From Sovietology to Postcoloniality: Poland and Ukraine from a Postcolonial Perspective ed. by Janusz Korek (review)

Although published in 2007, this edited collection of essays remains relevant to the ongoing debate on postcoloniality in postsocialist Central and Eastern Europe. It is remarkable to see that at the time of the publication of the volume, more than fifteen years after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, the question of applicability of postcolonial theory to the study of this region is still valid and continues to be discussed.

In addition to the editor's introductory essay, "Central and Eastern Europe from a Postcolonial Perspective," the collection consists of fourteen articles by well-established scholars in Poland, Ukraine, and in the West (Sweden and Canada). The volume came together as a result of a 2005 conference at Södertörn University College in Stockholm, the aim of which was to explore the methodological value of postcolonial methodology for analyzing cultural and sociopolitical phenomena in contemporary Central and Eastern Europe (P. 19). The choice of Poland and Ukraine as examples of postsocialist states works very well for the discussion of the condition of postcoloniality in the region, as the two countries represent historically different geopolitical situations. Ukraine, as a nation that went through centuries of subjugation by successive empires, may be viewed as a postcolonial society par excellence, whereas Poland itself was involved in various imperial relations while also having become part of the Eastern Bloc after World War II.

The fact that the problem of relevance of postcolonial theories in the region in question was still discussed in 2005 testifies to the degree of discomfort that has been encountered in approaching postsocialist European states as postcolonial societies. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the problem of Central and East European postcoloniality was approached cautiously and only in a few publications. ¹ The notable contributions in Western academic discourse were Larry Wolff's rethinking of Edward Said's theory of Orientalism in Inventing Eastern Europe and David Chioni Moore's influential article in PMLA. ² While engaging with classics such as the works of Frantz Fanon and Said and acknowledging the arguments against the inclusion of Central and Eastern Europe in the field of postcolonial studies, the volume's editor argues for a broader understanding of imperial and colonial conditions, where we can accept "the essence of research into imperialism and colonialism, as an attempt to understand how the imperial centre of authority aims in theory and practice to subordinate to itself or dominate the territories (or provinces) desired by itself. Neither administrative or natural (e.g. maritime) borders nor official declarations determined in the first place the spread of imperialism[,] and the effects of its internal logic can be seen without difficulty in the lands of Central and Eastern Europe" (P. 6). The paradigm of Central and East European postcoloniality as explored in the volume also engages with the power workings of the East-West dichotomy and center-periphery dynamic while focusing on the effects of colonial dependence on the processes of identity formation. The contributors attempt to step aside from the older, traditional model of conception of national selfhood as homogeneous and unitary (in Poland, Ukraine, and other countries of the region) and instead acknowledge the increasingly more multinational makeup of these societies as well as their relations with neighboring communities.

The scope of the collection is rather broad, ranging from theoretical explorations to analyses of specific examples; at the same time, the continuity of the volume is maintained through its focus on literary and cultural studies. The evolution of the idea of Central Europe is inevitably revisited in some contributions. If Mitteleuropa is associated with the rise of German interests in Europe, the post-1989 concept of Central Europe reflects the complex geopolitical dynamic that emerged after the collapse of the Eastern Bloc. Leonard Neuger's essay, "Central Europe as a Problem," examines representations of Poland in the discourses of Romanticism and...