Research Center for the History of Transformations (RECET) at the University of Vienna and the Research Platform "Transformations and Eastern Europe" invite to their regular "Transformative Salon". The salon takes place on the first Thursday of each month during the semester in the Cafe Florianihof.
This talk is devoted to the use of history for political and military ends. Russia's perception of the past excludes Ukraine and Ukrainians from the list of sovereign actors of history. Ukrainian vision presupposes at least a millenial historical existence of Ukraine as a unique, culturally and politically sovereign entity. The clash of these two visions results in a permanent conflict since 1991, in memory wars, and reaches its peak with the Russian aggression in 2014 - 2022. Conflict over the past turned into an existential threat for Ukraine, and no less important - for Russia.
Georgiy Kasianov is a professor at the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University of Lublin, Poland. His areas of interests are history of Ukraine in the 19th to 21st centuries, social history, intellectual history and politics of memory. Prof. Kasianov is the author, co-author and co-editor of more than twenty books. His most recent publication is "Memory Crash: Politics of History in and around Ukraine, 1980s - 2010s" (CEU Press, 2022).
The presentation will be commented on by Aleksandar Brezar, a journalist from Bosnia & Herzegowina, currently at Euronews. Aleksandar is focusing on the Balkans, Southeast Europe and, more recently, on Ukraine. He is the host of the Calling podcast.
Discussion will be moderated by Irena Remestwenski, Managing Director at RECET. The lecture will be followed by a public discussion.
The Transformative Salon will take place on May, 5th, starting at 19:00 at the Café Florianihof in Florianigasse 45.
Due to limited places we kindly ask you to register by sending a short message to recet@univie.ac.at if you plan to come to our event in person.
Event language will be English.
The event will be broadcast live via Zoom.
