Russian propaganda claims that Ukraine is not a separate nation, but merely a “preliminary form” of Russia. Today’s Kremlin ideology seeks to annex Ukrainian history in order to justify its territorial aggression. But this myth has a birth certificate. It emerged in the 19th century, when the Russian Empire started inventing its “ancient” medieval roots. Before that, Russian travellers in Ukrainian lands showed little interest in such historical questions.
In this episode, we trace the genealogy of the myth that Kyiv is a “Russian city” and that its history somehow belongs to Muscovy.
***
Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media platform about Ukraine, run by Internews Ukraine.
Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine.
Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine
UkraineWorld: https://ukraineworld.org/en
***
Guest: Kateryna Dysa, a Ukrainian historian and Associate Professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. She has been a visiting fellow at Harvard, Stanford, Paris, and Oxford, and a visiting professor at the University of Basel. Currently, she is researching how the image of Kyiv was constructed in travel literature from the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries.
***
SUPPORT:
You can support our work on https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld
Your help is crucial, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.
You can also contribute to our volunteer missions to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we deliver aid to both soldiers and civilians.
Donations are welcome via PayPal at: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.
***
CONTENTS:
00:00 Kateryna Dysa, a Ukrainian historian and associate professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
00:15 Where and when did the myth of Kyiv belonging to Moscow actually begin?
02:05 How did 18th-century Russian travelers initially view Kyiv, and why was their interest superficial?
04:05 How did the rise of history as a discipline change Russia's perception of Kyiv?
12:17 Why did the French philosopher Madame de Staël describe Kyiv as a "semi-Tatar" or nomadic place?
15:17 What were the two extreme ways Westerners described Kyiv?
21:04 When did the annexation of the past become an "aggressive policy" and a part of Russian imperial ideology?
35:03 Why were Russian travelers unwilling to communicate with locals, stressing that Ukrainians were "the other"?
38:07 Why did Russian travelers consistently feel "not at home" in a place the Empire claimed as its "cradle"?
39:16 What aspects of Kyiv's social and cultural history in the 19th century still remain "understudied"?
***
This episode is made in partnership with Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and under the framework of the project “HER-UKR: Challenges and opportunities for EU heritage diplomacy in Ukraine”, co-funded by the EU within the ERASMUS+ Jean Monnet Policy Debate action.
All content for Explaining Ukraine is the property of UkraineWorld and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Russian propaganda claims that Ukraine is not a separate nation, but merely a “preliminary form” of Russia. Today’s Kremlin ideology seeks to annex Ukrainian history in order to justify its territorial aggression. But this myth has a birth certificate. It emerged in the 19th century, when the Russian Empire started inventing its “ancient” medieval roots. Before that, Russian travellers in Ukrainian lands showed little interest in such historical questions.
In this episode, we trace the genealogy of the myth that Kyiv is a “Russian city” and that its history somehow belongs to Muscovy.
***
Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media platform about Ukraine, run by Internews Ukraine.
Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine.
Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine
UkraineWorld: https://ukraineworld.org/en
***
Guest: Kateryna Dysa, a Ukrainian historian and Associate Professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. She has been a visiting fellow at Harvard, Stanford, Paris, and Oxford, and a visiting professor at the University of Basel. Currently, she is researching how the image of Kyiv was constructed in travel literature from the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries.
***
SUPPORT:
You can support our work on https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld
Your help is crucial, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.
You can also contribute to our volunteer missions to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we deliver aid to both soldiers and civilians.
Donations are welcome via PayPal at: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.
***
CONTENTS:
00:00 Kateryna Dysa, a Ukrainian historian and associate professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
00:15 Where and when did the myth of Kyiv belonging to Moscow actually begin?
02:05 How did 18th-century Russian travelers initially view Kyiv, and why was their interest superficial?
04:05 How did the rise of history as a discipline change Russia's perception of Kyiv?
12:17 Why did the French philosopher Madame de Staël describe Kyiv as a "semi-Tatar" or nomadic place?
15:17 What were the two extreme ways Westerners described Kyiv?
21:04 When did the annexation of the past become an "aggressive policy" and a part of Russian imperial ideology?
35:03 Why were Russian travelers unwilling to communicate with locals, stressing that Ukrainians were "the other"?
38:07 Why did Russian travelers consistently feel "not at home" in a place the Empire claimed as its "cradle"?
39:16 What aspects of Kyiv's social and cultural history in the 19th century still remain "understudied"?
***
This episode is made in partnership with Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and under the framework of the project “HER-UKR: Challenges and opportunities for EU heritage diplomacy in Ukraine”, co-funded by the EU within the ERASMUS+ Jean Monnet Policy Debate action.
A Brief History (and Present) of Ukrainian Theatre — with Mayhill Fowler
Explaining Ukraine
45 minutes 28 seconds
1 month ago
A Brief History (and Present) of Ukrainian Theatre — with Mayhill Fowler
What do we know about theatre — the most ephemeral of the arts — in Ukraine? What role did Ukrainian theatre play in Soviet times? How is the heritage of the Executed Renaissance generation still alive today? And why are women in theatre so important — and yet so often ignored?
***
The Explaining Ukraine podcast is produced by UkraineWorld, an English-language media project about Ukraine run by Internews Ukraine.
Host: Tetyana Ogarkova, a Ukrainian literary scholar at Kyiv Mohyla Academy and journalist at Ukraine Crisis Media Centre. She also runs a French-language podcast, “L’Ukraine face à la guerre”.
Guest: Mayhill C. Fowler, historian and associate professor in the Department of History at Stetson University. Her first book, “Beau Monde on Empire’s Edge: State and Stage in Soviet Ukraine” (Toronto, 2017), tells the story of how theatre in Soviet Ukraine was formed, through a collective biography of young artists and officials in the 1920s and 1930s.
***
This episode is produced in partnership with the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and the project Heritage Ukraine, supported by the European Union’s Erasmus programme.
Special thanks to the Ukrainian History Global Initiative for helping organize this conversation.
***
SUPPORT:
UkraineWorld is an English-language media about Ukraine run by Internews Ukraine
You can support UkraineWorld on https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld
We rely on crowdfunding to continue our work.
You can also support our regular trips to the frontlines, where we provide support to both soldiers (cars) and civilians (books): PayPal, ukraine.resisting@gmail.com
Explaining Ukraine
Russian propaganda claims that Ukraine is not a separate nation, but merely a “preliminary form” of Russia. Today’s Kremlin ideology seeks to annex Ukrainian history in order to justify its territorial aggression. But this myth has a birth certificate. It emerged in the 19th century, when the Russian Empire started inventing its “ancient” medieval roots. Before that, Russian travellers in Ukrainian lands showed little interest in such historical questions.
In this episode, we trace the genealogy of the myth that Kyiv is a “Russian city” and that its history somehow belongs to Muscovy.
***
Explaining Ukraine is a podcast by UkraineWorld, an English-language media platform about Ukraine, run by Internews Ukraine.
Host: Volodymyr Yermolenko, a Ukrainian philosopher, editor-in-chief of UkraineWorld, and president of PEN Ukraine.
Listen on various platforms: https://li.sten.to/explaining-ukraine
UkraineWorld: https://ukraineworld.org/en
***
Guest: Kateryna Dysa, a Ukrainian historian and Associate Professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. She has been a visiting fellow at Harvard, Stanford, Paris, and Oxford, and a visiting professor at the University of Basel. Currently, she is researching how the image of Kyiv was constructed in travel literature from the late eighteenth to early twentieth centuries.
***
SUPPORT:
You can support our work on https://www.patreon.com/c/ukraineworld
Your help is crucial, as we rely heavily on crowdfunding.
You can also contribute to our volunteer missions to frontline areas in Ukraine, where we deliver aid to both soldiers and civilians.
Donations are welcome via PayPal at: ukraine.resisting@gmail.com.
***
CONTENTS:
00:00 Kateryna Dysa, a Ukrainian historian and associate professor at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
00:15 Where and when did the myth of Kyiv belonging to Moscow actually begin?
02:05 How did 18th-century Russian travelers initially view Kyiv, and why was their interest superficial?
04:05 How did the rise of history as a discipline change Russia's perception of Kyiv?
12:17 Why did the French philosopher Madame de Staël describe Kyiv as a "semi-Tatar" or nomadic place?
15:17 What were the two extreme ways Westerners described Kyiv?
21:04 When did the annexation of the past become an "aggressive policy" and a part of Russian imperial ideology?
35:03 Why were Russian travelers unwilling to communicate with locals, stressing that Ukrainians were "the other"?
38:07 Why did Russian travelers consistently feel "not at home" in a place the Empire claimed as its "cradle"?
39:16 What aspects of Kyiv's social and cultural history in the 19th century still remain "understudied"?
***
This episode is made in partnership with Kyiv-Mohyla Academy and under the framework of the project “HER-UKR: Challenges and opportunities for EU heritage diplomacy in Ukraine”, co-funded by the EU within the ERASMUS+ Jean Monnet Policy Debate action.
