Book on history of Ukrainian-Russian relations is launched at Shevchenko Society (05/23/04)

Book on history of Ukrainian-Russian relations is launched at Shevchenko Society

by Dr. Orest Popovych

NEW YORK - "Culture, Nation and Identity: The Ukrainian-Russian Encounter, 1600-1945," a volume co-edited by Andreas Kappeler, Zenon E. Kohut, Frank E. Sysyn, and Mark von Hagen, was presented on May 1 at the Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh). The book comprises 16 essays by an international cast of historians, with the subject matter subdivided into three major categories: the Early Modern Period, the Imperial Period and the 20th Century. It was published on April 1 by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS).

Dr. Orest Popovych, the NTSh vice-president responsible for information, welcomed the capacity audience and particularly the two renowned guest speakers, Drs. Von Hagen and Sysyn, who were about to present the featured work they had co-authored and co-edited. A more complete introduction of the speakers was offered by Prof. Vasyl Makhno, who chaired the program.

Dr. von Hagen is a professor of Russian, Ukrainian and Eurasian history, and director of graduate studies at Columbia University, as well as a former chairman of the Harriman Institute there. Currently he is the president of the International Association of Ukrainian Studies (IAUS).

Dr. Sysyn is a professor of Ukrainian history at the University of Alberta, where he is the director of the Peter Jacyk Center for Ukrainian Research at the CIUS. Presently he is a visiting professor of Ukrainian history at the Harriman Institute of Columbia University and is also a vice-president of the IAUS.

First to speak was Dr. Sysyn, who traced the genesis of the presented book to the CIUS conferences in the 1980s dedicated to Ukrainian-Polish, Ukrainian-German, Ukrainian-Jewish and Ukrainian-Russian relations. He said it was most difficult to organize the Ukrainian-Russian "encounters", because scholars of Russian origin did not take Ukrainian studies seriously. In fact, said Dr. Sysyn, most Sovietologists, regardless of their background, either ignored or downplayed the significance of the nationality problems in the Soviet Union and were positively shocked when 15 states suddenly emerged out of the ruins of the Soviet Empire. Of course, there were exceptions, notably the volume's co-editors Dr. Kappeler, who has specialized in the multinational character of the Russian Empire, and Dr. von Hagen, whose studies of the Red Army prompted him to become aware of the nationality problem in the Soviet Union and in the Russian Empire.

Post-Soviet realities have compelled the ex-Sovietologists to radically change their attitudes especially after Ukraine and Russia became independent states in 1991, so that Ukrainian-Russian relations acquired international significance. Then it became easier to convene scholarly conferences on the subject, and in the years 1994-1995 a series of four such conferences was held in New York and in Cologne, Germany. It is the research papers selected from the first three of these sessions that constitute the presented volume.

While the book is heavily annotated to be of value to a specialist, it also elaborates on a number of general topics that can be of interest to a layman, such as: the development of Ukrainian and Russian national identities; the cultural influence of Ukrainians on Russia; the question of the colonial status of Ukraine; the role of Russian-Ukrainian relations in Soviet policies; the Soviet secret police as an anti-Ukrainian instrument; and the effect of the German occupation policy during World War II.

The re-orientation of Western Sovietologists, however, found little resonance among their Russian colleagues, who preferred to view Ukraine's independence as a passing fad. According to Dr. Sysyn, once Ukraine became independent, even Russian liberals ceased to be liberal. Nevertheless, Dr. Sysyn was able to point to some recent signs of a budding interest in Russia as to the pursuit of Ukrainian studies. One example is the upcoming conference on the Pereiaslav Council, which is scheduled to be held at St. Petersburg University.

Dr. von Hagen echoed the comments by Dr. Sysyn about the continued difficulties in engaging Russian historians in discussions of Ukrainian problems, describing the situation as "the absence of Russian partners to this day." True, in the Russian Academy of Sciences there is a Division of East-Slavic Nations, which covers Ukraine, and there does exist a modest program at the University of Moscow for teaching Ukrainian. However, these pale in comparison with the attention that Poland devotes to Ukrainian studies, where there are presently 190 students taking Ukrainian at the University of Warsaw alone.

Dr. von Hagen, as Dr. Sysyn before him, made it a point to thank NTSh for its co-sponsorship of the Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia University, which has enabled the two of them to teach jointly a course titled "Ukraine-Russia: Historical Encounters and Arguments." This new course starts with the collapse of the Soviet Union and works its way chronologically backward, all the way to Kyivan Rus'. The students are encouraged to explore a variety of alternatives in the interpretation of history, including that favored by Mykhailo Hrushevsky. It is significant, said Dr. von Hagen, that students from any other university in New York can enroll in the Ukrainian studies courses at Columbia.

The book presentation evoked a lively period of discussion. Afterward, the two co-editors were busy autographing copies of the presented book, which quickly sold out.

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