Conference: Decolonisation of memory in the former Soviet spaces

Conference: Decolonisation of memory in the former Soviet spaces

Organised by the Department of History and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University (Stockholm, Sweden).

Venue: Södertörn University, MB505

Dates: 28-29 August 2023

The conference is funded by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies.

Keynote lectures:

Madina Tlostanova (Linköping University) "Transformations of temporality in the impasse of the post-soviet coloniality, or an invitation to (co)reflect on the future"

Kateryna Botanova (Culturescapes, Basel) "Decolonizing knowledge production: Ukraine between Russian, Soviet, and Post-Soviet spaces"

Description

With Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the decolonial approach became one of the main theoretical approaches taken by scholars who study societies which were part of Soviet space. Although the discussions about memory in the region are quite intensive, discussions about decolonisation of memory that could bring together researchers that study different countries in the region are largely missing.

This conference seeks to bridge the gap between studies of memory and studies of decoloniality in the region, and provide the platform for critical discussions of decoloniality and memory in the countries that shared Soviet legacies in the past. If the “post” in the “post-Soviet” became outdated, as some critics claim, can we trace this outdatedness in the concrete examples of memory work? What does the decolonial approach give to the scholars of memory? How do we understand decolonization and decoloniality in the field of cultural and historical memory, be it individual or collective?

We invited scholars representing different disciplines (e.g. history, literature, sociology, media and communication) and studying different countries of the region that we define as a former Soviet space, underlying a common experience of the Soviet rule (direct or indirect), and at the same time fully acknowledging the differences of each specific country of this region.


Register by writing to yuliya.yurchuk@sh.se by August 25.

The conference is funded by the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies.

Contact:
Dr. Yuliya Yurchuk, Department of History and Contemporary Studies, Södertörn University
yuliya.yurchuk@sh.se

Fabio Belafatti, ICOG, University of Groningen / ATSI, Vilnius University
fabio.belafatti@fsf.vu.lt