Bookpleasures.com ishonored to welcome Greta Uehling, a distinguished culturalanthropologist whose work sits at the unique intersection ofIndigenous and Eastern European Studies.

Currently serving as aTeaching Professor in the Program in International and ComparativeStudies at the University of Michigan, as well as Associate Facultyfor the Center for Russian, East European and Eurasian Studies, Gretabrings a wealth of academic and practical expertise to theconversation.

She is the acclaimedauthor of three significant works: Beyond Memory: The Deportationand Return of the Crimean Tatars (2004), Everyday War: TheConflict over Donbas, Ukraine (2023), and her latest release,Decolonizing Ukraine: The Indigenous People of Crimea and Pathwaysto Freedom (Rowman &Littlefield, 2025).

Beyond her academiccontributions, Greta has applied her insights on displacement andhuman trafficking as a consultant for major organizations, includingthe United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Norm: Your book, Decolonizing Ukraine: TheIndigenous People of Crimea and Pathways to Freedom highlightsthe resilience of Crimean Tatars amid the trauma of deportation andrecent occupation. 

How did this resiliencemanifest in everyday life and community practices? Can you share aparticularly striking personal story from your interviews thatillustrates this resilience?

Greta: Resilience revealeditself in everyday life through the ways ordinary people, suddenlythrust into extraordinary circumstances of hardship, exile, anddisplacement, made the best of it.

My interviews withdisplaced people are filled with descriptions of how they went backto school, started businesses, or immersed themselves in creativepursuits.

A woman whose only placeto sleep was a benevolent stranger’s couch told me the best wordsto describe her daily experience were “joy” and “wonder.”

That might surprise you,but she had also experienced Ukrainian generosity and landed ateaching job in displacement that would soon enable her to afford aplace to live.

In this way, manyinternally displaced people described their situation as profoundlyunfortunate yet also transformative.

Perhaps the most strikingstory of resilience can be found at the Crimean barricade set up nearthe administrative boundary lines between government-controlledUkraine and Russian occupied Crimea.

At a time when manyUkrainians were resigned to the Russian occupation of Crimea, a groupof activists led by a Crimean Tatar dragged tires across the roads toCrimea, stopping the illicit flow of goods and making the occupationmore costly for Russia.

They also established acadre of people called the Askeri to monitor alleged border guardimproprieties at the new administrative boundary lines. I think theactivities at the administrative boundary lines show they not onlyhad a strategic vision but the courage to carry it out. The bookexplores how they managed the risks – and their own fears – tomaintain this encampment. 

Norm:  How do youconceptualize “decolonization” in the specific context of Crimeaand Ukraine? In what ways does this concept challenge or expandtraditional understandings of post-colonialism?

Greta: I understanddecolonization as a multifaceted process of dismantling the legaciesof colonialism- politically, culturally, economically andpsychologically.

This requires revisitingthe historical narratives that allege Crimean Tatars, and otherUkrainians were arch enemies historically and the portrayals of theCrimean Tatars as violent, unruly, and uncivilized. 

While the usual subjectsin studies of decolonization are nation-states and societies as awhole, my book turns attention primarily to individual subjects.

As such, the book isreally about decolonizing oneself. In Decolonizing Ukraine, I focusless on symbolic changes such as renaming streets or replacingmonuments although this, too is important, and more on the inner workrequired to shed colonial patterns of thought.

This is crucialconsidering what scholars of colonialism like Franz Fanon havepersuasively argued, which is that a significant legacy ofcolonization is that a formerly colonized people internalize thenegative beliefs of the colonizer about themselves. 

Ukraine is in the positionof being both colonized by Russia and among the powers that dominatedthe Indigenous people.

An additional step istherefore for Ukraine to rectify how it has treated its Indigenouspeople.

I prefer the termdecolonizing over postcolonial because Ukraine there is still a lotof work to be done, some of which can’t begin unless Crimea isreturned to Ukrainian jurisdiction. 

Norm: The Sovietdeportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 looms large in your work. Howdoes this historical trauma continue to shape Crimean Tatars’political identity and strategies today?

How is this collectivememory preserved and transmitted across generations?

Greta: The 1944deportation, called the Sürgünlik, in Crimean Tatar, is truly acentral event structuring Crimean Tatar collective identity.

It’s not only ahistorical trauma but a political touchstone that motivates theirstruggle for recognition, and the restoration of their rights.

My first book, BeyondMemory: The Crimean Tatars’ Deportation and Return shows how inthe absence of an official historical narrative, the Crimean Tatarsdeveloped an oral history that was passed down within families. 

Commemoration rituals areanother important component: every year Crimean Tatars observe May 18as a day of mourning and commemoration.

Gathering on that day issymbolically significant and provides a source of communitycohesion. 

The legacy of deportationalso strengthens their focus on Indigenous recognition. Thedeportation reinforced their understanding of themselves as adistinct Indigenous people with ancestral ties to Crimea, a claimthat has become central in their appeals to both the Ukrainiangovernment and international institutions.

Because they developed asa group on the Crimean Peninsula, had a fully developed state priorto colonization, and have no other homeland, they mustn’t beconceptualized as just another minority on the Crimean Peninsula. 

Finally, this historicaltrauma informs their deep skepticism toward Russia and a preferencefor alignment with Ukraine.

They have long supportedUkraine because it held better prospects for human rights anddemocratic governance. They were also among the first to demonstrateagainst the Russian occupation of Crimea. 

Norm: You discuss howRussian occupation extends beyond military control to socialfragmentation. Could you explain how this tactic plays out on theground?

What have been theconsequences for inter-community relations and social networks?

Greta: Your readers willlikely be familiar with Russia’s hybrid tactics whereby theoccupation was carried out not just with conventional militaryforces, but activities like misinformation, surveillance andinserting their own loyal cadres into government positions. 

What my researchcontributes to this understanding is that disrupting how peoplethought and felt about one another was also a hybrid tactic.

The majority of the peoplewho were displaced from occupied territories spoke of the end offriendships and new tensions in family relationships.

The tactic is quiteexplicit in encouraging young people to inform on parents who mayhave pro-Ukrainian sentiments.

Loyalty to Ukraine, thelegitimate authority, was paradoxically deemed “betrayal,” andbetrayal of Ukraine came to be considered “patriotism” afterRussian occupation.

The authorities have evenset up a hotline for reporting on friends and neighbors who makeanti-war or pro-Ukrainians statements. 

As a more specific exampleI can offer is that of a man I met sifting through clothing at ahumanitarian shelter. He told me his father disowned him because hedid not vote for joining Russia in the referendum.

The disagreement led himto flee for Ukrainian government-controlled Ukraine. Had he notexperienced this rift with his father, he would have been in aposition to inherit a home and property.

Thus, these tactics havesignificant material stakes. 

According to my research,the disintegration of relationships on political was a strongpredictor of displacement from Crimea.

Another example fromDecolonizing Ukraine is a woman named Oksana. After occupation, herfiancé and his parents were very pro-Russian and began to denigrateher Ukrainian heritage.

She decided she no longerhad a future with that family, or in Russian dominated Crimea. Inshort, these forms of social ostracism helped secure compliance withRussian control of Crimea.

It was yet another way tomaintain at least a semblance of unanimity in favor of Russiancontrol. 

Norm: You describe anew social cohesion emerging among diverse ethnic groups in Ukraineafter 2014. What forms does this cohesion take, and what role doCrimean Tatars play in it?

How might this evolvingcohesion influence Ukraine’s future political landscape?

Greta: New forms of socialcohesion is among the most significant post-revolutionarydevelopments in Ukraine.

Decolonizing Ukrainetherefore explores the question of how the Crimean Tatars, who in thepast were vilified and demonized as the marauders of the steppe, wereable to transform how they were viewed by other Ukrainians. 

A big piece of the puzzleis the discovery of common values. Crimean Tatars and otherUkrainians discovered that they shared their highest value, freedomand a political commitment to transparent accountable governance oftheir country.

A chapter of the book istitled “Claiming Freedom” because it became a defining feature oftheir identities and facilitated a shift toward a civic form ofnational identity that is capable of encompassing culturally,linguistically, and religiously diverse groups. 

If the Russian occupationof Crimea led to the disintegration of social networks and increasedsuspicion of Crimean Tatars in occupied Crimea, the opposite has beentrue in government-controlled Ukraine.

It is important to mentionthat the Ukrainian government has taken important strides hererecognizing the Crimean Tatars as Indigenous, registering the 1944deportation as a genocide, and establishing a Crimean Platform fordialogue on Crimean issues. President Zelenskyy also appointed aPermanent Representative of the President to Crimea.

An important dimension ofthis was stronger identification with “Ukrainianness.” As onewoman phrased it, she may be Crimean Tatar in her heart, but she isUkrainian in her head because that is the locus of her politicalidentity.

This is significant forpeople of Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar ethnicity who fledCrimea. Because Crimea had such a strong regional and local identity,people in Crimea told me they didn’t always think of themselves ascitizens of any state. With displacement to the continental parts ofUkraine they had opportunities to re-discovering their“Ukrainianness.” 

The cover of the bookprovides a visual metaphor for this. It utilizes the plant motifsthat are found in both Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian culture.

The design reflects anidea explored throughout the book that when we think about modernUkraine, it is important to see Crimea and Crimean Tatars as part ofthe whole. 

Norm: Gender is oftenoverlooked in conflict studies. What gender-specific impacts or rolesdid you encounter among Crimean Tatars in both occupation anddisplacement?

Are there particularnarratives of women’s experiences that you think deserve widerattention?

Greta: Yes. Among CrimeanTatars, the gendered dimensions of both occupation and displacementare profound yet often overlooked.

Muslim women in particularhave carried an enormous burden, as men are disproportionatelytargeted for arrest and political persecution.

When husbands or sons aredetained, women suddenly become the sole providers and caretakers forlarge families—a catastrophic disruption in a social structurewhere women were already primarily responsible for managing thehousehold and raising children.

Yet this hardship has alsoproduced remarkable forms of resilience.

Crimean Tatar women havebuilt informal networks of solidarity, organizing mutual aid tosupport the families of political prisoners and sustain communitylife under occupation.

Many have taken on rolesas activists, documentarians, and human rights defenders, ensuringthat stories of repression reach the outside world.

These women’snarratives—of both everyday endurance and active resistance—deservemuch wider attention.

They reveal not only thegendered toll of Russia’s occupation but also the central rolewomen play in preserving Crimean Tatar identity, culture, andpolitical agency in the face of systemic repression.

Norm: Where can ourreaders find out more about you and Decolonizing Ukraine?

Greta: In connection withpublishing Decolonizing Ukraine, I have received many requests fortalks and have been invited to many podcasts.

It has been a pleasure toshare the findings of my research at both talks I have given inperson and online. Your readers can find the full episodes at my WEBSITE 

They will have access toshort clips that I post on my social media, especially Bluesky:@uehling.bksy.social or Instagram: greta.uehling.

Norm: As we wind up ourinterview, what future research or advocacy work do you see yourselfpursuing related to the themes of indigenous identity,decolonization, and conflict in Ukraine?

Do you plan to continueworking closely with Crimean Tatars or expand to other indigenousgroups in the region?

Greta:Yes, I plan to continue working with Crimean Tatarsalthough opportunities are somewhat limited by the fact that it isdangerous to travel to Ukraine right now. Hopefully, the war will endsoon, and Crimea will return to Ukrainian jurisdiction. 

In the meantime, I amparticipating in an initiative that seeks to support Crimean Tatarpolitical prisoners with Letters to Free Crimea which is aninitiative of the Mission of the President of Ukraine in theAutonomous Republic of Crimea, PEN Ukraine and the “Zmina” HumanRights Center.

Those who communicate frombehind bars consistently say that letters from the outside world area lifeline — a sign that they are remembered, and perhaps lessalone. Even a short message can help them endure the isolation ofunjust imprisonment.

Most of these prisonersare serving long sentences for activities Americans take for granted:expressing their opinions, attending a public gathering, or sharingfactual observations about life under occupation. They are paying avery heavy price for exercising their civil rights.

If your readers are movedto help, there are nearly 200 political prisoners in Russian custody.Taking a few minutes to write a letter is a small act of kindnessthat carries enormous meaning. It tells a prisoner that the world isstill paying attention, and that their contribution has been valued.

You can find all therelevant information with instruction on how to write and sendletters, as well as the list of the political prisoner on thefollowing links:

https://ppu.gov.ua/en/press-center/lysty-do-vilnoho-krymu/

https://zmina.info/en/instructions-en/kremlin-prisoners-how-to-write-a-letter-to-a-political-prisoner/

https://ppu.gov.ua/en/lysty-do-vilnoho-krymu/

Norm: Thanks once againand good luck with all of your endeavors

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