemonic imperial discourses and their normalizing on the international scene as the allegedly “objective” and “scientific” knowledge. The brief outline of Ukrainian and Russian histories, their main turning points and mutual contradictions, sets a stage for discussion of more complex issues like specificity of Russian colonialism in Ukraine, susceptibility of the West to Russian mythology and propaganda, the discursive strategies used by the participants of the conflict and their influence on understanding and development of the events. Students of politics are the course’s main audience, though also historians, cultural anthropologists, media experts and students of the East European region may benefit from its interdisciplinary character.