Postcolonialism in Ukrainian Culture

Colonial responsibility and ongoing postcolonial processes will be the subject of a discussion on the transgenerational experience and subjectivity of today’s Ukraine.

With

Franziska Davies Author and historian of Eastern European History
Vasyl Cherepanyn Philosopher and Head of the Visual Culture Research Center
Magda Szpecht Director, artist and journalist

Moderation: Alona Karavai Curator and Head of the Board of the international association MitOst e. V.

The understanding of the consequences of colonial rule for the former or current colonies and the colonising countries is usually associated with the invasive communication of the „Western world” with the „non-Western world”. Influenced by the process of the shifting optics of Occidentalism, the critical potential of analysing the post-Soviet situation is sufficient to change the distant optics of colonisation to a “neighborly” one, taking the consequences into account. The transgenerational testimonies and experiences of the Ukrainian people related to political, economic, linguistic and protest movements form a modern model of the post-colonial struggle and the determination of visibility for peoples and countries colonised by the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and now the Russian Federation.