Why do we need the decolonial approach to Russian culture?
Lia Dostlieva
desing: Kaja Kusztra
Full-scaled Russian invasion in Ukraine made visible a wide range of issues that used to be perceived as rather unimportant ones. Among them is that while Western colonialism has been analyzed over the last forty years, the understanding of Russian culture as imperialistic and colonial still remains a marginal line of thought.
Why is it so? And why do we need to rethink so-called “Russia’s imperial innocence”? Can culture be used as a vehicle for the implementation of colonial narratives? What role can artists play in debunking or promoting imperial myths? And where do even we start?
During the lecture, we will try to find answers to these questions -- or come up with other, even more complicated ones.
Lia Dostlieva
artist, cultural anthropologist, and essayist. Primary areas of her academic as well as art interest include the issues of trauma, memory, commemorative practices, and agency and visibility of vulnerable groups.