Nesting (Post-)Colonialisms in Eastern Europe

Undergraduate / Graduate

In Eastern Europe, the rhetoric of postcoloniality has been deployed strategically and contradictorily - on one hand, in the calls to decolonize from Soviet and Russian imperialism and return to Europe, and, on the other hand, by anti-European nationalists who, inspired by Putin's defense of traditional values, reject the European Union's civilizational tutelage. This seminar investigates how postcolonial and decolonial theories can help us rethink the East European experience. We map the granular re-inscription of symbolic geographies in European peripheries and, because European peripheries are not just passive recipients but also active agents in mobilizing stereotypes, we study the ways peripheral actors deploy civilizational hierarchies strategically to manipulate structures of power. Throughout, we will seek out emancipatory narratives in literature, cinema and art that offer alternatives to civilizational groupness. What kinds of worldmaking does this involve, and how might we, as subjects, recognize ourselves in these stories?