This volume presents a collection of selected essays and interviews published by the, an online analytical publication of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the University of Alberta, in the first two years after Russia's full-scale invasion. The scholars and experts tackle a broad range of questions about identity, culture, propaganda, security, international relations, history, decolonization, and state of the art in Ukrainian studies and Russian studies in Western academia in the context of the Russo-Ukrainian war. The texts are presented chronologically to illustrate the dynamics of the rapidly unfolding events and contextualize the ideas and narratives that were discussed at particular moments. The interviews and essays provide supremely knowledgeable and nuanced perspectives and analyses of the war, from both within Ukraine and abroad.
The selected contributors are Margarita Balmaceda, Mykola Bielieskov, Michael Bociurkiw, Mariana Budjeryn, Dovile Budryte, Dmytro Bushuyev, Vitaly Chernetsky, Davis Daycock, Marta Dyczok, Olexiy Haran, Khrystyna Holynska, Aliaksei Kazharski, Yuliya Kovaliv, Hiroaki Kuromiya, Serhiy Kvit, Elzbieta Kwiecinska, Frank Ledwidge, Agnieszka Legucka, Tamara Martsenyuk, Jade McGlynn, Rajan Menon, Alexander Motyl, Cynthia Nielsen, Donnacha Ó Beacháin, Mitchell Orenstein, John V. Parachini, Bo Petersson, Serhii Plokhy, Yevhenia Podobna, Oleksii Polegkyi, Maryna Shevtsova, Marci Shore, Nataliya Shpylova-Saeed, Polina Sinovets, Ewa Thompson, Iryna Tsilyk, Peter Vermeersch, Alexander Vindman, Mychailo Wynnyckyj, Andrii Zharikov, and Mariia Zolkina.
Kvit, Serhiy
Dr Serhiy Kvit was in 2007-2014 and has been since 2022 the President of the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Ukraine’s oldest higher education institution. He is Professor at the Mohyla School of Journalism, which he founded in 2001 and where he headed its Media Reform Centre promoting open debate and transparent journalism. Kvit was born at Uzhhorod in 1965, grew up in Lviv, and studied journalism at Kyiv in 1986–1991. He obtained doctoral degrees at the Ukrainian Free University of Munich and at National Shevchenko University of Kyiv. Kvit held visiting fellowships at Ohio State University, Stanford University, Washington’s Wilson Center, and the University of Cologne. In 2005–2010, he was Chairman of Ukraine’s Consortium of University Autonomy. In 2014–2016, Kvit was Minister of Education and Science of Ukraine and initiated, among others, the adoption of two key reform laws “On Higher Education” and “On Scientific and Scientific-Technical Activity.” In 2019–2022, he headed the National Agency for Higher Education Quality Assurance of Ukraine. Kvit is the author and editor of several books as well as of numerous articles published by, among others, the website University World News.
Pankieiev, Oleksandr
Dr. Oleksandr Pankieiev is the editor-in-chief of Forum for Ukrainian Studies, the online analytical magazine of the Contemporary Ukraine Studies Program, and a research coordinator of the Canadian Institute for Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
Umland, Andreas
Andreas Umland, M.Phil. (Oxford), Dr.Phil. (FU Berlin), Ph.D. (Cambridge), Research Fellow at the Swedish Institute of International Affairs in Stockholm, Senior Expert at the Ukrainian Institute for the Future in Kyiv, and Associate Professor at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Haran, Olexiy
Olexiy Haran is Professor of Comparative Politics at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Khanenko-Friesen, Natalia
Natalia Khanenko-Friesen is the CIUS Director and the Huculak Chair in Ukrainian Culture and Ethnography in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
The editor:
Oleksandr Pankieiev is a research coordinator with CIUS’s Contemporary Ukraine Studies Program at the University of Alberta in Edmonton and editor-in-chief of its online publication Forum for Ukrainian Studies.
The author of the foreword:
Natalia Khanenko-Friesen is the CIUS Director and the Huculak Chair in Ukrainian Culture and Ethnography in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Alberta in Edmonton.
