Fulbright Scholar Dr. Oksana Kis to Teach Course at Columbia University in Spring 2012
The Spring 2012 semester at Columbia University will feature six courses in Ukrainian studies and a series of events focusing on Ukrainian politics, education, art, history and literature. Once again contributing to the Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia’s Harriman Institute will be historian and anthropologist Dr. Oksana Kis, a dynamic young Ukrainian scholar who has recently presented at numerous forums throughout North America.
Dr. Kis is a senior research fellow at the Institute of Ethnology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (NASU) in Lviv, Ukraine. She received her Ph.D. in History from Ivan Krypiakevych Institute of Ukrainian Studies NASU in 2002. Her academic interests cover women´s history, feminist anthropology, oral history, and gender transformations in post-socialist countries. She has published numerous articles on these subjects and has authored the book Women in the Traditional Ukrainian Culture, second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries (Lviv: Institute of Ethnology NASU, 2008). Dr. Kis is Director of the Lviv Resarch Center `Woman and Society´ (NGO) and President of the Ukrainian Association for Research in Women's History. She has been awarded a Fulbright Research Scholarship (2003), a Eugene and Dymel Shklar Research Fellowship (2007) and a Petro Jacyk Visiting Professorship (2010). Currently, she is working on her research project "Invisible Agency: Representations of Gendered Historical Experiences and Identities in the Ukrainian Women´s Personal Narratives" as a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at Columbia University.
In the Spring semester, Dr. Kis will teaching a course entitled “Women In Post-Socialist Transformation: Ukraine, Russia, and Poland In Focus” (Wednesdays, 11AM-12:50PM). This course will introduce students to the post-socialist transformations in Eastern Europe from the gender perspective. By focusing on Ukraine, Poland and Russia, it will examine the multidimensional impact of radical political, social, economic and cultural changes onto women´s lives. Exploring challenges women faced in transition from state socialism to market economy and democracy, women will be analyzed as both targets and agents of changes. The role of schooling and media in women´s gendered socialization, ways of (re)construction of old/new models of femininity, women´s responses to demographic crisis and alteration of family roles, women´s agency and representation in politics, as well as women´s economic strategies and employment behaviors will be examined. Special attention will be given to the problems faced by women migrant workers abroad and those subject to trafficking. International debates on collisions of feminist and traditionalist ideologies in the new women´s activism and controversies of introducing women´s and gender studies in post-socialist academic discourse will be discussed as well to enable students´ better understanding of complexity of emerging women´s movements and institutionalization of feminist scholarship in Central and Eastern Europe. On March 8th, Dr. Kis will also deliver a lecture, open to the public, at Columbia University (see below).
This semester, Dr. Mark Andryczyk will be teaching a course entitled “Fin de siècle Ukrainian Literature: Beauty, Duty and Decadence” (Tuesdays and Thursdays, 1:10-2:25PM). This course will focus on the onset of modernism in Ukrainian literature in the late 19th century and early 20th century - a period marked by a vigorous, often biting, polemic between the populist Ukrainian literary establishment and young Ukrainian writers who were inspired by their European counterparts. Students will read prose, poetry and drama written by Ivan Franko, the writers of the Moloda Muza, Olha Kobylians’ka, Lesia Ukrainka and Vasyl Stefanyk, among others. The course will trace the introduction of urban motifs and settings, as well as decadence, into Ukrainian literature and analyze the conflict that ensued among Ukrainian intellectuals as they set out forging the identity of the Ukrainian people.
The current political situation in Ukraine will be addressed for Columbia students in a course entitled “Ukraine: Power, Politics, Diplomacy” (Tuesdays, 2:10-4:00PM). Delivered by a career diplomat, Ambassador Valerii Kuchynsky, this new course will examine the evolution of Ukraine’s politics since independence and will analyze the causes of current domestic problems.
Dr. Yuri Shevchuk will teach three levels of Ukrainian language at Columbia this spring: Elementary Ukrainian (Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, 9:10-10:25 AM), Intermediate Ukrainian (Mondays and Wednesdays, 10:35-11:50AM) and Advanced Ukrainian (Mondays and Wednesdays, 2:40-3:55PM).
Throughout this semester, the Ukrainian Film Club of Columbia University will continue screening new films from its growing collection. All films will have English subtitles. Screenings will take place at least once a month and are free and open to the public. The first event, “New Shorts From Ukraine” will take place on January 25th at 7:30 PM and will feature I Have a Friend by Dmytro Moiseiev, Beyond Frames by Maksym Ksionda, To Be Human by Anna Butuzova, Illusions of Happiness by Daria Tkachenko and Who Will Die Today by Viktor Hres.
Carnegie Research Fellowship Program Award recipient Dr. Oksana Yurkova, Leading Researcher at the Institute of the History of Ukraine at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, will be a Visiting Scholar at the Harriman Institute for the Spring semester. At Columbia she will be working on “Historiographic Sovietization in the Ukrainian SSR: How Ukrainian Historians Were Made Soviet, 1929-1941”. Dr. Valentyna Khakhun (Nizhyn University), a Visiting Fulbright Scholar at the Harriman Institute in Fall 2011, will continue to be at the Harriman in the Spring semester. Both scholars will be giving public lectures during the semester (see below).
Seven events have already been scheduled for the upcoming semester. The Ukrainian Studies Program lecture series begins February 7th with a lecture by Dr. Oxana Blashkiv (Ivan Franko State Pedagogical University of Drohobych) on "Ukrainian Scholars in Americans Slavic Studies: The Case of George Y. Shevelov and Dmytro Chyzhevs'kyi". Later that month, on February 23, Kyiv-based writer Andrei Kurkov will be presenting his latest novel to appear in English-language translation “The Case of the General’s Thumb.” On February 28th a lecture entitled “The Institute of the History of Ukraine: History and Activity” will be presented by Dr. Oksana Yurkova, who will review the history of her Institute and well as introduce its groundbreaking new web-portal. Dr. Oksana Kis will deliver a lecture entitled “Reclaiming the Political Meaning of International Women’s Day: Feminist Activism in Ukraine Nowadays” on International Women’s Day itself, March 8th. Dr. Valentyna Kharkhun will present “Museumification of the Soviet Past or Communism in the Museum” on March 20th and Dr. Tamara Hundorova (National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine) will present “Post-Chornobyl Ukrainian Literature: Lost in the Nuclear Sublime” on March 29th. April features two events: April 10th Dr. Olena Nikolayenko (Fordham University) will discuss “Citizens in the Making in Post-Soviet States” and April 26th Edward Kasinec (Harriman Institute) will present “From the Kyiv Lavra to London: Art Sales from the Caves Monastery”. All of these events are free and open to the public and will be held at 12PM in room 1219, International Affairs Building, 420 West 118th St.
Courses at Columbia are open to students from other universities in the New York metropolitan area seeking credit. Please contact the university at which you enrolled to determine whether it participates in this manner with Columbia University. Some courses are also open to outside individuals interested in non-credit continuing studies. Additionally, through the Lifelong Learners program, individuals over 65 years of age who are interested in auditing courses may enroll at a discount rate as Lifelong Learners. Please visit the Columbia University School of Continuing Education (http://www.ce.columbia.edu/auditing/?PID=28) for more details. Classes begin January 17 and January 27th is the last day to sign up for a class. For more information about courses or the Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia University, please contact Dr. Mark Andryczyk at ukrainianstudies@columbia.edu or 212-854-4697.
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