Russia’s Unrecognized Crimes: Colonial Erasure of Culture and Theft of Cultural Identities, Archives, and Artefacts

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

By interrogating the intersections of power, identity, and representation embedded within literature, fine art and theatre, this roundtable underscores the diverse national identities that have shaped the stolen cultures of Ukraine and Belarus. Alesia Mankouskaya will interrogate Russian literary and theatrical discourses in the 17th century by highlighting the poet Simeon of Polotsk’s Belarusian legacy as well as the Ukrainian legacy of Theophan Prokopovich, the dramatist from Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. Olha Khometa will highlight the phenomenon of Ukrainian Jewish Russophone literature of the twentieth century by illuminating the Ukrainian legacy and the civic Ukrainian identity of Eduard Bagritskii, Isaac Babel and Semen Gekht. Maria Shuvalova will highlight the erasure of a national/local identity in a private space on the example of Volodymyr Dibrova’s short fiction. Oksana Semenik will speak about Russia’s theft of Ukrainian art, both symbolic and physical. The symbolic refers to the appropriation of Ukrainian art history by Russia as well as the erasure of Ukrainian identity among artists. The physical refers to museum values that were taken from Ukrainian museums during the Russian Empire and the Soviet Ukraine along with the destruction of art works and art schools. Finally, Ksenya Kiebuzynsky will speak about Russia’s theft and ongoing holdup of Ukrainian archives. By amplifying the voices of Ukrainian and Belarusian scholars, artists and librarians, the speakers embark on a journey of rediscovery and affirmation of their cultural identity and, ultimately, of regaining the agency to define their own culture, putting an end to Russians’ long-standing erasure of national cultures.

Sub Unit

• Literature: 20th Century

Chair

• Alesia Mankouskaya, U College London (UK)

Roundtable Members

• Ksenya I. Kiebuzinski, U of Toronto (Canada)

• Alesia Mankouskaya, U College London (UK)

• Oksana Semenik, Ukrainian Museum in New York