Intellectuals Versus Intelligentsia: Reconciling Imperial Legacy and Western Aspirations in Ukrainian Scholarly Discourse

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session Eight
  In Roundtable Session: Decolonial Studies and Other Geographies of Reason (Table 9)

Abstract

Manifestation of Russian imperial ambitions in February 2022 caught many globally by surprise, but Ukrainian scholarly attempts at decolonization lasted for years before the invasion. Intellectuals strive to reconceptualize Ukrainian identity beyond imperial discourse of “little Russia” by focusing on its frontier role in the geopolitical context, but scholarship evades making sense of intellectuals on the frontier of knowledge empires. This paper contributes to bridging the knowledge gap through critical discourse analysis of Ukrainian academic discourse on “intellectuals” and “intelligentsia”, the dichotomy instrumentalized by Soviet Union to juxtaposition Western and Soviet academics. The discourse in the focus of the study sheds light on decolonization of intellectual identity in Ukraine exposed simultaneously to Russian colonial legacy and Western coloniality of knowledge.

Author

• Ielyzaveta Shchepetylnykova, University of Hong Kong
  Presenting Author