Impact of the Russia-Ukraine War on Academic Culture

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought a challenge to established “Russian” or “Slavic” departments at many Western universities. Since 2022 alternative ways of conceptualizing the field have been offered and a discourse around decolonization has developed. New ways of approaching the study of Ukraine, Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and other countries formerly subjected to Russian and Soviet rule have been suggested. An awareness of Ukrainian history has in recent decades influenced the current “decolonization turn”. The article examines reasons behind these developments and how in recent years a discussion of epistemic bias has evolved.