Numerous panels at the 2020 ASEEES (virtual) convention showcase HURI projects and the work of HURI's faculty and staff. HURI invites attendees to join us at these events, as well as at the many other events pertaining to Ukraine. Overall, we're thrilled to see the participation of so many HURI associates, HUSI alumni, former fellows, and other friends of the Institute, and we look forward to learning more about ongoing research in Ukrainian studies.
HURI at ASEEES on Thursday, November 5
Book Discussion: "Ukrainian Nationalism in the Age of Extremes: An Intellectual Biography of Dmytro Dontsov," by Trevor Erlacher
Thu, November 5, 2:00 to 3:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 20
Ukrainian nationalism made worldwide news after the EuroMaidan revolution and the outbreak of the Russo-Ukrainian war in 2014. Invoked by regional actors and international commentators, the “integral” Ukrainian nationalism of the 1930s has moved to the center of debates about Eastern Europe, but the history of this ideology remains poorly understood. When, how, and why did it originate? What were its contents, influences, and consequences? Who articulated it and how did it evolve? Framed around the first English-language biography of the doctrine’s founder, Dmytro Dontsov (1883-1973), Erlacher's book addresses these questions with a global intellectual history of Ukrainian integral nationalism, from late Imperial Russia to postwar North America. This roundtable is sponsored by the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University.
HURI at ASEEES on Friday, November 6
The Origins of the Donbas Conflict: New Findings and Ongoing Debates
Fri, November 6, 10:00 to 11:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 2
Presentations will address ongoing debates about the origins of separatist conflict in the Donbas area of Ukraine and present new micro-level data from the region.
Includes:
- Viktoriya Sereda (HURI MAPA Project Team); Oxana Shevel (HURI associate): Donbas MAPA Module: Dynamics of Events and Attitudes
- Oxana Shevel (HURI associate); Maria Popova: Regional Elites, Popular Mobilization, and the Onset of Violence in Donbas in 2014
HURI at ASEEES on Saturday, November 7
Decoding Chornobyl: How the Catastrophe is Perceived, Interpreted, and Remembered
Sat, November 7, 10:00 to 11:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 5
The May 2019 HBO miniseries Chernobyl gained great international recognition and reinvigorated popular and scholarly interest in the catastrophe and its consequences. It brought to light major questions which should now be reconsidered and reexamined through the prism of contemporary life: What do we know now about Chornobyl as an ecological, political and existential catastrophe? How does the international community deal with the devastating consequences of Chornobyl? In what particular way did this event change people’s worldviews and beliefs in technological progress? How did the tragedy shape post-Chornobyl cultural trends? How is Chornobyl remembered today?
This roundtable brings together scholars from a range of disciplines to share their views and perspectives on Chornobyl and its legacy. The discussion will: explore Chornobyl as a global environmental and techno-political event that has had a profound influence on subsequent energy policies and lawsuits related to radioactive exposure during the Cold War; examine the relationship between atoms for war and atoms for peace in the Soviet context; illuminate how American intelligence agencies comprehend the political, social, and medical implications of Chornobyl; and, analyze cultural issues pertaining to Chornobyl, such as Chornobyl memory, the Chornobyl genre in culture, and the museumification of Chornobyl. Ultimately, the objective of this roundtable is to establish a nexus of perspectives and to highlight the possibility of an interdisciplinary framework in studying Chornobyl, an approach that will help us better understanding the nuclear calamity and its implications.
Includes: Serhii Plokhii, HURI Director, and Oxana Shevel, HURI Associate
Watch our event with HBO's Craig Mazin, Serhii Plokhii's presentation of his book on Chernobyl, and Kate Brown (MIT)'s seminar on her book.
Bringing Ukraine into the Classroom: Utilizing Ukraïnica: The Primary Database of English Translations of Literature, Documents, and Films
Sat, November 7, 2:00 to 3:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 17
This roundtable will introduce and familiarize participants with Ukraïnica: The Primary Database, a comprehensive and accessible database of English translations of Ukrainian literature, documents, and films, one that will be easily navigable by researchers and teachers across disciplines and levels—from K12 to college. Developed by the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, this project aims to develop, produce, and maintain an interactive bibliography that will streamline access to these English-language resources by linking to electronic databases, online retailers, and publishers. The database, moreover, provides an organized and navigable catalogue not only for instructors looking to integrate relevant Ukrainian sources into existing courses, but by organizing the collection by period, genre, and themes, it will be invaluable to those who are looking to develop new courses within and beyond literary and Slavic studies. As a vehicle for bringing a more expansive pedagogical vision to the historical, social, and cultural significance of Ukrainian literature, this roundtable will also consider users' needs as well as gauge interest in the future of Ukraïnica: The Primary Database as a long-term digital humanities project. The expected outcome of the roundtable is a larger group of participants who will expand the project to include sample syllabi integrating Ukrainian topics and sources into new and existing courses, evaluate the quality of the available translations, and add a wealth of secondary sources to contextualize each period and cultural phenomenon in question.
Book Discussion: "Ukraine's Nuclear Disarmement: A History," by Yuri Kostenko
Sat, November 7, 4:00 to 5:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 1
At the time of the Soviet Union’s collapse, Ukraine inherited the third-largest nuclear arsenal in the world, including an elaborate control launch infrastructure. In December 1994, having received assurances that its sovereignty would be respected and secured by Russia, the United States, and United Kingdom within the Budapest Memorandum agreement, Ukraine gave up this extensive arsenal and joined the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, endowing the nonproliferation regime with substantial momentum. In his book, Yuri Kostenko, the participant of the nuclear disarmament negotiations with US and Russia, reveals the internal debates of the Ukrainian government as well as the pressure exerted upon it by its international partners. Kostenko convincingly shows how, following the Chornobyl catastrophe, the Ukrainian stance was informed by the fear of a nuclear Holocaust and lack of experience among the leadership of the young Ukrainian state, while international actors were primarily fulfilling their own security agendas. Issues surrounding nuclear disarmament have gained new urgency with Russia's 2014 annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in violation of the Budapest Memorandum, and the international pressure pertaining to North Korea's and Iran's nuclear programs. This roundtable will be co-sponsored by the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University and the Ukrainian Institute (Kyiv).
HURI at ASEEES on Sunday, November 15
Mykola Bazhan Between Different Aesthetics: From Avant-garde to Socialist Realism
Sun, November 15, 8:00 to 9:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 13
This panel explores the poetry of Mykola Bazhan (1904-1983), one of the most eminent and prolific Ukrainian modernist poets of the 20th century, who survived the purges of the 1930s. Galina Babak’s paper focuses on stylistic originality of Mykola Bazhan’s poems of the late 1920s – 1930s that indicate the coexistence and a mixture of two antagonistic philosophical platforms, avant-garde and socialist realism. Olga Khometa will present on Eduard Bagritskii and Mykola Bazhan’s mutual literary translations. The latter reveals the poets’ shared stylistic qualities, such as grotesque naturalism, and point out to Bagritskii and Bazhan’s common subjects of interest, namely, a doppelgänger complex and the motif of the poet as a prophet vs. poet as the evil. Oksana Rosenblum will talk about various strategies of translating the early poetry of Mykola Bazhan. Oksana’s paper expands on her project of the bilingual Ukrainian-English collection “Quiet Spiders of the Hidden Soul Mykola (Nik) Bazhan’s Early Experimental Poetry”, in publication by Academic Studies Press and forthcoming late 2020. Finally, George G. Grabowicz, whose translation of Bazhan’s “Blind Bards” is included in the above collection, will speak on some key structures and the peculiar reception of this purportedly unfinished long poem.
Includes paper by George G. Grabowicz, Dmytro Čyževs’kyi Professor of Ukrainian Literature, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Harvard University
ASEEES events about Ukraine: Schedule by day
Note: There may be some we missed! Please email Kristina Conroy at kconroy@fas.harvard.edu if there's something we should add.
Dates, times, and virtual locations may change! Please consult the ASEEES online program for the most up-to-date information.
Thursday, November 5
Through a Glass Darkly: Gender and Activism in Russia and Ukraine (2000s to Today)
12:00 to 1:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 10
Memory Politics in Ukraine and Lithuania: A Comparative Perspective
12:00 to 1:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 23
Book Discussion: "Ukrainian Nationalism in the Age of Extremes: An Intellectual Biography of Dmytro Dontsov," by Trevor Erlacher
2:00 to 3:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 20 (HURI event; see above)
Friday, November 6
Decolonizing East European Studies: Confronting Politicized Narratives
8:00 to 9:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 18
Includes two papers pertaining to Ukraine
Central and Eastern Europe: Transformation, Geopolitics, and Security Issues
8:00 to 9:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 21
Includes two papers pertaining to Ukraine
The Origins of the Donbas Conflict: New Findings and Ongoing Debates
10:00 to 11:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 2 (HURI event; see above)
Strategies of Resistance in Baltic and Ukrainian Cultures
10:00 to 11:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 25
Attitudes, Identities, and Mobilization in Times of Political Upheaval: The Case of Ukraine
12:00 to 1:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 8
Conceptualizing Trauma: Memory Politics about Soviet Totalitarianism in Contemporary Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus
12:00 to 1:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 19
The Public and the Hidden Role of the Greek Catholic Church in Ukrainian Political and Religious Life
12:00 to 1:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 21
Traumatic Memories of the 20th Century in the Post-Soviet Space: Ukraine and Lithuania
4:00 to 5:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 1
Saturday, November 7
Decoding Chornobyl: How the Catastrophe is Perceived, Interpreted, and Remembered
10:00 to 11:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 5 (HURI event; see above)
Economic Interests, "Oligarchs," and the Future of Ukraine’s Donbas and Conflict with Russia
10:00 to 11:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 12
Bringing Ukraine into the Classroom: Utilizing Ukraïnica: The Primary Database of English Translations of Literature, Documents, and Films
2:00 to 3:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 17 (HURI event; see above)
Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry Reading
2:00 to 3:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 23
Book Discussion: "Ukraine's Nuclear Disarmement: A History," by Yuri Kostenko
4:00 to 5:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 1 (HURI event; see above)
Sunday, November 8
Ukrainian Socialist Realism: Preserving History in the Era of Memory Wars
2:00 to 3:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 3
Continuities and Discontinuities of Starvation: The 1921-22, 1932-33, and 1946-47 Famines in Soviet Ukraine
2:00 to 3:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 4
"I Am Now a Knife": Counter/insurgencies for Unmaking the Vulnerable Female Subject: War and Rebellion in Soviet and Contemporary Ukrainian Art
2:00 to 3:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 15
Chernobyl and Its Storied Afterlives
2:00 to 3:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 19
Saturday, November 14
Journalism and Journalists in Russia and Ukraine
10:00 to 11:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 6
Ukraine after the 2019 Presidential Election: A New Beginning?
10:00 to 11:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 7
Living the Independence Dream: Ukraine and Ukrainians in Contemporary Socio-Political Context
10:00 to 11:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 11
The Recanonized Queer of Ukrainian Modernism: Literary, Critical, and Autobiographical Approaches
10:00 to 11:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 12
Regional Differences in the 1931-1934 Famine in the Soviet Union
12:00 to 1:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 9
Political and Historical Thought in the Ukrainian Hetmanate during the 17th-early 18th Centuries: The 300th Anniversary of Samijlo Velychko's Chronicle
12:00 to 1:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 14
The 30th Anniversary of the Granite Revolution in Ukraine
2:00 to 3:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 7
Book Discussion: "Bridging East and West: Ol'ha Kobylians'ka, Ukraine's Pioneering Modernist," by Yuliya V. Ladygina
2:00 to 3:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 20
Translation and Collaboration: The Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry Series with Lost Horse Press, Volumes I-VI
4:00 to 5:30pm, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 16
Sunday, November 15
Mykola Bazhan Between Different Aesthetics: From Avant-garde to Socialist Realism
8:00 to 9:30am, Virtual Convention Platform, Room 13 (HURI event; see above)
Find the full ASEEES program and convention information on the ASEEES website.