Going beyond "European" and "Slavic" studies

Oksana Dudko

Abstract

The invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine brought the country into the spotlight of both public opinion and academic circles. The fact that it did not fall within a few days of the massive Russian attack surprised the international community and forced it to ask a fundamental question: what is Ukraine? Of course, both the Orange Revolution and the Revolution of Dignity attracted worldwide attention. For the "West", however, Ukraine was still an "unexpected nation" that seemed to exist only for those brief moments of presence in the global media. In fact, the entire region between Western Europe and Russia remains understudied by Western scholars and objectified in the media covering international affairs. However, the Russian attack in February 2022, which received wide political and media coverage, means that the importance of this region can no longer be ignored. The Kremlin's attempt to take over Ukraine has raised a broader and perhaps even more fundamental question, namely how to conceptualize issues related to the area in question.