Viacheslav Grekov (Möllgaard Non-Residence Fellow, Oct ’22 – Feb ’23) will talk about his research at CAS:

Interpretation of the “Rus” Concept in the Ukrainian and Russian Historiography in the Russian Empire (1805–1917)

on 16 February 2023 (Thursday) at 16:30 h.

Moderated by Martin Valkov.

Abstract: The “Rus” concepts and the history of Rus are fundamental for the establishment of Russian and Ukrainian historical national myths. Moreover, both Russia and Ukraine derive origins of their statehood from Rus. This state is commonly known as Kyivan Rus in science, educational literature, and in society. Kyivan Rus became an integral part of historical myths, but how close are these myths to the reality?

In the period of 1805–1917, the scientific basis for the further interpretation of the concepts related to the Russia and Ukrainian histories was created. Those ideas continue to develop in the modern scientific and public spaces of Russia, Ukraine and beyond.

The aim of the proposed project is to examine the ways of interpretation of the concept “Rus” in the historiography of the Russian Empire during 1805–1917 in the context of “national” and “imperial” discourses. The project also considers the process of “national revival” in the Ukrainian culture, which started in the mid-19th century, and which actually ended up by the proclamation of the Ukrainian People’s Republic in 1917.

The proposed project rests on a broad theoretical and methodological basis, which combines approaches and methods derived from conceptual history, the new imperial history, and anthropology. Each of these approaches provides an opportunity to investigate the history of the interpretation and the trajectory of the “Rus” concept in the chosen (formative) period at different levels of the functioning of this concept. Using these approaches will allow: 1) to establish the functions that the “Rus” concept performed in historical works, paying special attention to the historical cultural-political context and the changes in the usage of the concept over time; 2) to establish the relationship between the core (Empire) and the periphery (Dnieper Ukrainian territory) in the development of ideas about and approaches to the interpretation the “Rus” concept; 3) to investigate the factors (social, economic, political etc.) that could influence the historical opinion of particular historians of the Russian Empire and to trace the evolution of their views.