Comparative Russian Imperialism (lecture)
Making of Modern Ukraine, 21
This is the antepenultimate lecture in my public lecture class on “The Making of Modern Ukraine.” Delivered by my erudite colleague Odd Arne Westad, it begins the last stage of the class, a review of larger themes. No reading was assigned for this class, and there was no term sheet for the guest lecture; I would however highly recommend Professor Westad’s magisterial syntheses of cold war history, which represent the summit of the field. Professor Westad works in Chinese as well as Russian and many other sources, hence my choice of illustration:
makes so much sense. I wish more folks would read this or listen to your YouTube discussions of this book!
According to a 1926 census, Ukrainians were the second-largest ethnic group in Russia. Back then, it was 7.8 million people. By the next census, the number more than halved – in 1939, there were just 3.3 million Ukrainians in Soviet Russia. Over the past century, Ukrainians in Russia remained at a quarter of the previous number. Given the circumstances, it would be fair to call it “cultural genocide.”