Multiethnic Encounters With and Indigenous Knowledge On the Environment in Ukraine

“Rethinking Ukraine’s Environment: War, Ecocide, and Beyond” Seminar Series

26 March 2026 | 18:00 CET | 10:00 MT

Speakers: Nara Narimanova, Martin-Oleksandr Kisly, and Svitlana Arabadzhy | Moderator: Oleksii Chebotariov

This seminar explores human-environment relations within diverse communities in Ukraine and examines how Indigenous and local environmental knowledge shapes those relations. Bringing together case studies from different regions and historical contexts, it highlights how multiethnic communities have developed place-based knowledge through long-term interaction with landscapes and ecosystems.

Speakers

Nara Narimanova: Crimean Tatar Topographic Memory and Resistance to Colonial Erasure

The history of Crimea is written from the perspective of a colonizer—one who holds power, forcing displacement, and erasing the Indigenous Crimean Tatar people. From the 1783 annexation of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire, to the 1944 Soviet deportation, and the 2014 Russian occupation, Crimean Tatars have faced repeated displacement from their homeland. Crimean Tatar toponymy serves both a historical record and an affirmation of the people’s relationship to the land. Crimean villages, landmarks, and names reflect the Crimean Tatar relationship with the land, emphasizing its spiritual and historical significance. The unique geography of Crimea, including its mountains, coastal areas, and plains, shaped Crimean Tatar practices such as agriculture, cuisine, music, and oral storytelling, all of which are embedded in place-based memory. Renaming is a powerful colonial tool to control narratives and erase the Indigenous Crimean Tatar existence. Reclaiming toponymy is, therefore, a vital act of decolonial resistance, restoring not only toponymy heritage but also Indigenous rights, sovereignty, and identity. In 1783, the Russian Empire annexed the Crimean Khanate, beginning a process of colonialism that had a lasting impact on its Indigenous people and geographical names. The forced deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944 by the Soviet Union severed this bond, leading to many decades of exile where Crimea remained a symbol of hope and longing for Crimean Tatars. Crimean Tatar villages were renamed, repurposing of cultural spaces reflected the colonial effort to erase Crimean Tatars. The 2014 annexation continues this colonial agenda, further distorting historical narratives and suppressing Indigenous presence. This presentation explores how Crimean Tatars preserve topographic memory (the practice of keeping alive ancestral place names, oral histories, and cultural geographies) as a decolonial act of resistance. By centering Crimean Tatar voices and experiences, this research aims to contribute to the broader discourse on decolonization and Indigenous resistance against imperial erasure.

Nara Narimanova, Ph.D. is a student in Indigenous Crimean Tatar Studies at the Faculty of Native Studies. She is a Research Assistant at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta. As a Fulbright scholar, she did her MA in Public Policy and Administration at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her research focuses on the experiences of Crimean Tatars, particularly in the topography of Crimea and the preservation of oral stories. She is an international development professional with over 15 years of experience of planning, coordinating, and managing programs that support civil society organizations and local governments in Ukraine. Nara is an advocate for the participation of Indigenous peoples in decision-making processes and is an interpreter of five languages. She is an experienced cross-cultural communicator in regions across North America, Ukraine, and Türkiye.

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Martin-Oleksandr Kisly: Crimean Tatar Forest Gardening as Traditional Indigenous Knowledge

This presentation explores the “Çayır,” a traditional Crimean Tatar system of forest gardening that exemplifies a sophisticated harmony between human economic activity and mountain ecosystems. By integrating fruit-bearing trees into natural forests, Crimean Tatars developed a unique form of indigenous agroforestry based on minimal intervention and deep environmental stewardship. The study examines how these practices represent more than mere land management; they embody a worldview of co-existence. In the face of contemporary ecological challenges, recovering this indigenous knowledge offers vital insights into sustainable land use and the preservation of Ukraine’s multiethnic cultural landscapes.

Martin-Oleksandr Kisly (Crimean Studies Center at National university of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy) 
was born in Simferopol, Crimea. He is a historian specializing in the history of Crimea and the Crimean Tatars, with a particular focus on the Soviet and post-Soviet periods. In 2021 he defended his PhD dissertation, “The Return of the Crimean Tatars to their Homeland, 1956–1989.” His research interests include oral history, memory, trauma, identity, migration, and colonialism.
 He serves as an expert on the Council for Cognitive De-Occupation under the Mission of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, and is the Executive Director of RUTA Association.

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Svitlana Arabadzhy: Greeks in the Azov Steppes: Environmental Knowledge and the Shaping of a Semi-Pastoral Economy

This presentation will explore the economic life of Greek settlers in the Azov steppes before the spread of large-scale cereal cultivation. It will discuss how, after their forced resettlement in the late eighteenth century, Greek communities adapted to the steppe environment and developed a semi-pastoral economy. Particular attention will be paid to the central role of sheep husbandry in subsistence, trade, and everyday culture. The presentation will also highlight how environmental conditions shaped economic choices and explain why the Greeks’ reluctance to change sheep breeds reflected practical experience and accumulated ecological knowledge of the steppe landscape.

Svitlana Arabadzhy (PhD, History), is a Researcher in the Department of Archaeology, Conservation and History at the University of Oslo and an Associate Professor in the Department of History and Archaeology at Mariupol State University. Her research focuses on the history of the Greek minority in Ukraine and on maritime economic and social history, with particular attention to the Azov and Black Sea region. Her current research project, Heritage of Eastern and Southern Ukraine: Preservation of 19th- and Early 20th-Century Newspapers, is funded by the Endangered Archives Programme of the British Library.

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Moderator: Oleksii Chebotarov is a guest lecturer in Environmental History at the Central European University in Vienna. He is also a research fellow with the KLIMER: Climate, Environment and Energy research group at the University of Oslo and with the Center for Governance and Culture in Europe at the University of St. Gallen. Previously, he held research and teaching positions at the University of Vienna, the University of St. Gallen, New Europe College in Bucharest, the Center for Urban History in Lviv, and the Ukrainian Catholic University. He earned his PhD in Social Studies from the University of St. Gallen in 2021.

This seminar is part of the international series “Rethinking Ukraine’s Environment: War, Ecocide, and Beyond,” which aims to foster a deeper understanding of historical human–environment relationships—a vital factor in addressing Ukraine’s current environmental challenges and envisioning a secure and sustainable future.

Read more about the seminar series here. 

Hosted by CIUS, this international seminar series is a joint initiative of the EnvHistUA Research Group and Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, with further support from the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (Södertörn University), Center for Governance and Culture in Europe (University of St. Gallen), and the European Society for Environmental History (ESEH).