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Book Launch -- <i>Culture, Nation, and Identity: The Ukrainian-Russian Encounter, 1600-1945</i>

Frank E. Sysyn, Visiting Professor in Ukrainian Studies, Harriman Institute, Columbia University; Director, Peter Jacyk Center for Ukrainian Historical Research, University of Alberta; and former Title VIII-Supported Research Scholar, Kennan Institute; Mark von Hagen, Professor, Department of History, Harriman Institute, Columbia University, and former Short-term Scholar, Kennan Institute

Date & Time

Friday
Apr. 2, 2004
1:30pm – 3:30pm ET

Overview

At a recent Kennan Institute talk, Frank Sysyn of Columbia University and the University of Alberta, and Mark von Hagen of Columbia University discussed the importance of the historical interactions between Russia and Ukraine and the state of Ukrainian studies in Russia, Europe, and the United States. In order to address what they see as a serious lack of scholarship on Ukrainian history and Ukrainian-Russian relations, Sysyn and von Hagen helped to organize a series of conferences on Ukrainian-Russian historical encounters that brought together Russian, Ukrainian, American, and European scholars. They collected the best papers from these conferences into the volume Culture, Nation, and Identity: The Ukrainian-Russian Encounter, 1600-1945, which they believe sheds new light on the relationship between Ukraine and Russia.

Von Hagen explained that this book is the first post-Soviet study of Ukrainian-Russian relations. He noted that it was a difficult volume to put together, primarily because both Russian scholars and American and European Russianists were not interested in studying Ukrainian issues. He argued that this neglect of Ukrainian issues is not inevitable. For example, Ukraine's historical relations with Poland have been little better than with Russia, but today Poland has a very strong and active Ukrainian studies community, while few scholars in Russia even acknowledge that Ukraine exists as a historical entity.

Sysyn agreed that Ukrainian studies have been neglected in most of the world, although he believes that the situation has improved greatly in recent years. Sysyn noted that scholarship on Ukrainian-Russian relations in the past was overly focused on polarized debates over whether Russia and Ukraine are the same or different, and on moral debates over whether Ukrainian identity is "good" or "bad." He argued that the editors worked to overcome several important difficulties in the study of Ukrainian history that in Culture, Nation, and Identity. These problems include: the tendency of post-modern scholarship to avoid looking at broad issues and making generalizations, the tendency of post-independence Ukrainian scholars toward a nationalist zealotry that turns all history into an anti-Russian diatribe, and the unwillingness of Russian scholars to treat Ukraine as an independent entity.

Scholars are more likely to focus on Ukrainian-Russian relations in certain historical periods, according to Sysyn. For example, scholars working on the period from 1500-1800 are more likely to consider the role played by Ukrainians than are scholars studying the 19th century, who tend to focus exclusively on Russia. Von Hagen noted that, in contrast, political scientists and sociologists studying the post-Soviet period have been much more willing to address Ukrainian issues than have historians. Both Sysyn and von Hagen believe that Culture, Nation, and Identity and the conferences that led to its publication are drawing attention to the importance of Ukraine and Ukrainian-Russian relations in the history of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union.

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Kennan Institute

The Kennan Institute is the premier US center for advanced research on Russia and Eurasia and the oldest and largest regional program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Kennan Institute is committed to improving American understanding of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and the surrounding region though research and exchange.  Read more

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