What Russianists Owe Ukraine: A historian’s perspective by Professor Susan Smith-Peter

In the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the global Russianist community has set about reflecting on how the two countries have been studied over the years and the pitfalls of this scholarship. In her talk, Susan Smith-Peter draws on her perspective as a Russia historian to consider how the field of Russian history needs to change to incorporate Ukrainian points of view.

Susan Smith-Peter is a professor at CUNY College of Staten Island. Her research focuses on the provinces of Russia, including the country’s north and Siberia, with 2018’s “Imagining Russian Regions: Subnational identity and civil society in nineteenth-century Russia” her latest book. She holds a doctorate from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and a BA from Ohio University.