On July 11, at 5:00 PM, at the Ligamus Bookstore, the Anthropology Research Center and the Doctoral Program in Anthropology at Ilia State University will host a lecture by Professor Greta Lynn Uehling from the University of Michigan, titled “Decolonizing Ukraine: Crimean Tatars, Indigenous Belonging, and Prospects for Recognition.”
What happens when people long erased from maps, textbooks, and history refuse to disappear?
Uehling’s new book, Decolonizing Ukraine, introduces readers to the intertwined lives of Ukrainians, Russians, and Crimean Tatars who resisted Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea—many of whom were displaced to territories under the control of the Ukrainian government. At the center of this narrative are the Crimean Tatars, an Indigenous people with deep historical ties to the region who, despite centuries of confinement, ethnic cleansing, and marginalization, are reshaping Ukraine’s political and cultural landscape.
Drawing on over 155 in-depth interviews conducted across Ukraine, and grounded in decades of ethnographic research, the speaker examines Ukraine not only as a nation under attack but as a society grappling with its own internal colonial legacies. She will also address what it means for anthropologists to study Russian imperial aggression not only through familiar national frameworks, but through theories of Indigeneity, temporality, and relationality.
Through rich ethnographic material, Decolonizing Ukraine shows how Crimean Tatars have sought to transform victimhood into agency, public grief into political subjectivity, and marginalization into self-determination. From the trauma of Stalin-era deportations to the emotional resonance of Jamala’s Eurovision victory, the speaker will explore how Indigeneity offers a critical framework for imagining a more just future, not only for the Crimean Tatars but for Ukraine as a whole.
Greta Lynn Uehling is a Professor in the Program on International and Comparative Studies at the University of Michigan. Her scholarly work broadly focuses on international migration and forced displacement. She studies the experiences of refugees, asylum seekers, and the internally displaced. Her current project explores the subjective experience of military conflict and forced displacement in Ukraine.
Working Language: English
Date and Time: July 11, 5:00 PM
Location: Ligamus Bookstore, 32 I. Chavchavadze Avenue
Attendance: Free and open to the public
2025