Hi, everyone,

Our online speaker series starts next Monday, September 12 at 3:00pm ET with my own kick-off presentation:

Steven Barnes, George Mason University, “How Do Historians Make Sense of the Present: Reflecting on the Russo-Ukrainian War.”

Steven Barnes kicks off the Fall 2022 Speaker Series, Russia's War on Ukraine in Historical Perspective with a series of reflections on how a historian, trained to write about the past and things long over, can try to make sense of a present, ongoing event like Russia's criminal war on Ukraine. How do historians use the past to understand the present? How do current events reshape historians' understanding of the past? What is the duty of the historian in the present? Dr. Barnes will talk about these questions and set the stage for a dozen historians who will share their historical knowledge and reflect on how history helps them confront this war.

If you were willing to share this series with your friends and colleagues and encourage them to attend, I would be incredibly grateful. I think this is an important opportunity for us to see how history helps us understand a moment in the present through something like Russia’s devastating war on Ukraine. I would also be so happy if you were able to attend. All can easily register to attend through any of the links in this message where you can find more information about the series of events or directly at this Zoom registration link.

Sincerely,

Steve Barnes

The Program on Russian and Eurasian Studies at George Mason University Presents:

"Russia's War on Ukraine in Historical Perspective": A George Mason University Online Speaker Series

Mondays 3:00-4:15 ET September 12-November 28, 2022

You can find detailed descriptions of each event and speaker here.  

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On February 24, 2022, drawing upon a variety of demonstrably false historical analogies, Vladimir Putin ordered a mass invasion of Ukraine, extending a war that had been ongoing since 2014. Ukrainians have suffered horrific crimes at the hands of the Russian invader, but Ukraine has inspired the world through its remarkable resistance and resilience. How can an understanding of history help us make sense of this earthshaking event?

When we try to understand the present, we always call upon our knowledge of the past in a variety of ways—through a search for origins, through historical causal explanation, through historical analogy, and through an exploration of the politicized use and misuse of history by contemporary political and cultural figures. Often we only implicitly draw upon history to understand the present, but how do we explicitly build our base of historical knowledge and use it to understand current events?

What is Ukraine and how did it come to be the object of Putin’s violent obsession? How do Ukraine’s history and culture help us understand the rise of this nation and their resistance and resilience? How does the history of European imperialism, nationalism, and post-colonialism help us understand Ukraine's post-Soviet independence? Can military history or the history of international law help us understand this war? What historical analogies are appropriate to our understanding of this war? Through this series, our audiences will come to better understand Ukraine, Russia, and the events that shook the world in 2022.

You can find out more about this series here. 

Steven A. Barnes

Director, Program in Russian and Eurasian Studies

President, Southern Conference on Slavic Studies

Associate Professor of Russian and Soviet History

George Mason University

https://rest.gmu.edu/people/sbarnes3

Слава Україні!