Northwestern for Ukraine encouraged students to sign up for the first NU class offered about Ukrainian history in a Sunday Instagram post. 

Slavic 390: Ukraine’s Long Fight for Independence – Literature and Politics in Central and Eastern Europe is offered in fall 2022 and taught by Jewish studies and history Prof. Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern, political science Prof. Jordan Gans-Morse and Ambassador in Residence Ian Kelly.

“Our Slavic department propagates a Russian centered narrative of Slavic history and culture, and we hope this class will be a beginning of a reform to include Ukrainian classes within the Slavic department at Northwestern,” the post read. 

As the first Ukrainian history course offered at the University, NU for Ukraine said the course represents “a long fight against the Russification of Ukrainian culture and history.” 

The course will count for both the Historical Studies and Literature and Fine Arts distribution requirements. Petrovsky-Shtern, Gans-Morse and Kelly will draw on their research and professional experiences in Ukraine to offer perspectives on Ukraine’s history, politics and relations with the Euro-Atlantic community. Earlier this month, Gans-Morse participated in a Q&A about the crisis in Ukraine co-hosted by NU for Ukraine, NU College Democrats and NU Political Union.

The course will examine the events leading up to Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine as well as the centuries-long history prior. The final project will have students develop policy proposals for how the U.S. and international community should resolve this geopolitical crisis, according to the class description. 

“We are advocating for more Ukrainian representation in the Slavic department, to ensure that the history of this war does not get rewritten and forgotten like previous acts of Russian aggression,” NU for Ukraine said. 

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Twitter: @carolinelbrew

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