The Importance of History: Reflections from a Foreign Correspondent

Shaun Walker reflects on the uses and abuses of history in Russia and the former communist countries of Eastern Europe, and on how an understanding of history can help us understand the present in this part of the world. Walker will discuss his 2018 book, The Long Hangover, which explores the use of history to create new national identities in Russia and Ukraine, as well as his recent work in central Europe.

This lecture is part of the launch of the new history curriculum at the University of Melbourne, which has been made possible by the Hansen Trust. The new curriculum is being offered to students for the first time in 2019. If you'd like to support teaching and research in History at the University of Melbourne, please visit the History Trust Fund web page for more information.

Presenter

Shaun Walker has been a Moscow correspondent for the Independent and The Guardian, and is now the latter's 'roving correspondent' in Eastern Europe. He has an Oxford University degree in Russian and Soviet history and has written a book combining his interests in history and journalism: The Long Hangover: Putin's New Russia and the Ghosts of the Past (Oxford University Press, 2017).