Prof Dr Valeriya Korablyova

Dr Valeria Korablyova is a Senior Research Fellow at the Department of East European Studies, Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic). Valeriya Korablyova studied sociology at the V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University and earned her doctorate in philosophy there. In 2012 Dr Korablyova moved to the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev for her habilitation project, which she completed in 2015 with a specialisation in social philosophy and the philosophy of history. She has a strong record of interdisciplinary projects concerning post-Soviet transformations and nation-building in Ukraine and East Central Europe. Her research to date has focused on the symbolic process of nation-building and the distancing of the self from the other (“othering”).

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Research Project

In her research project Dr Korablyova was examining the paradox, so central to the recent Ukrainian past, of the effort to (re)define a nation state under the European umbrella while the EU itself is under fire and nationalism anywhere is considered a reactionary phenomenon. The project was grounded in critical social theory and looks at possible nation-building models for contemporary Ukraine in the balance between the ways in which the country perceives itself and regional (Poland and Russia) and global (EU and USA) perspectives.

Teaching at the University of Basel

Dr Korablyova teached a course on “Untimely Nation: Ukraine in East Central Europe” in the 2018 spring semester. The tutorial course focused on the central actors, frames and effects of the nation-building process in post-Soviet Ukraine. It was also looked at Ukraine in the context of regional and global trends. The course discussed in theoretical terms the understanding of nationalism and models of nation-building in a supposedly “post-national era”. It also aimed to provide a deeper general understanding of contemporary Ukraine and the wider region.

The course was open to BA and MA students of Eastern European studies, history and European history. The link to the course in the University of Basel calendar is available here.

Recent Publications

  • Korablyova, Valeriya: Re-Conceptualizing Post-Soviet Elections: Between the Theater State and Ocular Democracy, in: Topos. Journal for Philosophy and Cultural Studies. 2021.

About URIS

Learn more about the objectives, the vision and the funding of the initiative “Ukrainian Research in Switzerland”.

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Network

The URIS website presents an overview of ongoing Ukraine research projects in the humanities, cultural studies and social sciences.

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