Dr. Vitaly Chernetsky holds a distinguished academic background, including a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the University of Pennsylvania. He will be a keynote speaker at the upcoming conference, “The Decolonization of Education and Research in Belarus and Ukraine: Theoretical Challenges and Practical Tasks,” scheduled for September 28-30 at the European Humanities University in Vilnius.
Prof. Chernetsky’s research focuses on modern and contemporary cultures (literature, film, popular culture) of Ukraine, Russia, Central and Eastern Europe, and Central Asia, considered in a broader comparative/cross-regional and interdisciplinary contexts. He has also been researching globalization and its cultural aspects, postmodernism/postmodernity, modernism/modernity, postcolonial theory & writing, questions of identity & community, diasporic cultures, nationalism & ethnicity, and broader issues in literary & cultural theory, cultural studies, film studies, feminist theory, gender studies, and translation studies. Chernetsky is the author of the book Mapping Postcommunist Cultures: Russia and Ukraine in the Context of Globalization (MQUP, 2007; Ukrainian-language version 2013; co-winner, book prize of the American Association for Ukrainian Studies), of five edited or co-edited volumes, and numerous articles and reviews.
For more on him, see the “About” section of his LinkedIn profile. For publications, see his profiles at Google Scholar or Academia.edu.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and your academic background, highlighting your research interests in decolonization and education?
I am a professor of Slavic Studies at the University of Kansas. Originally from Ukraine but based in the US for over three decades now, I am primarily a scholar of literature and film and a literary translator, but my research and teaching are broadly interdisciplinary. Postcolonial and decolonial discourse and practices have been an interest of mine since the mid-1990s. They are a prominent part of the focus of my monograph Mapping Postcommunist Cultures: Russia and Ukraine in the Context of Globalization (2007, Ukrainian edition 2013) and of numerous articles published over the years.
What inspired you to participate in the conference on decolonization in education and research in Belarus and Ukraine?
The focus of the conference cannot be timelier. As we are calling for a paradigm shift in how the global scholarly community views and approaches Belarus and Ukraine and for a shedding of russocentric stereotypes that have persisted in the global expert discourse about our region, we also need to work on “decolonizing the mind,” as Ngugi put it in his classic book, inside Belarus and Ukraine as well.
What factors have contributed to the need for decolonization in the education and research sectors of Belarus and Ukraine?
The horrors of Russia’s brutal and criminal war against Ukraine and the revanchist neo-imperial turn in Russia’s policies and intellectual discourse are obvious reasons. The increasing realization of the fragility and interconnectedness of our world, with challenges ranging from the global climate crisis to the retreat from democracy across many regions of the planet, underscore its urgency.
What are the main challenges and obstacles faced when attempting to decolonize education and research in Belarus and Ukraine?
The challenges are related but different. In the Belarusian case, the diasporic/exiled intellectuals face the task of preparing the vision, practices, and institutional framework for the hoped-for post-authoritarian future. In the Ukrainian one, the war, especially since its escalation in February 2022, on the one hand, sped up the processes of growth and maturation of the civil society, including in its academic and educational aspects; yet on the other, the massive displacement of millions of Ukrainians and the daily toll of the war overlayed those changes with significant trauma whose effects would last for generations to come.
What are the best practices, strategies, and practical steps that institutions can employ to push for decolonization efforts in their curricula and research agendas?
Readiness to shed vestiges of the Soviet past (that have proven surprisingly enduring), unflagging commitment to the idea of the university as a place for open, respectful, and constructive exchange of ideas. It also requires being proactive in contacting potential intellectual allies and explaining to them where you see the commonality or overlap of interests and goals.
How important is international collaboration in the decolonization of education and research in Belarus and Ukraine? Are there any successful collaborative projects?
This conference is indeed one such promising example. There have been others at various institutional levels. I am more familiar with cases in Ukraine, which have ranged from the international lectures on Zoom for colleagues and students from Kherson University in the early weeks of occupation in 2022 to new intellectual communities focused on questions of memory and identity (in all their plural and complicated possibilities), as in the project Past.Future.Art spearheaded by another keynote speaker at this conference, Oksana Dovgopolova, to the tireless work of the Ukrainian Institute and transformational efforts at institutions young and old, but the younger ones, like the Kyiv School of Economics, often prove more nimble and ready to take risks.
How can students and local communities be actively involved in the decolonization process?
By insisting on rigorously practicing critical thinking, being ready to challenge dogmas, and recognizing that knowledge production is always socially situated and that we need to be sensitive to a potential of patterns of epistemic injustice being uncovered in the process.
What do you envision as the future of decolonization in education and research for Belarus and Ukraine?
We need to recognize that this will be a long and challenging process and that there will be pushback, sometimes from unexpected quarters. There is no step-by-step roadmap, but there is a clear guiding ideal.
What advice would you give to educators, researchers, and policymakers looking to initiate or advance decolonization efforts in their institutions?
Be ready to honestly admit gaps in one’s knowledge and make the educational environment a site of learning together, looking for new meanings and ideas where the professor is more of an equal to the students and only helps guide the collective learning process. Reach out and build coalitions united by the goal of addressing past and enduring practices of epistemic injustice and epistemic oppression.
In conclusion, what message or key takeaway would you like to leave the conference attendees regarding the decolonization of education and research in Belarus and Ukraine?
Our task is challenging, but also urgently needed. Onward!