NEW YORK – Columbia’s Ukrainian Studies Program at the Harriman Institute will offer eight courses focusing on Ukrainian history, political science, literature, language and visual art in the spring 2020 semester. It will also organize a series of lectures in Ukrainian studies at the university.
Joining the program for the spring semester will be Dr. Oksana Vynnyk, the visiting assistant professor of history for spring 2020 – a position supported by Ukrainian Studies Instructional Fund. Dr. Vynnyk earned a Ph.D. in history in 2018 at the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on the reintegration of World War I invalids in Lviv and, more generally, how disability is defined by the state. She has also studied minorities in Lviv of that period, as well as sexual abuse during collectivization and the Holodomor.
Dr. Vynnyk will teach two courses at Columbia University this spring. The first, titled “Topics in Modern Ukrainian History” will take place Wednesdays, 4:10-5:25 p.m. This lecture course focuses on Ukrainian history from the early 19th century to the present day. Questions to be examined include: What factors influenced the construction and transformation of Ukrainian national identity(ies)? How did an independent Ukrainian state emerge and why are its borders contested today? How does historical memory influence Ukraine’s contemporary political and social life? What role does Ukraine play in the broader histories of Central and Eastern Europe?
The second course, a seminar titled “Urban Modernity on the Ukrainian Lands: Cities in the 19th and 20th Centuries,” will be held Thursdays 12:10-2 p.m. During this seminar, students will examine the development of modern cities on the territory of present-day Ukraine and study how urban social space changed under the influence of imperial powers, radical ideologies, and authoritarian or totalitarian regimes.
Dr. Mark Andrycyzk will teach the course “The Aura of Soviet Ukrainian Modernism” (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:10-2:25 p.m.). This course studies the renaissance in Ukrainian culture of the 1920s – a period of revolution, experimentation, vibrant expression and polemics. Focusing on the most important developments in literature, as well as on the intellectual debates they inspired, the course will also examine the major achievements in Ukrainian theater, visual art and film as integral components of the cultural spirit that defined the era. The course treats one of the most important periods of Ukrainian culture and examines its lasting impact on today’s Ukraine. It will be complemented by film screenings, presentations of visual art and rare publications from this period.
Ambassador Valeriy Kuchynskyi will teach a course titled “Today’s Ukraine: Power Politics and Diplomacy,” which will be held on Tuesdays 2:10-4 p.m. Ukraine is at war, the country is in turmoil. What are the chances of the new government to reach a “peaceful solution” in the Donbas, eradicate corruption, improve the economic situation and implement reforms? Is there a future for the Minsk accords? What’s the significance of the Normandy summit? These and other issues, including behind-the-scenes politics, power struggles and diplomatic activities, are dealt with in the newly revised course delivered by a career diplomat. The course is aimed at both graduate and advanced undergraduate students.
The Jacyk Postdoctoral Fellow in Ukrainian Studies at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University for 2019-2021, Dr. Olena Martynyuk, will teach a course titled “Periphery and Its Empires: Ukrainian and Russian Art from Peter the Great to the Present.” The course will meet Mondays and Wednesdays at 2:40-3:55 p.m. It will situate the development of Ukrainian art in dialogue with Russian culture within the contexts of the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and the post-Soviet era. While surveying major art periods and concepts from parsuna portraiture to the avant-garde, the course aims to create a more nuanced vision of art produced in the region, focusing not only on the predominantly Russian culture of the metropole but also that of the provinces where the stateless Ukrainian minority struggled to express itself. Examining Russian art together with Ukrainian art and themes, the class will study the impact of the national policies of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union on Ukrainian art and its reception.
Three levels of Ukrainian language instruction will be taught this spring by Dr. Yuri Shevchuk: Elementary II on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 11:40 a.m.-12:55 a.m.; Intermediate II on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10:10-11:25 a.m.; and Advanced Ukrainian Through Literature, Media and Politics on Mondays and Wednesdays at 2:40-3:55 p.m.
Several events have already been scheduled for the spring semester. On February 6, Dr. Anna Procyk (professor emerita, Kingsborough Community College of the CUNY) will present her monograph “Giuseppe Mazzini’s Young Europe and the Birth of Modern Nationalism in the Slavic World” (University of Toronto Press, 2019); on March 5, Dr. Nicholas Denysenko (Valparaiso University) will present his book “The Orthodox Church in Ukraine: A Century of Separation” (Northern Illinois University Press, 2018); on March 10, Dr. Leah Batstone (Hunter College, CUNY) will give a lecture titled “Between Serialism and Suprematism: Nikolai Roslavets’ Modernist Music”; on March 26, Dr. Oksana Remeniaka (National Academy of Arts of Ukraine; University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy; Visiting Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University) will give a talk titled “Nigra sed Formosa: Immersed in Sadness However Beautiful: The Problem of Returning Lost Artifacts”; on April 2, Markian Dobczansky (Harriman Institute, Columbia University) will speak on “Soviet Ukrainian Urbanism: Factories, Higher Education and Nationalities Policy in Kharkiv.” All of these events will take place at noon in the Marshall D. Shulman Seminar Room (Room 1219, International Affairs Building) except for Nicholas Denysenko’s talk which will take place in the same venue but at 4 p.m.
Courses at Columbia are open to students from other universities in the New York metropolitan area seeking credit. Readers are advised to contact the university at which they are enrolled to determine whether it participates in this manner with Columbia University. Some courses are also open to outside individuals interested in non-credit continuing studies. Additionally, through the Lifelong Learners program, individuals over age 65 who are interested in auditing courses may enroll at a discount rate as Lifelong Learners. Please visit the Columbia University School of Continuing Education (http://www.ce.columbia.edu/auditing/?PID=28) for more details.
January 21 is the first day of classes, and January 31 is the final day to register for a class. For more information about courses or the Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia University, readers may contact Dr. Andryczyk at [email protected] or 212-854-4697.