Russia’s war in Ukraine has compelled Ukrainian studies to confront a number of important issues. The invasion has unmasked the need to decolonize the field, both inside and outside; to find new ways to speak to global audiences; to stay resilient in the face of existing challenges; and to build a viable base to move forward. This symposium gathers established scholars from various fields, including intellectual history, queer, gender, and feminist studies, and anthropology and nature conservation to share their perspectives on the direction of Ukrainian studies in the aftermath of the invasion. Applying the insights of scholarship on colonialiality and decolonial thinking to the concept of Ukraine as a buffer periphery, Maria Mayerchyk will analyze the epistemological challenges of this positionality. Andriy Zayarnyuk will address how the war has changed our thinking about the origins of modern Ukraine. Finally, Tanya Richardson will illustrate the challenges of conducting research on Ukrainian environmental history in wartime.

Organized by the Russian and Eastern European Studies Network.