Shevchenko Society participates in convention of Association for Study of Nationalities (05/15/05)

Shevchenko Society participates in convention of Association for Study of Nationalities

NEW YORK - The 10th Annual World Convention of the Association for the Study of Nationalities (ASN), dedicated to the theme "Understanding Nationalism: Identity, Empire, Conflict," was hosted by the Harriman Institute of Columbia University on April 14-16. More than 300 people participated.

At this year's convention, the Shevchenko Scientific Society (NTSh) organized two roundtables. "Is Ukraine in Europe or Eurasia?" organized by Dr. Larissa Onyshkevych (president of NTSh) and chaired by Dr. Mark von Hagen (Columbia and NTSh) attracted the largest audience and evoked a spirited discussion, attesting to the importance and the timeliness of the question raised by the title. The speakers were Dr. Alexander Motyl (Rutgers University and NTSh), former Canadian Ambassador to Ukraine, Derek Fraser (University of Victoria, Canada), Serhiy Pohoreltsev, Ukraine's consul-general in New York, Dr. Nadia Diuk (director, Central Europe and Eurasia, National Endowment for Democracy), and Eugene Fishel (U.S. Department of State).

On April 16 an abbreviated version of the above roundtable was presented at the NTSh headquarters under the title "The End of the Concept of Eurasia?" It was introduced by Dr. Onyshkevych and chaired by Dr. Taras Hunczak (Rutgers and NTSh). The speakers were Ambassador Fraser, Consul-Gen. Pohoreltsev, and Drs. Diuk and Motyl.

The other NTSh roundtable, titled "A Feminine Perception of Ukraine in Geopolitics and Literature" and chaired by Dr. Maria Rewakowicz (Rutgers and NTSh), offered presentations by Drs. Onyshkevych, Serhii Bilenkyi (Harvard University), Michael Naydan (University of Pennsylvania and NTSh) and Anna Chumachenko (Kherson University, Ukraine, and NTSh).

At this year's ASN convention 13 panels were devoted to Ukrainian themes, including such topics as "Ukraine Under Leonid Kuchma," "The 2004 Ukrainian Presidential Election," "Yushchenko's First 100 Days" and "Ukraine's Orange Revolution Through Photos, Films and Music."

The following NTSh members participated in other panels: Yaroslav Bilinsky, Alexandra Hrycak, Michael Rywkin, Roman Szporluk, Martha Trofimenko and Myroslava Znayenko. The society also presented an exhibit of its selected publications.

It is worth noting that the ASN was founded in 1971 by Prof. Stepan Horak (then vice-president of NTSh), who for many years was the ASN president as well as the chief editor of its journal, Nationalities Papers (1972-1984).

| Home Page |