Moderated by Serhiy Bilenky, HUSI Program Director at HURI, Research Associate at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), University of Alberta, and Editor-In-Chief of East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies
The unprovoked Russian aggression against Ukraine in 2022 evoked nearly universal international condemnation but received a much less unanimous response in more practical terms, such as political, economic, and other sanctions. Many countries, especially in the so-called "Global South," refused to introduce any measures against the aggressor state for various reasons and under different pretexts. Culture appeared to be the most controversial field, where even the Western democracies, otherwise fairly unanimous in their response to the Russian assault, failed to achieve any consensus on suitable measures and policies vis-à-vis the rogue state. While virtually no one questions the need for sanctions against the specific persons and institutions that support the war, the wholesale rejection of Russian culture and cancelling of its iconic figures is often vehemently denied. The lecture will delve into the essence of these debates, trying to represent different rationales and opposing arguments. To what degree and in what ways does a seemingly innocent, apolitical, cultural ‘soft power’ contribute to the militant ‘hard power’ of the aggressor state during the war?
Mykola Riabchuk (b. 1953) is a Principal Research Fellow at the Institute of Political and Ethnic Studies in Kyiv and, currently, a visiting researcher at the George Washington University in DC. His many books have been translated into Polish, French, German, Serbian and Hungarian, and have been recognized with several distinguished awards, most notably the Antonovych Prize (2003), the “Bene merito” medal of the Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs (2009), and the Taras Shevchenko National Prize in Arts and Literature (2022). In 2014-2018, he headed the Ukrainian PEN Center and chaired the jury of the “Angelus” international literary award. His most recent English-language books are Eastern Europe since 1989: Between the Loosened Authoritarianism and Unconsolidated Democracy (Warsaw, 2020), and At the Fence of Metternich’s Garden. Essays on Europe, Ukraine, and Europeanization (Stuttgart, 2021).
This event is organized by Harvard's Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI) as part of the Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute (HUSI) Public Lecture Series.
Persons with disabilities who wish to request accommodations or who have questions about access should contact HURI Programs Manager, Megan K. Duncan Smith, at least two weeks in advance of the session.
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LOCATION:IN-PERSON AND ONLINE STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20250723T210000Z DTEND:20250723T223000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR