U. of Alberta offers course in "Ukrainian Through its Living Culture" (03/04/01)

U. of Alberta offers course in "Ukrainian Through its Living Culture"

by Deanna T. Yurchuk

PARSIPPANY, N.J.- The department of modern languages and cultural studies at the University of Alberta has announced a new travel-study course in Lviv called "Ukrainian Through its Living Culture" to be offered for the first time this summer.

According to the course description, the program is designed to enhance practical language skills through a direct experience of current life in Ukraine. It employs contemporary popular culture and media, taking maximum advantage of the urban Lviv environment to expand vocabulary and comprehension. "Ukrainian Through its Living Culture" is taught in Ukrainian and is open to Canadian as well as international students.

This intensive course, whose instructor is Alla Nedashkivska, an assistant professor in the department of modern languages and cultural studies, is over a month long (July 8-August 10). Prof. Nedashkivska is a native of Lviv and holds a B.A. in Slavic philology from Ivan Franko State University in Lviv and a Ph.D. in Applied and Slavic Languages from the University of Pittsburgh.

Prof. Nedashkivska has been teaching Ukrainian language and culture courses, as well as Slavic linguistics, at the University of Alberta in Edmonton since 1999. In this short interview she speaks about her experiences as a young professor at the university.

Q: What is the most interesting aspect of your job?

A: The great spectrum of students' talents offers daily challenges, innovations and creativity for each of my courses. Every course is composed of a unique group, with its own "joie de vivre." It is exciting when students themselves strive to not only learn but to offer fresh and insightful ideas into the subject matter. My greatest pleasure is to observe students' progress in their studies and the successes they enjoy in life.

Q: How big is the Ukrainian studies department at the University of Alberta?

A: There is no Ukrainian studies department at the University of Alberta, rather, Ukrainian topics are taught within two departments. Various courses on Ukrainian history are offered in the department of history and classics (H&C) and the Ukrainian language, literature, folklore and culture are taught in the department of modern languages and cultural studies (MLCS), which offers undergraduate and graduate programs involving 10 language areas. Both of these departments are under the wing of the Faculty of Arts, a degree-granting body.

The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) is a separate institution, which is under the wing of the university's vice-president of research, and does not grant degrees. The focus of the CIUS is on history and the social sciences.

Subsumed under these entities (CIUS, H&C, MLCS), Ukrainian studies were recognized in 1997 as an emerging area of excellence at the University of Alberta. This year, the Dean of the Faculty of Arts forwarded the university's central administration the recommendation to recognize Ukrainian studies as an established area of excellence.

Q: What classes does the university offer?

A: At the department of modern languages and cultural studies undergraduate students can pursue Ukrainian studies at the bachelor of arts, master of arts and doctoral levels. On this continent there is no other university with such a wide spectrum of offerings. The Ukrainian language and literature program in MLCS has undergone two major curriculum reforms: one in 1993 and another in 1999.

The new menu of courses proposed most recently will be available as of the fall of 2001. It includes language courses at all levels, a set of courses covering the entire historical continuum of Ukrainian literature (11th-20th centuries), folklore courses and linguistic courses. Some of the new offerings include: Ukrainian in the Media and Internet, Language and Films, Children's Literature, Translating Literature, Language Issues in Contemporary Ukraine, and Mykola Hohol.

Q: How many professors and students do you have?

A: In the department of modern languages and cultural studies there are five full-time professors engaged in the Ukrainian program. They are: Bohdan Medwidsky, Andriy Nahachewsky (both in folklore), Oleh S. Ilnytskyj, Natalia Pylypiuk (both in languages and literature) and Prof. Nedashkivska (in language and linguistics).

During the academic year 2000-2001 there were 182 undergraduate registrations in Ukrainian courses offered by MLCS. Currently there are 13 students pursuing graduate degrees, among them Mykola Soroka from Kyiv University, who holds the prestigious F.S. Chia Ph.D. Scholarship.

Q: How do students benefit from your program?

A: Our language courses emphasize practical skills. Opportunities to work in Ukraine are expanding daily. We believe that Ukraine will play an important role in the future and that a good command of Ukrainian will soon become a powerful asset. Equally important will be an appreciation of Ukrainian culture. Being an integral part of a forward-looking department that emphasizes teaching methodologies and the inseparable relationship between language and culture, the Ukrainian program at the University of Alberta offers many opportunities for experimentation and discovery. For the more academically inclined, Ukrainian literature presents many interesting theoretical questions. Addressing them can only benefit the comparativists. Ukrainian linguistics addresses a great array of contemporary topics (such as the language of mass media, discourse and pragmatics, language and gender, etc.). We believe that the days are gone when Slavic studies were the monopoly of Russianists.

The synergy created by the close proximity of historians, language and literature specialists and folklorists makes this an attractive place for research and study. Our library has the best collection of Ucrainica in western Canada.

Q: What do you hope the students will accomplish while studying abroad?

A: My strongest hope is that the students will make the maximum use of and enjoy everyday life in Ukraine. I am confident that they will enhance their practical language skills and expand their understanding of contemporary Ukrainian culture. Since the students will be living on the premises of the Lviv University, they will have the opportunity to meet students from Ukraine and learn from them as well.

The course will also include trips to the theater, cinema, museums, restaurants, pubs, as well as regular viewing of Ukrainian television - all aspects of contemporary popular culture in Ukraine. Although the students will study primarily in Lviv, some trips may be possible to the Karpaty or Kyiv, depending on interest.

Q: Why did you choose to hold the course in Lviv?

A: As described in the course description, Lviv, the capital of Western Ukraine, has been designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. At the crossroads between Western and Eastern Europe, this city saw the rebirth of Rus' culture in the late 16th century. Its architecture reflects the rich legacy of the Renaissance and Baroque within the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and of artistic developments within the Austro-Hungarian Empire in the 19th century.

Home to Ivan Franko University, one of Ukraine's most prestigious institutions of higher learning, Lviv is endowed with numerous churches, research institutes, museums and art galleries that bear witness to the city's multi-ethnic history and role in Ukraine's national revival. Cosmopolitan in nature, the city has a vibrant coffeehouse culture and boasts a number of restaurants serving various national cuisines.

The city's proximity to the Carpathian Mountains allows North American visitors to explore favorite vacation spots among contemporary Ukrainians, along with the rural culture of those whose ancestors once sought to forge a new life in Canada and the United States.

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In addition to offering Ukrainian courses and the new study abroad program, the professors also try to teach their students through Ukrainian-related activities, lectures and trips.

Last year, Dr. Pylypiuk, the department's current associate chair for undergraduate studies, initiated a Literature and Culture Series for the entire department. Within the series Ukrainian topics are offered which attract colleagues not only from the Slavic division of MLCS, but also the Romance and Germanic, and from other departments at the university.

These Ukrainianists, like all other specialists, have the opportunity to test their ideas before a wide spectrum of scholars. For example, Vessela Balinska-Ourdeva compared Ukrainian and Bulgarian Modernism, Prof. Nahachewsky studied the borders of ethnicity and identity formation, Jennifer Dickinson reported on research involving the changing work ethic in Zakarpattia and Prof. Nedashkivska compared discourse of contemporary women's magazines in Ukraine. The lecture series usually have an audience of about 30 scholars or students from other disciplines.

Prof. Nedashkivska also initiated a Ukrainian Language Conversation Club that meets every Friday throughout the academic year. Besides the regularly attending 16 to 28 members, it also attracts students from other departments (e.g., biology, physics, history) who hail from Ukraine.

Also, whenever there are Ukrainian artists or performers in Edmonton, faculty members take their students to these events. For example, next week they are taking students to a concert by Canadian singer Alexis Kochan, whose specialty is exploring Ukrianian folk music, Prof. Nedashkivska noted.

The deadline for applications for the "Ukrainian Through its Living Culture" course is April 13. For additional information about the University of Alberta program, log on to: http://www.arts.ualberta.ca/~ukraina/Homepage.html, or e-mail the instructor at Alla.Nedashkivska@ualberta.ca.

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