Wild" Easts

Undergraduate / Graduate

Imaginaries of the "wild" have long been employed as part of colonial projects, from the conquest of lands of the Great Eurasian Steppe to modern conservation initiatives. In this course, we examine ideas about the "wild" with a focus on the easts of "Europe" and easts of Russia, whether Ukraine, Qazaqstan, or Bulgaria, and ways in which these lands have been constructed as "wild" territories. We discuss ecologies and cultures of the steppe, nuclear and (post)industrial wastelands, and contemporary practices of re-wilding to study the violence of being framed as "wild", as well subversive and liberatory potentials of (re)claiming all things "wild". The course takes on an interdisciplinary approach, examining works of fiction alongside history books, and films alongside memoirs; additionally, a possibility of a field trip to Site A/Plot M Disposal Site, where the world's first nuclear reactor is buried, is to be confirmed.