RUTA Association for Central, South-Eastern, and Eastern European, Baltic, Caucasus, Central and Northern Asian Studies in Global Conversation
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One of the most powerful statements of RUTA’s Inaugural Conference was the very fact that it took place in Ukraine, with all the tremendous effort it took to make it safe for everyone who made it there. It was so powerful because we could thus speak not only about, but from – and with – the heart of the RUTA region, which grounded us all in the reality of the ongoing imperial aggression. The location, the political symbolism of the new name with a personal history behind it, rather than an abstract area studies label, and the presence of so many scholars, artists and activists from those unequal Europes othered as non-European, non-White and not-belonging by the Russian and Soviet Empires and the region’s state socialist regimes really challenged many received understandings of the region and shifted conventional historical and racial geographies of who is speaking from the RUTA region.
One of the most powerful statements of RUTA’s Inaugural Conference was the very fact that it took place in Ukraine, with all the tremendous effort it took to make it safe for everyone who made it there. It was so powerful because we could thus speak not only about, but from – and with – the heart of the RUTA region, which grounded us all in the reality of the ongoing imperial aggression. The location, the political symbolism of the new name with a personal history behind it, rather than an abstract area studies label, and the presence of so many scholars, artists and activists from those unequal Europes othered as non-European, non-White and not-belonging by the Russian and Soviet Empires and the region’s state socialist regimes really challenged many received understandings of the region and shifted conventional historical and racial geographies of who is speaking from the RUTA region.
The RUTA conference was a new experience for me. It was a conference organised overwhelmingly by women and queer people, and this infused it with a special energy.
I am especially glad that RUTA platformed a Palestinian academic, and speakers who affirmed solidarity with Ukraine and Palestine.
I am glad to have been able to learn from academics from post-Soviet countries with insights on colonialism and imperialism.
The RUTA conference was a new experience for me. It was a conference organised overwhelmingly by women and queer people, and this infused it with a special energy.
I am especially glad that RUTA platformed a Palestinian academic, and speakers who affirmed solidarity with Ukraine and Palestine.
I am glad to have been able to learn from academics from post-Soviet countries with insights on colonialism and imperialism.
RUTA conference offers a fresh framework for a frank conversation about a colonial past and a platform for discussing the future of a region bonded by its visceral connection to the value of freedom. This is not just another conference and another set of business cards in one’s pocket, it is a living network of like-minded people and a continuous source of ideas and mutual support.
RUTA conference offers a fresh framework for a frank conversation about a colonial past and a platform for discussing the future of a region bonded by its visceral connection to the value of freedom. This is not just another conference and another set of business cards in one’s pocket, it is a living network of like-minded people and a continuous source of ideas and mutual support.