Practical Past - Visions of the Early Modern Era in the Ukra

The modern Ukrainian-Crimean Tatar alliance has succeeded in overcoming narratives of historical antagonism by excavating and promoting a “practical past” of solidarity in their stead. In this lecture, Rory Finnin will explore these visions of alliance and cooperation in works of literature and film and will analyze their strategic setting in the seventeenth century, before the arrival of Russian colonial power in Crimea. This talk with draw on Rory Finnin’s award-winning book Blood of Others: Stalin’s Crimean Atrocities and the Poetics of Solidarity (2022), as well as on his long-standing expertise in the interplay of culture and identity in Ukraine.

Rory Finnin is Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge. He launched the Cambridge Ukrainian Studies programme in 2008 within which he curated and organized over 40 exhibitions and cultural events. His latest book, Blood of Others: Stalin's Crimean Atrocity and the Poetics of Solidarity (University of Toronto Press, 2022), has won eight international book awards, earning distinctions in the fields of Ukrainian Studies, European Studies, Slavic Studies, nationalism studies, and genocide studies.

This event will be moderated by Mariia Shynkarenko, Research Director: Ukraine in European Dialogue at the IWM Vienna.