Platform Ukraine February Workshop

Workshop on Identity

Identity has been called a powerful and inescapable theme in our age. Identity, whether national, regional, religious or cultural, gains its value from demarcation; it is something that separates us from others. Identity has become fundamental in political discourse – yet, it remains vague. Memory and narrative are central to the construction of identities – from collective myths to national symbols.

The workshop will focus on the theme of identity in the post-Soviet space in general and on contemporary Ukrainian identity specifically. The topic of identity will be approached through a variety of prisms: culture, literature, art and nationalism.

Among other questions, the panel will discuss relationship between identity and conflict and the impact of Maidan on Ukrainian identity.

Chair:

Dr Olesya Khromeychuk – Lector in Ukrainian, University of Cambridge, Lecturer in European History, University of East Anglia & Teaching Fellow, UCL SSEES

Speakers will include:

Svitlana Biedarieva – PhD Candidate, The Courtauld Institute of Art

Dr Piotr Binder – Institute of Philosophy and Sociology, Polish Academy of Sciences

Dr Uilleam Blacker – Lecturer in the Comparative Culture of Russia and Eastern Europe, UCL SSEES

Dr François Guesnet – Reader in Modern Jewish History, UCL Hebrew and Jewish Studies

Anna Shevchenko – Author of Ukraine Culture Smart! The Essential Guide of Customs and Culture & Founder, 3CN

The event will be followed by a wine reception.

Register