5 arguments against decolonizing Russian history I heard at #ASEEES22 and my responses 1) What's happening in Russia has nothing to do with us. Really? Even though our field was founded by Russian historians who had a similar periodization as Putin? @ksvarnon @steven_seegel 1/5
When we teach, isn't it still Kyivan Rus - Muscovy - Russian Empire? Scholars have complicated this, but standard textbooks change slowly. 2) Decolonizing is anti-Russian and echoes Richard Pipes. So colonizing is pro-Russian? Interesting. @channelljustice @FaithCHillis 2/5
Just because Pipes wrote problematic books, does that mean we should stay silent when Russia commits war crimes and worse? I don't think so. 3) Decolonization means giving up work on the center in favor of the periphery. Not true. Now is not a good time @PopovaProf 3/5
to give up work on the center, but it's equally not a good time to identify with it. 4) Decolonization is old news. Everyone else did it 30 years ago. So if we wait 10 more years and we're 40 years behind, is that better? @globalrhizome @DafnaRachok @JohnVsetecka 4/5
5) Decolonization is a fad that will pass. The real argument is: Don't make me uncomfortable or have to think about how I might be complicit. The ideology of this war is 19th century, as @SPlokhy said at the conference. Who better to contest the ideas than us? @ODrachewych 5/5
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