Introduction to Ukrainian Studies by Sergei Zherebkin
(a mini-course)
Week One: 20.11.23 at 5pm, Laws 308.B
Ukrainian National Idea vs Russian National Idea: a Short History of Ukrainian-Russian Relations
Week Two: 27.11.23 at 5pm ,iQ East Court (Scape): 0.14
Political Life in Ukraine after the USSR: the War and Revolutions
1. How Russia’s war against Ukraine began: unexpected/expected war.
2. What kind of war is a war between Russia and Ukraine (arguments of political theorists)?:
a) war against authoritarianism for democracy (Timothy Snyder, Helen Petrovsky);
b) proxy war of oligarchic empires (Maurizio Lazzarato, Antonio Negri);
c) just war of Ukrainians for independence (Etienne Balibar, Slavoj Zizek);
3. Ukraine’s journey from Russia to Europe: Ukrainian social movements and protests after the collapse of the USSR:
a) The first Ukrainian revolution: the collapse of the USSR and the emergence of an independent Ukrainian state (1991);
b) Second Ukrainian Revolution: “The Orange Revolution” (2005);
c) The third Ukrainian revolution: “The Euromaidan” and the beginning of the war in Ukraine (2014);
d) The Fourth Ukrainian Revolution: 2019 Ukrainian Presidential elections.
4. Debates about Ukrainian revolutions (The Maidans) in political philosophy and social theory.
5. What are the a) local (in Ukraine and Russia) and b) global consequences that could a war in Ukraine have?
Week Three: 04.12.23 at 5pm, iQ East Court (Scape): 0.14
Cultural Politics in the Contemporary Ukraine: Decolonization, Decommunization, and De-russification
Week 4 of the course, will be a public lecture at 6pm on 11/12/23. See details here: https://projects.history.qmul.ac.uk/cerees/2023/09/12/cerees-lecture/