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Relations of political solidarity between nations have cultural genealogies. What is behind the political solidarity between Ukrainians and Crimean Tatars, two ethnically, religiously, and linguistically divergent peoples at the centre of ongoing geopolitical instability in the Black Sea region? Is this relationship a ‘marriage of convenience’ or something more? The question bears considerable strategic import and may influence the extent to which Crimea remains a global flashpoint for the foreseeable future. In this presentation, Rory Finnin seeks to address such questions by exploring the dynamics of Ukrainian-Crimean Tatar relations with special attention to its cultural drivers, particularly in the realm of literature.

Dr Rory Finnin directs the Ukrainian Studies programme at Cambridge and chairs the Cambridge Committee for Russian and East European Studies (CamCREES). He received his PhD (with distinction) in Slavic Languages and Comparative Literature from Columbia University. He also holds Certificates from the Harriman Institute and from the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University. In 2015 Finnin won a Teaching Award for Outstanding Lecturer from the Cambridge University Students' Union (CUSU), the representative body for all students at the University.
Rory Finnin's primary research interest is the interplay of literature and national identity in Ukraine. He also studies Soviet Russian dissident literature, Turkish nationalist literature, and Crimean Tatar literature. His broader interests include nationalism theory, human rights discourse, and problems of cultural memory. Finnin's current project is a comparative study of the role of lyric poetry in the emergence of modern European nationalisms.

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