​Update: The keynote lecture will be given by Dr. Markian Dobczansky, Petro Jacyk Post-Doctoral Fellow in Ukrainian Politics, Culture, and Society.

About the lecture:

Frozen and unfrozen conflicts have been a persistent feature of the Eurasian political landscape since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Breakaway regions and civil wars have affected no fewer than seven former Soviet republics, calling into question the stability and durability of these independent states. Yet each of the conflicts has a particular historical background that can help illuminate the challenges faced by these states. The Ukraine crisis is no exception. This talk will focus on the history of Soviet state and nation building in Ukraine, arguing that the peculiarities of the Soviet legacy have contributed to the Ukrainian state’s strengths and weaknesses.

About Dr. Dobczansky:

Markian Dobczansky is a historian of the Soviet Union. His specializations include Russian-Ukrainian relations, Soviet nationalities policy, and the politics of culture. He is currently the Petro Jacyk Post-Doctoral Fellow in Ukrainian Politics, Culture, and Society at the University of Toronto, where he teaches a course on comparative nationalisms in Russia and Ukraine. He has conducted archival research in Moscow, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Washington, D.C., and at the Hoover Institution in California. Dr. Dobczansky is working on a book manuscript about the intersection between Soviet, Ukrainian, and local identity in Kharkiv in the twentieth century. He has presented his research at academic conferences in the United States, Ukraine, Russia, and Lithuania.

Dr. Dobczansky received a Ph.D. in history from Stanford University, where he focused on the Soviet Union, Russian Empire, and Eastern Europe. His dissertation, “From Soviet Heartland to Ukrainian Borderland: Searching for Identity in Kharkiv, 1943—2004,” utilized Soviet archival sources, published materials, and interviews to examine local identity in Ukraine’s second largest city over the second half of the twentieth century. While writing his dissertation, he received a Mellon pre-doctoral fellowship at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. He received a B.A. in European History and German Studies from the University of Pennsylvania. He was born in Silver Spring, Maryland.