Join us Tuesday, October 14, for a book talk on The Arts of War with Blair Ruble, from the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Ukrainian response to the 2022 Russian full-scale invasion inspired new appreciation for the country both within and beyond Ukraine. This third volume of essays documenting the response of the Ukrainian arts community to the war, highlight the ways in which Ukrainians have explored the meaning of their country and culture through the arts. This response has empowered Ukrainians to confront the Russian invaders and offers intriguing clues about the culture, society, and politics of a post-war Ukraine. This timely and compelling talk will share the vital role of the arts in wartime Ukraine and what they can tell us about the country’s future.

Blair Ruble is a Washington-based writer. For the past three-and-a-half years, he has been exploring how Ukraine’s artistic community has responded to the Russian invasion of 2022. These articles continue his focus in recent years on the relationship between the arts and the consolidation of urban communities. Ruble held several positions at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars including Distinguished Fellow, Vice President for Programs, and Director of the Center’s Kennan Institute. He completed his undergraduate education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and his doctoral training at the University of Toronto.
 

Dr. Henry Hale is the Director of the Petrach Program on Ukraine and Director of George Washington University’s Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies (IERES). He is a Professor of Political Science and International Affairs and his most recent books are The Zelensky Effect (Hurst/Oxford University Press 2022, co-authored with Olga Onuch) and Patronal Politics: Eurasian Regime Dynamics in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge, 2015). Prominent themes in his research include ethnic politics, political regimes, voting behavior, the public opinion dimension of international relations, and politics in post-Soviet countries, where he has conducted extensive field research.