The lectureship in Women’s Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University was established in 2013 by a generous endowment of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America. The lectureship is an interdisciplinary program dedicated to examine women’s lives in our society (both past and present) through the lens of such social categories as gender, nationality, ethnicity, religion, class and sexuality. We find it vital in our teaching and research to bridge a variety of disciplines, such as history, theology, sociology and psychology in order to advance a more nuanced conceptualization of women’s identities.
The program also cultivates writing, research and presentation skills, as well as offers internships in various organizations to equip our students with community service skills. Finally, it provides an opportunity for our students to engage in discussions with renowned Ukrainian and foreign scholars in the field.
Since 2014 we have offered students such courses as: “Modern Labor Migration in Ukraine (Women’s Dimensions)” by a sociologist of migration, Victoria Volodko; “Ukrainian Women’s Movement in Social and Political Process of the Interwar Period Galicia” by a director of the Lviv National Library’s Department of Manuscripts, Myroslava Diadiuk; “Images of Women Saints in Art from the Early Christian Era to the 20th Century: Socio-Cultural Analysis” by a research fellow at Andrey Sheptytsky National Museum, Maria Tsymbalista; “Female Faces of the Old Testament in Modern Culture” by UCU lecturers Orysia Bila and Halyna Teslyuk.
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Graduates of the Ukrainian Catholic University.
Sociology students at UCU.
At UCU (from left) are: Olena Dzerdzora, Oksana Kis, Martha Bohachevsky Chomiak, Marianna Zajac, Bishop Borys Gudziak, Sofia Hewryk and Oksana Farion.
In all these courses students had an opportunity to gain theoretical knowledge and develop practical skills. For instance, in the course on migration, students were required to interview women who travelled abroad for work in order to analyze factors as well as outcomes of such a decision. The course on women’s history offered a unique opportunity to examine archival documents on women’s activism in Halychyna between the two world wars. Some documents on the Catholic women’s movement were discovered and analyzed by our students for the first time. Furthermore, students who enroll in our courses have an opportunity to attain a better understanding of how social, political, religious, psychological, cultural forces are embedded in how we read and interpret women’s lives.
In addition to our regular courses, we offer open lectures/seminars that are always well attended both by UCU’s students and faculty members, as well as by guests from other higher education institutions in Lviv. Lviv-based scholars, as well as intellectuals from other Ukrainian universities and foreign guests, presented their research at our open lectures.
Helma Lutz from Goethe University in Frankfurt gave a talk titled “From Euro-Migrants to Euro-Orphans: Migrant Women and the Denial of Good Motherhood,” in which she examined the ongoing public debate in Eastern European countries (including Ukraine) on migrant parents who left their children in the countries of origin.
Catherine Brown Tkacz from Gonzaga University (Spokane, Wash.) presented her research on “Susana as a Type of Christ in Early Christian Art and Texts.” Dr. Tkacz emphasized that early Christian writers and preachers recognized certain women of the Old Testament as types of Christ. In fact, Susanna was the first among these; her story was used by the authors of Synoptic Gospels as the narrative template for Christ passion narratives.
Olena Stiazhkina from Donetsk National University, in a talk pertinent to the current Ukrainian situation, gave a survey on “Ukrainian Women in Times of Occupation: Differences, Intentions and Resources of Survival.” Dr. Stiazhkina underlined the importance of uncovering “unheroic” pages of our history in order to break stereotypes regarding women’s behavior in times of war and occupation. This presentation actually revitalized discussion among the participants on how Ukrainian media today promulgate similar stereotypes about Ukrainians on the territory occupied by separatists.
A lecture on “Psychological Differences of Genders: Myths and Reality” was offered by Oksana Kikinezhdi from Ternopil’s Volodymyr Hnatiuk Pedagogical University. Dr. Kikinezhdi discussed the forces behind certain psychological stereotypes that led to gender inequality in societies.
These few examples indicate the interdisciplinary nature of our program that allows UCU students from different areas of study – history, sociology, psychology, theology – to acquaint themselves with the conceptual framework, theories and applications of feminist research in the areas of their own programs.
We are developing a full-fledged and coherent program to offer students an opportunity to pursue a graduate degree in women’s studies. We hope that this program will serve as a valuable asset to both UCU’s intellectual community and the wider community of Ukraine.
Halyna Teslyuk is associate professor in Biblical studies and coordinator of the UNWLA Lectureship in Women’s Studies at the Ukrainian Catholic University.