U. of Illinois hosts 23rd Conference on Ukrainian Subjects (07/18/04)

U. of Illinois hosts 23rd Conference on Ukrainian Subjects

by Volodymyr Chumachenko

URBANA, Ill. - The 23rd annual Conference on Ukrainian Subjects took place at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign on July 16-19, attracting scholars whose professional interests are related to Ukrainian subjects from different countries, including Ukraine, Canada, Germany, Poland, Australia and Yugoslavia.

The conference was organized by the Ukrainian Research Program at the University of Illinois led by Prof. Dmytro Shtohryn. As in previous years the conference was organized within the framework of Summer Research Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with the support of the Foundation for the Advancement of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Illinois (President Paisa Bratkiv) and The Heritage Foundation (President Dr. Julian Kulas). The head of this year's conference Program Committee was Prof. Assya Humesky.

The general topic of the 2004 conference was "Contemporary Ukraine and Its Diaspora as Seen by Scholars in Ukraine and Abroad," and was dedicated to the 130th anniversary of the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the 110th anniversary of the birth of Dmytro Chyzhevskyi.

The most important topics discussed during the conference were: the contemporary economic and political situation in Ukraine, the upcoming presidential election, cultural developments in Ukraine and problems of the "Fourth Wave" of Ukrainian immigration.

The keynote speakers of the conference were two guests from Kyiv: Dr. Mykola Zhulynskyi, director of the Institute of Ukrainian Literature of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, and Dr. Maksym Strikha from the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, who is known not only as a scientist in physics, but also as a translator of poetry and a publicist.

Dr. Zhulynskyi, who is also well-known as an important public and political figure in Ukraine, presented his views on the contemporary political situation in Ukraine on the eve of the presidential election.

Dr. Strikha introduced his analysis of the state of sciences and humanities in contemporary Ukraine.

Among the most interesting sessions was one dedicated to the prominent Ukrainian literary scholar Chyzhevskyi. Dr. Leonid Rudnytzky, Assia Humesky, Ivan Fizer and Jaroslav Rozumnyj spoke about Chyzhevsky's scholarly accomplishments, his philosophical and methodological approaches toward the history of Ukrainian literature and about his great personality.

The session about Russian influence on contemporary Ukrainian economy and culture was among those that attracted participants' close attention. Kyiv scholars Veniamin Sikora and Bohdan Sikora presented well-grounded and detailed analyses of how Russian business penetrates the Ukrainian economy and influences Ukrainian politics. Martha Trofimenko and Sviatoslav Trofimenko discussed questions of Ukraine's geopolitical and cultural orientation, and the process of the "hidden" Russification of Ukrainian economic and cultural life.

The session about the present state of and perspectives for the development of higher education in Ukraine caused a heated discussion and created some controversy between the Ukrainian and Western scholars regarding the system of graduate and doctoral studies at Ukrainian universities.

One of the major events of the conference was the presentation of the book "Ukraine: The Challenges of World War II" edited by Dr. Taras Hunczak and Prof. Shtohryn and published with the financial support of Walter and Raisa Bratkiv. The book is the first volume of conference papers of the Ukrainian Research Program at the University of Illinois. It includes 20 papers/articles and deals with various issues of the Ukrainian experience during World War II, such as occupational policies, the resistance movement, economy, politics, culture, etc.

Another presentation of the book took place at the Ukrainian Cultural Center in Chicago during a gathering of the Ukrainian community in Chicago with scholars from Ukraine that was organized by the Foundation for the Advancement of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Illinois. Here the book was introduced by Dr. Hunczak.

This year's Conference on Ukrainian Subjects, like all previous gatherings, was a good chance for its participants not only to meet each other and exchange opinions, but also to work with materials from the Ukrainian collection of the Main Library of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This collection contains approximately 70,000 items related to Ukraine and the Ukrainian diaspora and is one of the largest in the world outside Ukraine. Scholars from Ukraine who participated in the conference used this opportunity to work with these Ukrainian materials - many of which are unique.

At the conference closing reception, Prof. Shtohryn, who has been the conference organizer for 23 years, emphasized the necessity to establish a chair of Ukrainian studies at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as an important center of Ukrainian studies in the Midwest.

Dr. Zhulynskyi and Strikha expressed a similar opinion during the meeting with the Ukrainian community in Chicago, stressing that such a chair could play an important role in teaching Ukrainian courses and leading research on Ukrainian subjects, as well as organizing future conferences and seminars.

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