Forum on Race and Postcolonialism in Ukraine

The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) is pleased to announce a new partnership between CIUS, the journal Krytyka, published by Ukraine’s leading publishing house with the same name which was founded in 1997, and the Ukrainian Institute of Kyiv. The partners have come together to redevelop the Forum on Race and Postcolonialism hosted by Krytyka and dedicated to the discussion on identity-based conflicts and postcolonialism. The Forum’s goal is to facilitate dialogue and debate around conceptions of race, ethnicity, cultural diversity, and postcolonialism and to highlight both individual and collective experiences across various sites of diversity and difference within and between Ukraine and North America. Now is an especially critical time in which to extend our scholarly dialogue in these areas, as the world is witnessing growing protest and counter-protest movements focusing on these matters. Contemporary events involving racial violence can serve as points of reference for terms of thinking about race that teach and enlighten, rather than constrain and divide. For many scholars of Ukraine, notions of violence and prejudice often recall past political persecutions based on ethnic, cultural, religious, or linguistic identity, with consequences for public memory and policymaking in the present. The Forum will provide opportunities for the exchange of perspectives on what it means to struggle, individually and collectively, for dignity. The work on its creation is well on the way.