Five scholars receive John Kolasky Memorial Fellowships for 2005-2006 (07/16/06)

Five scholars receive John Kolasky Memorial Fellowships for 2005-2006

by Bohdan Klid

EDMONTON - In 2005-2006 there were five recipients of the John Kolasky Memorial Fellowship: Viktor Brekhunenko, Olha Luchuk, Myroslav Marynovych, Yurii Pokalchuk and Iryna Tiurmenko.

The first Kolasky Fellow to come to Canada was Ms. Tiurmenko, professor of history at the National University of Food and Technology in Kyiv. Her subject was the life and activities of Metropolitan Ilarion (Ivan Ohiienko) and the Ukrainian diaspora.

In Winnipeg, Prof. Tiurmenko did research at the Consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada, the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Center (Oseredok) and the University of Manitoba. She also worked in the Ukrainian-related collections of the Library and Archives of Canada in Ottawa. Prof. Tiurmenko was hosted and assisted by many individuals and institutions, among them Dr. Roman Yereniuk of Winnipeg, the Rev. Ihor Okhrymchuk of Ottawa, the Rev. Ihor Kutash of Montreal, the Consistory of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Canada and the Volyn Society.

During her stay in Canada, Prof. Tiurmenko appeared often before scholarly and Ukrainian community audiences, where she gave lectures on the state-building views of Metropolitan Ilarion, the architecture of the Ukrainian Baroque style, Ukrainian culture between the Scythian-Sarmatian and Classical periods, the introduction of Christianity in Kyivan Rus', and the Hetmanate of the 17th and 18th centuries.

She is the author of the monograph "Derzhavnytska Diialnist' Ivana Ohiienka (Mytropolyta Ilariona)" (State-Oriented Activities of Ivan Ohiienko [Metropolitan Ilarion]), published in 1998, as well as many articles on his life and activities. She has published articles on Ukrainian culture and learning and on Kozak Ukraine and is co-editor of the textbook Kulturolohiia: Teoriiia ta Istoriia Kultury (Cultural Studies: The Theory and History of Culture), published in 2004.

From January to April, Mr. Marynovych, vice-rector of the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, was hosted by the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS) and the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute of Eastern Christian Studies at St. Paul's University in Ottawa. During his stay in Canada, Mr. Marynovych conducted research on the diaspora movement in support of a patriarchate for the Ukrainian Catholic Church and its influence on the formation of a new ecclesiastical identity, as well as on the Church's attitude to ecumenism.

While in Edmonton, Mr. Marynovych worked in the Bohdan Bociurkiw Memorial Library at CIUS, the University of Alberta (U of A) Library and St. Joseph's College at the U of A. He also delivered the Bohdan Bociurkiw Memorial Lecture on religious freedom in Ukraine and spoke on the dynamics of Ukrainian inter-faith and inter-Church relations. Before community groups in Edmonton, Winnipeg and Toronto, Mr. Marynovych spoke on current politics and the religious situation in Ukraine, on Ukrainian church life and prospects for ecumenism, and on his life as a political prisoner.

In Ottawa, Mr. Marynovych conducted research in the St. Paul's University Library. There he gave lectures on the spiritual experiences of prisoners in the Soviet gulag and on ecclesiastical issues facing a post-totalitarian society.

Mr. Marynovych was a co-founder in 1976 of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group, a human-rights organization. In April 1977 he was arrested by the Soviet authorities for his activities in defense of human rights and sentenced to a seven-year term in forced-labor camps, to be followed by five years' exile.

Released in 1987, he returned to Ukraine, where he taught the history of religion in Ukraine at the Drohobych Pedagogical Institute (1990-1994). Since 1997 he has been associated with the Lviv Theological Academy (Ukrainian Catholic University since 2003) as director of its Institute of Religion and Society and, since 2000, as vice-rector for external affairs.

Mr. Marynovych is the author of numerous works on religion, politics and human rights. His latest book, "Ukrayinska ideia i Khrystyianstvo" (The Ukrainian Idea and Christianity), was published in 2003.

From January to April, Dr. Brekhunenko, head of the Division of the History and Theory of Archaeography, Institute of Ukrainian Archaeography, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv), was in Toronto, Winnipeg and Edmonton to conduct research on the typology of Kozak communities in Eastern Europe in the 15th and 16th centuries.

Hosted initially by the CIUS office at the University of Toronto, Dr. Brekhunenko spent most of his stay in Winnipeg, where he was hosted by Dr. Roman Yereniuk of St. Andrew's College, and at CIUS in Edmonton. In Winnipeg, he worked in the archive of Metropolitan Ilarion, while in Edmonton he worked largely in the U of A Library.

While in Canada, Dr. Brekhunenko lectured on the Muscovite conception of the Pereiaslav Agreement of 1654 and on political developments in Ukraine since the Orange Revolution. He also spoke on the Dnipropetrovsk school of Ukrainian Kozak history, the Treaty of Pereiaslav (1654), Russo-Ukrainian relations and the current work of the Institute of Ukrainian Archaeography.

Dr. Brekhunenko, a leading specialist in the early history of Kozak Ukraine, is the author of more than 80 scholarly works, including the monograph "Stosunky Ukrayinskoho Kozatstva z Donom u XVI - seredyni XVII st. (Relations between the Ukrainian and Don Kozaks from the 16th to the Mid-17th Century), published in 1998. In his latest study, "Moskovska Ekspansiia i Pereiaslavska Rada 1654 r. (Muscovite Expansion and the Pereiaslav Council of 1654), published in 2005, Dr. Brekhunenko traces the origins of Muscovy's conception of the Treaty of Pereiaslav in the context of its expansionist strategies between the 14th and 17th centuries.

In February and March, the well-known Kyiv-based writer Yurii Pokalchuk was in Edmonton to work on an anthology of Alberta prose writings to be published in Ukraine. Hosted by CIUS at the U of A, Dr. Pokalchuk worked with George Melnyk, professor in the Faculty of Communication and Culture, University of Calgary, on selecting the writings. He also consulted with Jars Balan of CIUS and with the Alberta writers Rudy Wiebe, Robert Kroetsch, Myrna Kostash and Candace Jane Dorsey. The planned anthology consists of writings by 20 authors on the theme of love in Alberta.

For the past 15 years, Dr. Pokalchuk has been a volunteer social worker dealing with juvenile delinquents. While in Edmonton, he gave a lecture co-sponsored by the Ukrainian Canadian Archives and Museum of Alberta on working with Ukraine's juvenile delinquents in the creative arts. On his way back to Ukraine, Dr. Pokalchuk stopped for a brief stay in Toronto, where he spoke about his life as an author and community activist and read some of his poems.

Dr. Pokalchuk is the author of some 15 books of prose and poetry and the vocalist and lyricist of the Ukrainian rock/jazz group Vohni Velykoho Mista. His latest two collections of short stories, "Pamorochlyvyi zapakh Dzhunhliv" (The Disorienting Fragrance of Jungles) and "Zaboroneni Ihry" (Forbidden Games), were published in 2005-2006. He has also written scholarly studies on contemporary Latin American literature and on alienation among youth in North America. Dr. Pokalchuk has served as president and vice-president of the Association of Ukrainian Writers and as a member of Ukraine's National Radio and Television Council.

In March and April, Prof. Luchuk, of the Faculty of International Affairs at the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and head of the English Department at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv, was hosted by the Petro Jacyk Program at the University of Toronto's Center for European, Russian and Eurasian Studies and by CIUS at the U of A.

Prof. Luchuk came to Canada to research the epistolary legacy of the late Prof. George S. N. Luckyj, a renowned specialist in Ukrainian literature. She worked in Luckyj's archive at the University of Toronto and in the archive of Ivan Lysiak-Rudnytsky at the U of A. In Toronto she gave lectures on George Luckyj and his contemporaries and on new perspectives in contemporary Ukrainian politics, history and culture.

She also participated in a roundtable on the 2006 Ukrainian parliamentary elections. In Edmonton she spoke on the reception of Ukrainian literature in the U.S. and Canada. Following her stay in Canada, Prof. Luchuk went to the United States to continue her research.

Prof. Luchuk is the author of "Dialohichna Pryroda Literatury" (The Dialogic Nature of Literature), published in 2004, and of scholarly articles on translation and literary studies. She is also a co-author and compiler of "Sto Rokiv Yunosti" (One Hundred Years of Youth), an anthology of 20th century Ukrainian poetry in English translation, published in 2000.

The visits by the five John Kolasky Memorial Fellows in 2005-2006 are further testimony to the success of the fellowship program. Each Kolasky Fellow is required to conduct research or work on a project and to give lectures to academic and Ukrainian community audiences. Many of the Kolasky Fellows are distinguished scholars and experts who have been able to achieve their scholarly goals as a result of their stays in Canada and have shared their wealth of knowledge with academic and community audiences in many Canadian cities. (Communities that would like a member of the CIUS academic staff or a visiting scholar, such as a John Kolasky Memorial Fellow, to give an address, should contact the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, 780-492-2972.

Sponsoring scholars and other professionals from Ukraine to work on a project or do research in Canada continues to be of critical importance, as Ukraine's educational and scholarly institutions are still extremely underfunded.

The John Kolasky Memorial Endowment Fund was established as the Ukraine Exchange Fellowship Endowment Fund in 1990 by William and Justine Fedeyko, Peter Kindrachuk (1912-1998) and Pauline Kindrachuk, and John Kolasky (1915-1997) in order to support Ukrainian scholars and professionals conducting scholarly research or updating skills in Canada. The fund was renamed in early 1998 in honor of its initiator and co-founder, the late John Kolasky.

Thanks to the generosity of donors, the capital of the John Kolasky Memorial Endowment Fund now stands at $750,787, allowing CIUS to sponsor more scholars from Ukraine than in previous years. The last large donation ($200,179.88) to the fund came in 2004 from the estate of William Lipkewich of Vancouver, B.C.

On establishing the fund in 1990, Kolasky stated that his goal was to continue fund-raising until the capital reached $1 million. Donations to CIUS can be earmarked for the John Kolasky Memorial Endowment Fund.

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