NEWS AND VIEWS: HURI's reaction to Kuropas (07/26/98)

NEWS AND VIEWS

HURI's reaction to Kuropas

by Prof. Roman Szporluk and James Ivan Clem

Dr. Myron Kuropas has every right to express his opinions on the state of the Ukrainian American community ("The Grunts Carry Us," July 12), but by so seriously misrepresenting the work of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, he has done a tremendous disservice to its associated faculty, staff and many generous benefactors. We would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight, and to offer some more general comments on matters which concern the readers of The Ukrainian Weekly.

To begin, Dr. Kuropas' characterization of the institute's publication program is surprisingly anti-intellectual in tone. He writes that "almost all of what [we] publish is for the benefit of a handful of other academics who can comprehend esoteric language known to but a select few." Even the most casual glance at a list of our recent publications shows how wrong he is. In the past two years alone - one of the most productive publishing periods in recent memory - the institute has published works that cover the full spectrum of Ukrainian studies.

Such innovative studies include "Ukrainian Futurism 1914-1930," by Oleh Ilnytzkyj of the University of Alberta, "A Lexical Atlas of the Hutsul Dialects of the Ukrainian Language" by Janusz Rieger of Warsaw University, and "The Origins of the Old Rus' Weights and Monetary Systems" by Omeljan Pritsak of Harvard University. Books by Ukrainian statesmen, past and present, are represented by "Carpatho-Ukraine in the Twentieth Century: A Political and Legal History" by Vincent Shandor and "The Strategic Role of Ukraine: Diplomatic Addresses and Lectures, 1994-1997" by Ambassador Yuri Shcherbak. Two other influential titles in modern Ukrainian and East European history are "Nationalism, Marxism and Modern Central Europe" by Timothy Snyder of Harvard University and "The Great Peasant War: Bolsheviks and Peasants, 1917-1933" by the well-known Italian scholar Andrea Graziosi.

Most of these books are accessible to a general audience, and all of them represent cutting-edge research on important Ukraine-related topics. Moreover, those titles that are designed for more specialized audiences should be valued just as highly as the rest. We know from the history of scholarship that some of those "esoteric" books that were appreciated by only a few at the time of their publication were groundbreaking contributions.

Prof. Pritsak's book on weights and monetary systems, for example, is aimed at specialists - but it is the definitive study on that subject, and will be referenced by a variety of scholars for many years to come. Would Dr. Kuropas tell the readers of The Ukrainian Weekly that this "esoteric" book should not have been published?

More serious is Dr. Kuropas' lampooning of our journal, Harvard Ukrainian Studies (HUS) and his attack on the reputation of the holder of Harvard's Potebnja Chair of Ukrainian Philology, Prof. Michael Flier.

Dr. Kuropas' charge that HUS has become a forum for Russian studies is ludicrous. Dr. Kuropas can look at any of the previous issues, however we suggest that he start with Volume XVIII, No. 1/2, a special issue titled "Ukrainian Philology and Linguistics." As its editor, Prof. Flier not only assembled an outstanding international team of scholars, but also contributed an article titled "Segmentation, Rank and Natural Class in Ukrainian Dialectology." Scholars in the field have called this collection the most important work in Ukrainian linguistics in 30 years.

Future volumes of the journal will be thematic issues focusing on Ukrainian foreign policy, Ukrainian Church history, the city of Lviv and Ukrainian nation-building. Enough said.

Turning to the single volume of HUS that Dr. Kuropas chose for his comments, perhaps we should begin by describing the person whom that volume honors. As stated in the preface to the volume:

"This volume of Harvard Ukrainian Studies constitutes a festschrift in honor of the 60th birthday of Edward L. Keenan, Andrew W. Mellon Professor of History at Harvard University. Prof. Keenan was present at the founding of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, and has been since then a member of the Standing Committee on Ukrainian Studies, a member of the Executive Committee of HURI from its inception, and one of HURI's most consistent supporters both within and outside of the university. The articles in his festschrift reflect Prof. Keenan's wide range of interests, demonstrate the importance of his scholarship for the study of Ukrainian history, and thus inspire our common efforts in Ukrainian studies."

As a practicing scholar, Dr. Kuropas should know that a festschrift represents a tribute by colleagues to the life's work of the honorand. Every scholar writing for that festschrift respects Ukrainian history as a vibrant and legitimate field. Prof. Keenan has made a long and distinguished career of studying Ukrainian-Russian relations and exposing those Russian myths that claim medieval Ukrainian history as Russia's own. He has taught a generation of scholars - who in turn teach others - to understand and respect the history of Ukraine.

Finally, we need to address Dr. Kuropas' claim that "Harvard academics live in their own little world, blissfully oblivious to the rest of us." We at the institute do not take our endowment for granted - we have successfully sought outside grants, and work continuously to expand our programs. We have attracted independently funded scholars from Ukraine, the United States and Europe; next year we will have visiting scholars from Sweden and Spain.

Our faculty and associates teach courses, organize conferences on both historical and contemporary topics (such as the conference "Ukraine and the World" held in Washington in December 1996 and an upcoming conference on Ukrainian American writers), publish research, and help the careers of other scholars by writing recommendations and reviewing manuscripts for publishing houses and journals. Readers of The Ukrainian Weekly also undoubtedly know from the Previews of Events calendar about our long-running Seminar in Ukrainian Studies.

One of the most important programs we have is the Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute. For the past 27 years these "blissfully oblivious" Harvard academics have donated valuable summer research time to teach the children of the Ukrainian American and Canadian communities. We thought that Dr. Kuropas appreciated this when he lectured at Harvard last summer. Harvard professors teach those courses, which are so vital to the cultural heritage of the young generation, and, for the past few years, Dr. Kuropas will be relieved to know (considering his priorities), that we at Harvard have also been teaching them how to make varenyky and borsch!

It saddens us that someone so influential in the Ukrainian American community appears to be so ill-informed. We felt that we were doing enough to publicize our activities - and here The Ukrainian Weekly has been most helpful - but Dr. Kuropas' column shows us that we need to do more.

We would like to use this opportunity to express our profound thanks to all members of the Ukrainian community who have contributed to and continue to support Ukrainian studies at Harvard. We assure them that their contributions have been put to good use.

Prof. Roman Szporluk is director and James Ivan Clem is executive director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University.