Ukraine in Europe: Historical, Political and Cultural Experiences

Module: European history culture law economy

Time: The course is planned to start on the week of 5 October 2026 and will run until 20 December 2026 (11 weeks in total). The selected time slot for the lectures is Thursday, 16:00–17:30 CET (17.00-18.30 Ukraine). In case two lectures are scheduled on the same day, the second session will take place from 17:45–19:15 CET (18.45-20.15 Ukraine). It will be delivered online via MS Teams.

📚 Course format: Winter Semester 2026–2027, three thematic modules, 15 classes

📍 Format: Hybrid / Online

⏱️ Duration: 1.5 hours each

✍️ Final project: Short research essay

Ukraine in Europe: Historical, Political and Cultural Experiences is an interdisciplinary course that examines Ukraine’s place within the broader European historical, political, and cultural space. Designed as a joint academic initiative between Petro Mohyla Black Sea National University and Saarland University, the course invites students to explore the long and complex entanglements between Ukraine and Europe through historical analogies, shared experiences, and contested narratives. By tracing both common developments and distinctive trajectories, students will gain a deeper understanding of Ukraine not as Europe’s periphery, but as one of its constitutive historical and cultural actors. Structured into three thematic modules, the course engages with key topics such as historical memory, migration, war, cultural identity, and decolonization. Students will examine subjects ranging from Kyivan Rus and Cossack traditions to the Holodomor, the Holocaust, post-war migration, and nuclear disasters such as Chornobyl and the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Alongside historical inquiry, the course explores literary and cultural texts that address identity, hybridity, translation, and Ukraine’s evolving place in Europe’s intellectual and cultural imagination. Particular attention is given to the ways historical memory and collective identities are constructed, negotiated, and transformed across political and cultural contexts. Combining historical analysis with literary, cultural, and visual studies approaches, the course encourages students to critically reflect on how the past continues to shape the present, especially in the context of Russia’s ongoing war against Ukraine. Through case studies, discussions, and a final research essay, students will develop analytical tools to engage with Ukraine’s European experience and its broader significance for contemporary debates on memory, identity, migration, and decolonization.