NP - Read previously in
The New Pathway, Issue 3, January 21, 2010, about the Canadian
Institute of Ukrainian Studies (University of Alberta), the Kowalsky Program
for the Study of Eastern Ukraine at CIUS undertakes scholarly projects
concerned with reviving Ukrainian studies in russified regions of Eastern and Southern Ukraine. The most significant of
these is the Baturyn Project for the reconstruction of the historic capital of
the Cossack Hetmanate, which has won international recognition and received
state support in Ukraine.
Last summer, CIUS Director Dr. Zenon Kohut visited Ukraine where he was hosted by
the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. Among
north-central and southeastern regions visited under the Kowalsky Program, he
also went to Baturyn..
Accompanied by the executive director of the
Baturyn Project, Dr. Volodymyr Mezentsev, Dr. Kohut visited the Chernihiv
region to oversee the progress of the project. At a meeting with Dr. Oleksander
Kovalenko, dean of the Department of History, and other faculty members of Chernihiv State University (ChSU), the key role of
the university in conducting CIUS-sponsored archaeological excavations of
Hetman Ivan Mazepa’s capital was emphasized. Most of the 120 students for whom
Baturyn offered a unique opportunity to gain practical archaeological
experience are enrolled at ChSU. There was also a meeting with Viktor
Mironenko, editor-in-chief of the Institute of Europe at the Russian Academy of Sciences, which
raised the issue of establishing normal relations, free from ideological and
political pressure, between Ukrainian and Russian scholars.
In Baturyn Dr. Kohut, who is the Canadian head of
the Baturyn Project, visited the historical and cultural site known as “The
Hetman’s Capital.” He noted considerable progress in the organization of museum
activity and the transformation of Baturyn, which had been abandoned until
recent times, into one of Ukraine’s most important
historical sites. He also inspected recent digs, spoke to students of
archaeology, and consulted with the chief ChSU archaeologist, Volodymyr
Kovalenko, with regard to future excavations.
The authorities and interested institutions of
another capital of the Hetmanate, the town of Hlukhiv (1709–64) in the
neighbouring Sumy region, contacted Dr.
Kohut. Collaboration with CIUS was discussed in meetings with the mayor of
Hlukhiv, Olena Melnyk; His Grace Archbishop Luka of Konotop and Hlukhiv; and
the director of the local historical and cultural site, Valerii Belashev.
In Kyiv, Dr. Kohut met with Dr. Lubomyr Hajda
(Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute) to discuss the organization of a
conference devoted to the pivotal Battle of Poltava (1709). Supported by CIUS
jointly with HURI and the Kennan Institute at the Woodrow Wilson International
Center for Scholars, the international conference Poltava 1709: Revisiting a
Turning Point in European History was held November 10-11 and contributed
significantly to a critical examination of imperial views and historical myths
embedded in Russian historiography and to producing a comprehensive and
impartial account of this important episode in Ukrainian history.
In Southern Ukraine, Dr. Kohut was in the
company of Dr. Volodymyr Kravchenko, director of the Kowalsky Eastern Ukrainian
Institute at the University of Kharkiv. In Zaporizhia region,
they visited Berdiansk State Pedagogical University, Zaporizhia National University, the Yakiv Novytsky
Scholarly Society, and the Zaporizhia branch of the Kowalsky Eastern Ukrainian
Institute (directed by Dr. Anatolii Boiko). Their scholars have conducted seven
archaeological expeditions in the Zaporizhia, Kherson, and Dnipropetrovsk
regions, accumulating almost a thousand hours of recorded narratives related by
458 peasants. Unique family archives were discovered in the villages of
Novoukrainka and Mala Lepetykha, including correspondence, diaries, and memoirs
from the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries. The branch also published
sixteen scholarly works, including two monographs, studies on the oral history
of steppe Ukraine, and serials on the
history of the region.
In Dnipropetrovsk region, Dr. Kohut met with the
staff of the Nikopol Regional Section of the Institute for Cossack Studies and
the Nikopol State Museum, as well as with Dr.
Oleksander Feldman, general director of the Trubostal Plant and a patron of
regional scholarship. In Dnipropetrovsk he was hosted by the Ukrainica
Institute, which is actively involved in the study of regional history. His
press conference at the Ukrainica Institute can be accessed at
http://www.ukrainica.org.ua/ukr/video/1056).