Russia's War on Ukraine: Culture, Memory, Politics - with Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed

**This event is being rescheduled remotely, after in-person lecture was cancelled due to travel complications.**

In 2014, the Russian Federation occupied Crimea, violating Ukraine's territorial integrity and breaching a number of international agreements. In the Russian rhetoric, however, Crimea was reintegrated as a symbol of Russia's power and national pride. Eight years later on February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine which has already led to millions of refugees, thousands of innocent civilians killed, and a number of war crimes committed by Russian militaries. After recognizing the "independence" of the so-called "Donetsk People's Republic" and "Luhansk People's Republic" on the eve of the all-out attack, Russia intensified its rhetoric about not only the "protection" of Russian speakers in Ukraine but also "de-militarization" and "denazification" of Ukraine.

In the midst of the current atrocities committed by Russian troops in Ukraine (Bucha, Irpin, Borodianka, Kramatorsk, etc.), the Kremlin rhetoric continues to deny Ukraine its right to implement political choices unless they are approved by the Russian Federation (e.g., joining the European Union, NATO). Moreover, Ukrainians are often presented as part of the Russian people, as clearly spelled out in Vladimir Putin's "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians."

To understand the essence of Russia's assault against Ukraine and to find ways to its resolution, it is important to focus on historical developments that led to it, as well as on the mnemonic narratives woven into the very texture of the cultural memory of Russia and Ukraine. They continue to irritate unhealed wounds that constitute part of the national memory in Ukraine, and they continue to be exploited as the Kremlin invests in its war against Ukraine.

Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed has a Ph.D. in Slavic languages and literatures (Indiana University, 2022). Her dissertation explores contested memory focusing on Ukraine and Russia. She also holds a Ph.D. in American literature (Taras Shevchenko Institute of Literature, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, 2007). In her dissertation on Richard Brautigan, she focuses on postmodernism in American literature. Currently, she is Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Russian and Eurasian Program at Colgate University (Hamilton, NY).

Sponsored by the Department of Russian, with the generous support of a loyal Bowdoin family.
For more information, contact skauffma@bowdoin.edu.

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