Professional Affiliation

Former Deputy Director, M. Drinov Center for Bulgarian and Balkan Studies, V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University

Expert Bio

Viktoriia Svyrydenko earned her MA (2011) and BA degrees (2010) in History from V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University (Ukraine). She was twice (in 2013/2014 and 2015) Erasmus Mundus doctoral grantee at Humboldt University of Berlin. She holds Ph.D. degree in History (2016) from M. S. Hrushevsky Institute of Ukrainian Archeography and Source Studies of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine in Kyiv (dissertation “The Politics of Memory of the People’s Republic of Bulgaria towards the Epoch of National Revival: Source Complex”). In 2016/2017 she conducted post-doctoral research at St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. In 2018-2019 she was Post-Doctoral Research Fellow at the Johan Skytte Institute of Political Studies at the University of Tartu (Estonia), Central European University (Budapest) and at the Herder-Institute for Historical Research on East Central Europe in Marburg, studying memories and identities in contemporary Ukraine.

Expertise

• East and Central Eastern European history
• History of Ukraine
• Memory Studies
• Politics of Memory

Wilson Center Project

The Imperial Past in Post-Soviet Ukraine: Public Space and the Politics of Memory (cases of Kharkiv and Poltava)

Project Summary

The project adopts the entangled memory framework by considering distinct Ukrainian regions, which previously were parts of different empires, from the perspective of borderland studies. It traces the interaction of various narratives in the monumental landscapes of post-soviet Ukraine of the past, such as official state memory and images of the imperial past promoted by local agents of memory. The project will supplement the historiographical discussions on imperial legacy with new details taking into consideration the perspective of local agents. Its outcomes will contribute to the formulation of relevant policies in Ukraine.