The Ethnographic Activities of Nykanor Dmytruk in the 1920s–the Late 1930s

Sergij Stelnykovych

doi:10.35433/history.11196

Abstract

This paper focuses on the activities of Nykanor Dmytruk as an ethnographer in the 1920s – the late 1930s. The study applies general scientific and special historical methods, in accordance with the basic principles of historical research: historicism, scientificity, objectivity, and consistency. The principles of historicism and scientificity help to reconstruct Nykanor Dmytruk’s extensive ethnographic research in the context of that time. The principle of objectivity aids in examining the scholar’s ethnographic activities, considering objective historical regularities and critical analysis of literary and historical documentation. The principle of consistency serves for building a holistic picture of the researcher’s ethnographic activities in the 1920s – the late 1930s. The article adopts the interdisciplinary approach, implemented through the use of terminology and research tools of other social sciences and humanities. This article is the first comprehensive study of Nykanor Dmytruk’s research activities, carried out on the extensive source base. The author proves that Nykanor Dmytruk conducted episodic ethnographic studies as a student. His ethnographic research took on a systemic character when the scholar started collaborating with the Ethnographic Commission of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Nykanor Dmytruk’s ethnographic interests included a wide range of issues relating to the material and spiritual culture of the Ukrainian people. Moreover, the researcher was also concerned with the ethnographic study of the settlements in Zhytomyr region. His research significantly contributed to the development of ethnography in Ukraine during the interwar period.

Highlights

Ethnography in Ukraine experienced rapid development and afterward actual decline in the interwar period
Nykanor Dmytruk carried out ethnographic research in the 1920s – the late 1930s, and it was largely based on a personal creative initiative of the researcher
After the researcher started collaborating with the Ethnographic Commission of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, his ethnographic studies became systematic

Summary

Introduction

Ethnography in Ukraine experienced rapid development and afterward actual decline in the interwar period. In the early 1930s, free creative initiatives, specialized ethnographic institutions, and targeted research programs, started with in the policy of Ukrainization, were curtailed; the ideological offensive and repressions began. In the 1920s – the late 1930s, he researched the material and spiritual culture of the Ukrainian people. Despite his significant contribution to the development of ethnography in the 1920s – the late 1930s, the researcher was subject to oblivion for a long time. Repressed by the communist regime in the times of the «Great Terror» and later rehabilitated during the «Khrushchev Thaw», Nykanor Dmytruk remained unknown and his creative heritage fell out of the scientific discourse until the early 1990s

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