Decolonization
Selected articles published in the aftermath of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
graphic by Hrag Vartanian/Hyperallergic
With Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian cultural institutions, artists, and scholars alike have called on the international community to revise their stance on Russia and its place in the Western academic and cultural discourses. Ukrainian intellectuals have repeatedly stressed the West’s uncritical treatment of Russian culture and soft power as one of the factors that enabled the ongoing war.
About
Gathered in this selection are recent works by Ukrainian and international authors—scholars, journalists, artists, curators, etc.—analysing the aspects of Russian history, culture, and foreign policy that have been largely overlooked or misinterpreted by Western experts. The texts touch on topics of Russian and Soviet colonialism and how Russian culture has been instrumentalised to serve the Kremlin’s revisionist and expansionist policies over the years.
Compiled by the Ukrainian Institute, this collection of articles is an attempt at decolonising our knowledge of Russia by prioritising voices of its former dominions traditionally underrepresented in the West.
In English
Black Box East: Towards a Deconstruction of the “Former West” and “New East”. Mediapart. 11.11.2021
Russian Cultural Elites Want to Call This Putin’s War. But They, Too, Bear Responsibility for the Atrocities in Ukraine. Artnet. Authors: Oleksandr Vynogradov, Lisa Korneichuk. 3.03.2022
Roman Bondarchuk sends a message to the international community. Cineuropa. 7.03.2022
Ukraine Pavilion Curators’ Commitment to Exhibiting at the Venice Biennale in the Midst of War. Artsy. Author: Ayanna Dozier. 8.03.2022
Ukrainian filmmaker Alina Gorlova sends an open letter addressing the Russian attack on Ukraine. Cineuropa. 8.03.2022
Why We Need a Post-Colonial Lens to Look at Ukraine and Russia. Hyperallergic. Author: Daria Badior. 9.03.2022
Is Russian Culture as Powerful as Her Missiles? Yes, and Let’s Use It Against Putinism. e-flux journal. Author: Ekaterina Degot. 11.03.2022
Seven Truths of Russian Neo-imperialism: Unceasing Expansion. Forum for Ukrainian Studies. Author: Ostap Kushnir. 11.03.2022
Life during wartime. Chicago Reader. Author: Jamie Ludwig. 16.03.2022
Why we as feminists must lobby for air defence for Ukraine. openDemocracy. Authors: Darya Tsymbalyuk, Iryna Zamuruieva. 16.03.2022
“Slavic Studies” is a Cold War concept feeding whataboutism (video). Take on Ukraine. 17.03.2022
Decolonization and the Power of Absence or Why All Russian Culture Is Totalitarian. LB. Author: Illia Levchenko. 17.03.2022
The War of Words Between Between “Rashka” and Ukraine. The Nation. Author: Benjamin Moser. 17.03.2022
Zeitgeist. Dostoevsky as a reason for war. Medium. Author: Ostap Ukrainets. 18.03.2022
On Dialogue While Bombs Are Falling: PEN Ukraine Addresses the Global Intellectual Community. PEN Ukraine. 18.03.2022
Good Russians and Where to Find Them. Korydor. Author: Oleksandr Holubov. 21.03.2022
‘Cancel Russian culture’ as a Means of Survival. Krytyka. Author: Volodymyr Sheiko. 22.03.2022
We are fighting for the right to have a future. Olesya Khromeychuk. Author: Olesya Khromeychuk. 23.03.2022
Ukrainian Producer Denis Ivanov Gives Interview From Kyiv, Slams Film Festival Response To Invasion: “Screening Russian Films Now Is Supporting Putin”. Deadline. Author: Tom Grater. 25.03.2022
Landscape, Decolonial and Ukrainian Resistance. Blok Magazine. Author: Kateryna Iakovlenko. 28.03.2022
Russia’s War in Ukraine, Continued. Society for Cultural Anthropology. Authors: Nancy Ries, Catherine Wanner. 28.03.2022
Not all criticism is Russophobic: on decolonial approach to Russian culture. Blok Magazine. Authors: Lia Dostlieva, Andrii Dostliev. 29.03.2022
Decolonizing the Mysterious Soul of the Great Russian Novel. Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Author: Liubov Terekhova. 29.03.2022
Is “Russian world” heresy or neo-nazism? Explained by Kostiantyn Doroshenko. Suspilne. 31.03.2022
Cancel culture vs. execute culture. Eurozine. Author: Victoria Amelina. 31.03.2022
ახალი ხორცი [Fresh Meat]. Wilson Center. Author: Andrei Babitsky. 31.03.2022
The Case Against the Russian Federation. e-flux journal. Author: Oleksiy Radynski. March 2022
Amplify Ukrainian Voices, not Russian. Krytyka. Author: Hanna Hrytsenko. March 2022
What do Scholars of Russia owe Ukraine? NYU Jordan Center. Author: Susan Smith-Peter. 1.04.2022
Do Ukrainians really want to cancel russia?. LB. Author: Olesya Ostrovska-Lyuta. 1.04.2022
Fifty Shades of (Neo)Colonialism in Russian Filmmaking. Share The Truths. Author: Yulia Kovalenko. 11.04.2022
The War in Ukraine is a Colonial War. The New Yorker. Author: Timothy Snyder. 28.04.2022
Ethical Paradoxes of Russian Utopia in European Museums. Heinrich Böll Stiftung. Author: Maria Nazarenko. 2.05.2022
The Elephant in the Room. Various Artists. Author: Kateryna Botanova. 16.05.2022
The Fallacy of ‘Russian culture’ in Ukraine. Forum for Ukrainian Studies. Author: Hiroaki Kuromiya. 16.05.2022
How Russian Cinema Dehumanized Ukrainians and Laid the Ground for Today’s War Crimes. Ukraine World. Illia Gladstein. 19.05.2022
Decolonize Russia. The Atlantic. Author: Casey Michel. 27.05.2022
No Milk, No Love. e-flux journal. Author: Asia Bazdyrieva. May 2022
Decolonization and Disentanglement in Ukrainian Art. Post – notes on art in a global context – MoMA. Author: Svitlana Biedarieva. 2.06.2022
Imperial myths and genocidal realities: 100 days of Putin’s Ukraine War. Atlantic Council. Author: Nestor Barchuk. 3.06.2022
Is Russian Culture Beyond Politics? Desk Russie. Author: Daria Badior. 13.06.2022
“Friendly Foes”: Art as a Soft Power of Russian/Soviet Colonialism. Share The Truths. Author: Illia Levchenko. 14.06.2022
From Pushkin to Putin: Russian Literature’s Imperial Ideology. Foreign Policy. Author: Volodymyr Yermolenko. 25.06.2022
Halting the wheel of history. Eurozine. Author: Alim Aliev. 4.07.2022
Explaining the “Westsplainers”: Can a Western scholar be an authority on Central and Eastern Europe? Forum for Ukrainian Studies. Author: Aliaksei Kazharski. 19.07.2022
In French
Boycott. Trois cinéastes ukrainiens montent au front culturel. L’Humanité. Les auteurs: Michaël Mélinard, Sophie Joubert. 31.03.2022
In German
Selbstkritik vergeblich gesucht: die leidige Rolle der russischen Intellektuellen. Tagesspiegel. Author: Daria Badior. 12.05.2022
In Polish
Teatr ukraiński, albo o dekonstrukcji rosyjskiej narracji. Didaskalia. Autorzy: Iryna Czużynowa, Marta Kacwin-Duman. czerwiec – sierpień 2022
In Ukrainian
Біла шкіра, чорна мова. Травматичний досвід колоніального упокорення. Збруч. Автор: Микола Рябчук. 11.01.2021
Біле і чорне. Відповідь президента Українського ПЕН на лист Німецького ПЕН. PEN Ukraine. Автор: Андрій Курков. 8.03.2022
Культура не винна? Український тиждень Автор: Онух. 15.03.2022
Cancel Russia як інструмент самозбереження. Лівий берег. Автор: Володимир Шейко. 18.03.2022
Бути чи не бути? Чому українська культурна дипломатія дуже потребує «бустерної дози» у воєнний час. Новое время. Автор: Ілля Заболотний. 21.03.2022
Деколонізація загадкової душі великого російського роману. Heinrich Böll Stiftung. Автор: Любов Терехова. 28.03.2022
Низовий спротив: як українці в соцмережах скасовують солідарність російських митців. Лівий берег. Автор: Ната Другак. 30.03.2022
Чи справді українці хочуть скасувати Росію? Лівий берег. Автор: Олеся Островська-Люта. 31.03.2022
«Ця війна була неминуча»: російський колоніалізм та самообман Заходу. Український тиждень. Автор: Радомир Мокрик. 1.04.2022
«Русскіє супрематисти пустилися берега». VoxUkraine. Автор: Юрій Городніченко, Данило Тавров. 4.04.2022
«Україна як суб’єкт: пошук нової мови». Критика. Автор: Іван Козленко. Квітень 2022
Про прекрасне і біфштекси у безхмарному небі. Критика. Автор: Олександр Клековкін. Квітень 2022
Радянський гіпс & каррарський мармур («Дорогі товариші!»). Kino Teatr Magazine. Автор: Юлій Швець
In Russian
Ответ Арсению Жиляеву. В тумане истории. Status Research Platform. Автор: Владимир Грамович. 3.08.2022
Льва Толстого — в дальний угол: нужна ли украинцам русская литература?. ZN. Автор: Анна Бродски-Кроткина. 19.06.2022