AUSTIN, Texas – Oksana Lutsyshyna, a well-known Ukrainian author, is a lecturer in the Ukrainian Studies Program at the University of Texas at Austin.
Originally from Uzhhorod in the Zakarpattia region of Ukraine, since 2001 she has lived in the United States, first in Florida, then in Georgia and now in Austin, Texas.
Dr. Lutsyshyna studied several literary traditions (Ukrainian, Russian, Polish, French) and cultural theory, as well as language teaching methodology. She has been an adjunct instructor at several universities in Florida. She taught Russian, French, English as a second language, academic writing, African literature (her master’s thesis was on Assja Djebar, an Algerian writer), Russian literature and even Melville.
At the University of Texas at Austin, where she now teaches, the Ukrainian curriculum was added only last year. Ukrainian studies are part of the Slavic and Eurasian Studies Department. So far, the program offers beginning and intensive Ukrainian language courses.
Dr. Lutsyshyna also incorporates Ukrainian authors into her literature courses. Last year UT Austin welcomed a leading Ukrainian author, Serhiy Zhadan, who came for a talk and a reading. The event inspired a lot of interest. This year, Prof. Volodymyr Dubovyk, an international relations specialist, is a Fulbrighter with a joint appointment to UT and St. Edwards University. He gave great lecture on current affairs, attracting an audience that packed the hall.
Dr. Lutsyshyna said she accepted the position at the University of Texas at Austin because she wanted to teach Ukrainian – both the language and the rich literary heritage. She notes that, unfortunately, many Slavic departments do not offer Ukrainian. She added that she feels there is no way to really understand the history of, say, Russia, without knowing the history of Ukraine. She sees the relationship between the two countries as an example of neighbor colonialism, referring not only to the appropriation of territories and goods, but also to the production of knowledge and the writing of history. Almost no voice was offered to the colonized, she explained, be it Ukraine, or Central Asian countries, or any of the nationalities populating the Russian Federation today.
She underscored that “we must end the invisibility of Ukraine.” Moreover, there is a lot of interest in Ukraine, and some of her graduate students are working on Ukrainian topics.
Dr. Lutsyshyna also teaches courses on Ukrainian literature of the 20th century and Eastern European women writers, and a graduate seminar on de-communization, titled “Post-Communist Protest in Eastern Europe.” This year she will also be co-teaching “Introduction to Eastern European Studies.” She also hopes to develop a number of new courses.
Of her students, she says, most are Americans, not heritage learners. Some are interested in literature, some in language policy in Ukraine, and some in international relations.
Dr. Lutsyshyna writes poetry and novels; she used to write short stories, but somehow fell out of love with the genre. Her latest novel “Liubovne Zhyttia” came out in December 2015 (and sold out), and she is hoping to have another one out by the fall of this year. Her new novel is about the historic events of October 1990, the Revolution on Granite – Ukraine’s first Maidan – when about 200 college students from Lviv, Kyiv and Dnipropetrovsk (today known as Dnipro) went on a hunger strike and set up a tent camp in Kyiv’s city center to demand independence for Ukraine. Essentially, what they were seeking was the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the author pointed out.
Dr. Lutsyshyna said she is thankful to Austin’s Ukrainian community for being active in and very supportive of the Ukrainian Studies Program at the University of Texas. Community members came to listen to Mr. Zhadan and even organized another meeting with him, especially for those who speak Ukrainian (the UT reading had to be in English); movie screenings were very well attended. She added that her students have met many Ukrainians and now keep in touch with them.