KSU scientist joined the international conference Global Easts: Why It Matters in Warsaw
Associate Professor of the Department of Geography and Ecology at Kherson State University Mykola Homaniuk took part in the international conference Global Easts: Why It Matters, held at the University of Warsaw.
The event was organised by the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the University of Warsaw. The conference brought together researchers from different countries for a discussion of the concept of the Global East, its significance for contemporary scholarship, approaches to studying the region, and the production of knowledge.
The Global East is a concept that emerged, among other things, as a response to the established division of the world into the Global North and the Global South. It draws attention to countries and societies that cannot be clearly accommodated within this binary model. These are spaces that occupy a distinctive position between the two, have experienced life within different empires, and have their own historical trajectories, academic traditions, and models of modernisation. Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia are among the regions associated with this space. The conference organisers proposed viewing the Global East not simply as another geographical category, but as an opportunity to reconsider who produces knowledge about regions and societies and from whose perspective this knowledge is created.
Participants discussed how the Global East can be defined without overlooking the internal diversity of its countries and societies; which local knowledge systems and methodological approaches should be used to study the region; how imperial legacies continue to influence contemporary societies and academic environments; and what role languages, religions, memory, and different scholarly traditions play. Another important topic was how to develop educational programmes and teach the history and contemporary realities of the region without relying on a simplified division between the “East” and the “West”.
An important part of the discussion focused on the production of knowledge in the Global East, rather than merely knowledge about it. This approach enables scholars from the region to be not only objects of research but also full-fledged participants in shaping theories, methodologies, and the international academic agenda. In this context, the participation of a representative of Kherson State University was particularly significant.
The Ukrainian experience, and especially the experience of the Kherson region as an area that has endured occupation, liberation, forced displacement, and continues to live under the conditions of war, provides important material for understanding the contemporary transformations of Eastern Europe.
Mykola Homaniuk presented a paper entitled “Specific Features of Field Research in the Post-Soviet Space.” The conference was international and interdisciplinary in nature. Researchers affiliated with universities and research centres in Poland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, South Korea, Kyrgyzstan, and other countries took part in the discussions. Among the participants in the open discussion were representatives of Sogang University, Pennsylvania State University, the University of Lausanne, and the University of Warsaw.
The event was designed not so much around a series of traditional presentations as around an in-depth professional discussion. Following the open part of the conference, the programme continued with closed sessions devoted to conceptual, methodological, and pedagogical challenges in the study of the Global East.
The participation of KSU scholars in such international academic discussions contributes to presenting Ukrainian and regional experiences within the global academic space, expanding professional networks, and creating opportunities to integrate the research perspective of the Kherson region into the development of contemporary knowledge about Ukraine and Eastern Europe.
KSU Press Centre