The Russian invasion of Ukraine has been at least as much about history as about geopolitics. This war doesn't just have historical causes; it is a war about the historical narrative itself—one that goes back many centuries. This talk will present an introduction to this history, along with an overview of Ukraine's diverse cultural and linguistic landscape.

Michael Andrec has been the archivist at the Ukrainian History and Education Center (Somerset, NJ) since 2010. Born in the United States but having learned Ukrainian as a first language, he is well-positioned to preserve, describe, and provide researcher access to the primarily non-English collections at the UHEC archives. He also coordinates much of the UHEC's humanities-related content and programming, mainly in the areas of history and genealogy.

This is a meeting room presentation.