Lenses on Agency: The Ukrainian Lands under Imperial Rule, 18th-19th Centuries
Chernivtsi, 28-30 September 2025
Submission deadline for proposals: April 15, 2025
The organizational committee of the conference includes Prof. Dr. Ricarda Vulpius (University of Münster), Prof. Dr. Guido Hausmann (University of Regensburg), Prof. Dr. Gelinada Grinchenko (University of Munich/Oles Honchar Dnipro National University), Prof. Dr. Miloš Řeznik (Chemnitz University of Technology) and Dr. Ihor Shchupak (Ukrainian Institute for Holocaust Studies “Tkuma”).
Conference venue: Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University
Conference language: English
Format: hybrid (online and offline participation possible)
The German-Ukrainian Historical Commission is supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funds from the Foreign Office of the Federal Republic of Germany.
For organizational questions please contact:
duhk@lrz.uni-muenchen.de / +49 89 2180-3056 /
In the history of Ukraine, the 18th and 19th centuries occupy a transitional time between the preceding Cossack era and the nation-state formation processes of the early 20th century. Dominant historical literature has largely focused on the (repressive) integration of Ukrainian lands into the imperial orders of Russia and the Habsburg Monarchy, as well as on local and regional resilience or resistance, early national expressions, and the multiple processes of modernization in the later 19th century. More recently, categories such as (de)colonization and colonial rule have gained attention as frameworks for understanding the relationship between Ukrainian lands and imperial political orders.
The German-Ukrainian Historical Commission’s 2025 annual conference will explore this period through multiple lenses on agency. This perspective enables a more nuanced view of the complex interactions between actors at the peripheries and centers of power. Our goal is to refine our understanding of these mutual relations, the making and remaking of borderlands, frontiers and peripheries, and the diverse transformations underway in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Areas of interest include the following themes:
- Local Agency and Lived Experience
- Intraregional and Interregional Entanglements and Comparisons
- Making and Remaking of Spatial Relations
- Viewing Imperial Orders through the Ukrainian Lands
- Empires and their Role in Ukrainian History
While we mainly aim to initiate German-Ukrainian dialogue about these issues, contributions from other countries are very welcome as well. Accommodation will be provided and travel expenses refunded for conference speakers.
We would like to thank the Yuriy Fedkovych Chernivtsi National University for the use of its premises.
Please submit your proposals (500-800 words) and a short CV (one page maximum) in one PDF-file to the coordinator’s office of the commission (duhk@lrz.uni-muenchen.de) by April 15, 2025. Please state whether you are interested in participating in person in Chernivtsi or online.