Concept: Anastasia Piliavsky, London, and Benjamin Zachariah, Potsdam
With: Maya Dimerli, Odessa; Inna Golubovych, Odessa; Ekaterina Mikheitseva, Odessa; Eva Neymann, Berlin; Vlad Vodko, Odessa

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022, Ukraine has pursued an accelerated programme of “decolonisation”: an official effort to purge the public sphere of elements of Russophone culture, history, and heritage. Widely framed as a moral and wartime necessity, this process has also generated sustained debate about cultural freedom, pluralism, and the limits of state power. This workshop examines Ukraine’s recent experience of decolonisation across education, cinema, literature, and heritage. Bringing together Ukrainian scholars and practitioners, it approaches Ukraine as a critical case within the global politics of decolonisation—one that invites reflection on how emancipatory languages and projects travel, transform, and acquire new political uses.