Registration REQUIRED by 12pm on February 28, 2025 in order to attend this event.
Please join the Ukrainian Studies Program at the Harriman Institute for The George Shevelov Memorial Lecture in Ukrainian Studies, delivered by Rory Finnin (University of Cambridge). Moderated by Valentina Izmirlieva.
Russia is an expansionist land empire, and Crimea is one of its most prized colonies. Like the rest of Ukraine, the Black Sea peninsula has long been an object of imperial desire. It has served as an exotic showcase of Russian and Soviet power; it has been presented as a Shangri-La of mountainous coasts and warm water beaches. But behind Crimea’s postcard image lie much deeper and darker realities of demography, history and geography that Russia has anxiously tried to conceal and erase for centuries. One of them is the Crimea of the Crimean Tatars, who are recognized as an indigenous people of Ukraine. In this lecture, Rory Finnin explores the literature and culture of this Crimea hidden from our view, paying special attention to key Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian writers determined to open our eyes.
Rory Finnin is Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge. He launched the Cambridge Ukrainian Studies programme in 2008. His new book, “Blood of Others: Stalin’s Crimean Atrocity and the Poetics of Solidarity” (2022), has won eight international book award, earning distinctions in the fields of Ukrainian Studies, European Studies, Slavic Studies, nationalism studies, and genocide studies.
George Shevelov (1908-2002), the eminent Slavic linguist, philologist, essayist, literary historian and critic, taught at Columbia University for over three decades. His scholarly and literary activities were closely tied to New York City: to Columbia, the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences in the US, the Shevchenko Scientific Society, the journal Suchasnist and other institutions. The George Shevelov Memorial Lecture in Ukrainian Studies is presented in his honor.