Slavery, Freedom and Politics in Early Modern Ukraine

Slavery and frequent slave raids feeding the Mediterranean trade were inescapable although frequently overlooked facts in the early modern Ruthenian territories. Since slavery is often seen as the opposite of freedom, how did it relate to the pivotal theme of political culture in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, liberty?
Moreover, how did the Muscovite tsar and other rulers in the region, such as the Sublime Porte come to be represented? The tensions between these concepts have haunted and enriched Ukrainian history and culture at various levels.
Christoph Witzenrath, Ph.D., studied history, politics and political economics in Freiburg and Berlin. 2005 he recived his Ph. D. at the King`s College, University of London. Christoph Witzenrath was Fellow at the University of Aberdeen/Scotland (2007-2009), at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (2010), at the Yale Gilder Lehrman Center for the History of Slavery (2011) and at the Munk School for International Studies/University of Toronto (2012). He is assistant lecturer at the University of Greifswald.
Moderation: Professor Dr. Alexander Wöll