NEW YORK – During the spring 2019 semester Columbia’s Ukrainian Studies Program at the Harriman Institute is offering seven courses that study various aspects of Ukraine, and is organizing lectures and book presentations in Ukrainian studies at the university. Joining the program for the spring semester will be Visiting Assistant Professor of History Dr. Johannes Remy.
Dr. Remy is a specialist in Eastern European history, especially Ukraine, Russia and Poland in the 19th and early 20th century. Most of his research has been on nationality questions of the Russian empire. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Helsinki in 2000. In 2009, he moved to Canada and taught at five universities, including Carleton University in Ottawa and York University in Toronto. He joined the College of Europe faculty in September 2015. His second monograph, “Brothers or Enemies? The Ukrainian National Movement and Russia From the 1840s to the 1870s,” was published in 2016 by University of Toronto Press. Dr. Remy has also written a textbook on the history of Ukraine in his native Finnish and numerous scholarly articles on the Ukrainian question in the Russian empire.
Dr. Remy will teach two courses at Columbia University this spring. The first, titled “Introduction to the History of Ukraine,” will take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4:10-5:25 p.m. The second, a seminar titled “Ukraine in the Russian and Habsburg Empires,” will be held on Mondays at 4:10-6 p.m. During this seminar, students will read in depth about and discuss the two empires and their regional policies, noble landowners, peasants, workers, the Ukrainian national movement, revolutionary movements, Jews, Crimea, women and religious life.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays at 1:10-2:25 p.m., Dr. Mark Andryczyk will teach the course “Brand New: Creating Identity in Contemporary Ukrainian Culture.” This course presents and examines post-Soviet Ukrainian literature. Students will learn about the significant achievements, names, events, scandals and polemics in contemporary Ukrainian literature and will see how they have contributed to Ukraine’s post-Soviet identity. Students will examine how Ukrainian literature became an important site for experimentation with language, for providing feminist perspectives, for engaging previously banned taboos and for deconstructing Soviet and Ukrainian national myths.
Among the writers to be focused on in the course are Serhiy Zhadan, Yuri Andrukhovych, Oksana Zabuzhko and Taras Prokhasko. Centered on the most important successes in literature, the course will also explore key developments in music and visual art of this period. Special focus will be given to how the 2013-2014 Euro-Maidan Revolution and war are treated in today’s literature. By also studying Ukrainian literature with regard to its relationship with Ukraine’s changing political life, students will obtain a good understanding of the dynamics of today’s Ukraine and the development of Ukrainians as a nation in the 21st century. The course will be complemented by audio and video presentations; it is presented entirely in English with a parallel reading list for those who read Ukrainian.
Ambassador Valeriy Kuchynskyi will teach a course titled “Today’s Ukraine: Power Politics, and Diplomacy,” that will be held on Tuesdays at 2:10-4 p.m. Ukraine is at war and the country is in turmoil. The course will consider: What is to be done by the government to rebuff foreign aggression, eradicate corruption, improve the economic situation and implement reforms? What are the chances of the new opposition to succeed? Will the Minsk accords be implemented? What will be the impact of the March 2019 presidential elections? These and other issues, including behind-the-scene politics, power struggle 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.
Three levels of Ukrainian language instruction will be taught this spring by Dr. Yuri Shevchuk: Elementary on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 11:40 a.m.-12:55 a.m.; Intermediate on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays at 10:10-11:25 a.m.; and Advanced on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 2:10-4 p.m.
Several events have already been scheduled for the spring semester, with more to come.
The Ukrainian Studies Program will co-sponsor the New York premiere of Sergei Loznitsa’s film “Donbass” that will take place on Friday, January 11, as part of the First Look 2019 Festival at the Museum of the Moving Image. The film will open the festival, and Mr. Loznitsa will participate in the event.
On February 11 at noon Dr. Nazar Kozak (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) will give a talk titled “Breaking Through the State Border as an Art Project”. On April 11 at 4:15 p.m. Dr. Taras Kuzio (National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Foreign Policy Institute, Johns Hopkins University – SAIS) will present on “Populists, Reformers, Russian Soft Power and War: Ukraine’s 2019 Elections.”
Dr. Shevchuk, who is also director of the Ukrainian Film Club of Columbia University, will continue to provide fans of film with consistent programming featuring Ukrainian cinema both on and off campus this spring.
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 course 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 22 is the first day of classes, and February 1 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.