I recently travelled to Brussels as a co-leader of a study tour dedicated to colonialism and racial studies. Although this topic seems far away from issues related to Central and Eastern Europe, I discovered many similarities between, say, the colonial legacy of Congo and Ukraine, Belarus or Poland.
The trip inspired me to write an essay for New Eastern Europe. In it, I argue that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has provided the region with an opportune moment to examine its own deep-rooted legacies of colonialism. Subjected to outside rule in various forms over the past two centuries, the region could now finally grasp the chance to overcome this trauma and truly claim its “subjectivity” on the international stage.
