CERES MA student wins The Canadian Association of Slavists Essay Contest

CERES MA student Sydney Shiller has been named as the undergraduate winner by the Canadian Association of Slavists (CAS) in their annual Student Essay Contest. The CAS Student Essay Contest recognizes the best academic work written by undergraduate and graduate students on Slavic, East European, and Eurasian studies.

Sydney Shiller’s capstone research concerns interethnic political relations in late Austrian Galicia and she is interested in memory politics in Eastern Europe, with a focus on Russia’s ongoing memory war against Ukraine. Shiller’s winning paper, “The Crucified Land: Accusations of Ukrainian Antisemitism in Putin’s Russia, 2014-2022” traces the development of Russia’s propagandistic accusations of Ukrainian fascism and antisemitism over the course of the Russo-Ukrainian war.

From its conception until the early months of the revived Russo-Ukrainian war, Shiller examines its reception in Western and Russian media over a span of eight years. In turn, Shiller concludes that the strength of Russian propaganda that alleges Ukrainian antisemitism has, both at home and abroad, been its ability to exacerbate divisions between East and West and exploit cracks in Western opinion since 2014.

On winning this award, Shiller says, “I am incredibly grateful to have been awarded the CAS undergraduate essay prize and look forward to pursuing further research on the politics of history in Eastern Europe as I continue my studies.”

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