Ukrainian History Research Articles

Research of lithuanian metric in Ukraine

The article discusses research conducted by Ukrainian historians on the Lithuanian Metrica or Metrica of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This powerful complex comprises 663 storage units in the Russian State Archives of Ancient Documents (Moscow), as well as several original copies in the Central Archives of Historical Records (Warsaw). The act material in these books enables the study of political, military, economic, social, legal, and other facets of the history of Central and Eastern European countries. The chronological scope spans from the late 1970s of the XX century and until today. The article commences with a scholarly analysis of M. Kovalskyi’s works. Additionally, it provides an overview of monographs, articles, and dissertations referencing the materials from the Lithuanian Metrica. Specifically, it discusses the scholarly contributions of H. Boriak, P. Kulakovskyi, Yu. Sviatets, H. Vynohradov, S. Abrosymova, V. Atamanenko, O. Diachok, O. Rusyna, L. Demchenko, V. Polishchuk, D. Vashchuk, A. Blanutsa, L. Zherebtsova.

A.V. Santsevych: Historiographic Portrait of the Ukrainian Historian of the Soviet Era (To the 100th Anniversary of Birth)

A.V. Santsevych: Historiographic Portrait of the Ukrainian Historian of the Soviet Era (To the 100th Anniversary of Birth)

Once Again about Poles and Ukrainians in Eastern Halychyna during World War II: Reasoning of Ukrainian Historian. Book Review: Markowski D.K. In the Shadow of Volyn: The “Anti-Polish Action” of the OUN and UIA in Eastern Halychyna 1943-1945. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2023. 527, [8] s.

Once Again about Poles and Ukrainians in Eastern Halychyna during World War II: Reasoning of Ukrainian Historian. Book Review: Markowski D.K. In the Shadow of Volyn: The “Anti-Polish Action” of the OUN and UIA in Eastern Halychyna 1943-1945. Kraków: Wydawnictwo Literackie, 2023. 527, [8] s.

The Political and Mental Aspects of Ukraine Integration with Europe

This research paper examines Ukraine’s path towards European integration. From the 10th to the 12th centuries, Ukraine – then known as Kyivan Rus’ – was a strong independent state, but due to internal conflicts and conquests, it became weakened and fell under the influence of other state entities. From the 17th century onwards, as a result of the Pereyaslav agreements (1654 and 1659) between the Cossacks and Moscow, Ukraine found itself increasingly under the sway of Russia, a situation that persisted until the collapse of the “prison of the peoples”, the Soviet Union. Despite Russian propaganda portraying Ukraine as an integral part of Russia for a long time due to shared history and culture, in reality, modern Ukraine and Russia are two different countries with distinct political systems, development trajectories, identities, mentalities, fundamental values, and traditions. Ukrainian society, though subjected to Sovietization during communist times and later targeted by political and propaganda actions from the Russian Federation, stands fundamentally opposed to the authoritarian Russian society and closer to the democratic European community. For centuries, Russian authorities sought to colonize and exploit Ukraine for their own interests, attempting to erase Ukrainian identity, language, traditions, and rewriting Ukrainian history, yet they failed to fully assimilate the Ukrainian people despite numerous manipulations and crimes against them. The European, Western development trajectory of Ukraine and its desire to break away from Russia’s sphere of influence is one of the main reasons for the current full-scale war. The greatest similarities between Ukraine and European states at the level of mentality include Ukrainian love for freedom, individualism, and desire for democracy, in contrast to Russian despotism and authoritarianism. These distinct features of the Ukrainian mentality have historically preserved and revived the Ukrainian nation, aiding in its further development and providing hope for its future not only geographically and economically but also mentally and spiritually.

Preserving and Disseminating Ukrainian Cultural Heritage in the Diaspora: The Experience of the Ukrainian History and Education Center in the United States

Preserving and Disseminating Ukrainian Cultural Heritage in the Diaspora: The Experience of the Ukrainian History and Education Center in the United States

THE FORMATION OF GENDER HISTORY AND ITS SUBJECT

Thе article aims to highlight the foundation of gender history as a discipline and to reveal the process of formation and transformations of the subject of gender history in the research of American, European and Ukrainian historians. From the beginning it was connected with the development of the movement for human rights, feminism, the struggle for gender equality and non-discrimination. The pluralism of approaches to the study of gender history and the definition of its subject is shown regarding to the diversity of approaches to the essence of history and gender, their interaction with sexuality, body, identity, race, ethnicity and nationality, colonialism, power relations, dominance and subordination, and the meaning of gender in history.

The image of Dmytro Vyshnevetsky in Ukrainian historiography

The image of Dmytro Vyshnevetsky in Ukrainian historiography has followed the changes in history as an academic discipline. At the time when the Cossack myth was created, historians’ romantic views of the Cossack past resulted in an image of the prince as a noble knight, the Cossack father-hetman, and the founder of the first Zaporozhian Sich. Once positivism made its way to historiography, the activities of the prince were subjected to a more critical analysis, and historians began to question his role of the founder of the first Sich. However, it was not denied that the fortress built by the prince could have served as a prototype for the Cossack Sich. During the Soviet era, three currents in Ukrainian historiography emerged: Soviet, Galician from the Interwar period, and foreign. An ideological confrontation took place between Soviet and foreign historiography, in relation to the assessment of the prince’s activities and the view of the Cossacks. In the 1990s, censorship was liftem and Ukrainian historians gained access to archives. This resulted in a large number of works on the Cossacks. Again, just like 70 years before, there was a need for the emergence of national awareness (based on the Cossack myth), so in addition to purely academic investigations with a critical attitude towards the work of the predecessors and the involvement of new source material, amateur researchers produced a number of works. By the mid-1990s, the prince had been somewhat idealized in Ukrainian history which stemmed from a search for heroic figures among representatives of the Ukrainian elite in the young Ukrainian state. Since the early 2000s, Ukrainian researchers have been trying to assess Dmytro Vyshnevetsky’s activities in a pan-European context, relying on newly available sources, particularly abroad.

The practical philosophy of Immanuel Kant and the modern ethics of responsibility

The article deals with the practical philosophy of Immanuel Kant, its transformation in the modern ethics of responsibility and the significance of «risks and threats» for modern society. It is emphasized that in Ukraine, in particular, in the H.S. Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, a powerful historical-philosophical tradition of research in German classical philosophy has developed, the foundation of which is the philosophy of I. Kant. This trend gained a new development after the restoration of Ukraine's independence. Special attention was paid in the investigation to the study of Kant's moral philosophy, its important component – the categorical imperative. It is shown that Kant's practical philosophy became an important driver of the leading trends of modern philosophy in the world, which was manifested in the process of «rehabilitation of practical philosophy», which includes the philosophy of responsibility of H. Jonas, communicative philosophy and ethics of discourse. These trends prompted the search for new formulations of the categorical imperative. The relevance of Kant's practical philosophy is evident especially today, under the conditions of modern technological civilization, the destruction of the normative order in the world, and the crisis of moral guidelines. Kant's concept of the primacy of the practical (moral and ethical) mind over the theoretical, technical and instrumental mind opens up ways to solve the global problems of our time, especially in the conditions of crisis and war. Kant's anniversary coincides with a special period of Ukrainian history: the modernization of Ukrainian society, the restoration of national identity, and orientation towards universal values. This event acquires special significance in view of the Russian aggression against Ukraine. Distorting the enlightment, moral-ethical and universalistic direction of Kant's philosophy, Russian propaganda tries to use it for ideological and propaganda purposes. That is why events dedicated to Kant's anniversary are an important component in the fight against the Russian aggressor.

Віктор Даниленко, Олександр Даниленко, Олександр Добржанський.Степан Смаль-Стоцький. «Заслужений перед усієї Україною». – Київ:Парламентське видавництво, 2023, 336 с.

The purpose of the article is to analyze the monograph of the famous modern Ukrainian historians V. Danylenka, O. Dobrzhansky and O. Danylenka, which highlights the life and activities of academician Stepan Yosypovych Smal-Stotsky, a well-known Ukrainian cultural and socio-political figure, teacher, Slavic scholar, who made a significant contribution to the development of Ukrainian history, literary studies, and journalism. Professor of Chernivtsi and Ukrainian Free University in Prague. Honorary member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society in Lviv. Member of the Bukovyna Diet and the Austrian Parliament. In 1918, he became one of the first academicians of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences. Ambassador of the West Ukrainian People's Republic in Czechoslovakia. Founder and first president of the Ukrainian Mohyla-Mazepin Academy of Sciences. The author of school textbooks on his native language, as well as scientific research on I. Franko, Yu. Fedkovich, I. Kotlyarevskyi, T. Shevchenko, and others. He left extensive correspondence and memories rich in information for scientists.

How Murals Support Ukraine: Eastern Ukraine-Themed Murals Resembling Berlin Wall Murals

In 2013, President Viktor Yanukovych suspended a trade pact between Ukraine and the EU, which led to the Euromaidan protests and violence from armed police. Since then, muralists have recorded the reality of Ukrainian politics and the growth of Ukrainians’ national identity. Through an exploration of art history, sociology, and the history of Ukraine, this research paper serves as an initial investigation of how newly created murals in Ukraine and past murals on the Berlin Wall convey the same theme of battle against communism and share similarity in the growth process. This paper’s comparative analysis was conducted in three stages: an examination of the art’s initial transformation from graffiti to mural form, an analysis of the works’ emphasis on patriotism, and an exploration of the portrayal of minorities, designed to attract an international audience. Findings indicate that murals depicting conflicts in Ukraine have the potential to reinforce Ukrainians, much as murals on the Berlin Wall were crucial in reunifying Germany during the Cold War.

LANGUAGE AS A SOCIAL STRATEGY

The review analyses two books published in 2023. They are united by one of the most strategic issues of Ukrainian society: language. The first book is an essay by Yevheniia Kuznetsova “Language is a Sword. As the soviet empire used to say”. This is a collection of essays on the USSR language policy. In the introduction, the author notes that they can be read separately and in any order. In total, the book includes 101 brief (two to three pages) chapters, each covering an aspect of the language issue in the Soviet empire. The researcher identifies such areas of state language policy as: latinization, cyrillization, russification, and the role of northern boarding schools in the indigenization of the indigenous peoples of the North; the influence of ideology on linguistic research; russification of names and surnames etc. In the book, from chapter to chapter, the author describes the steps taken by the Soviet authorities in relation to the languages of the former Soviet Union nations, how some of them were threatened with extinction, and how some have already disappeared. From chapter to chapter, the author tells how the soviet authorities treated the languages of the former soviet union republics, how some of them were endangered and some have already disappeared. Looking for answers to the questions: why are there Ukrainians in Ukraine who do not know their native language? Or why some people are ashamed of their native dialects? How did it happen that the russian language became an offensive weapon. Yevheniia Kuznetsova claims that language has always been a political argument. At the same time, she leads readers to the conclusion that the Ukrainian language should become a shield in the fight against empires. This idea is developed by Feodosiia Kolesnyk in her book “Stories of the Armed Forces of Ukraine about our life-giving language”. These are essays narrated from the first person. Real people: men and women. Different people of different ages, military ranks, and life experiences discuss modern military routines, their comrades, their hatred of the enemy, what their native language means to them, and emphasize the problems they believe the functioning and establishment of the Ukrainian language in society. We have the war where there is no Ukrainian language and where Ukrainian history has not been taught - this is the central idea of F. Kolesnyk. And both books inspire faith that Ukraine will exist, the Ukrainian language will become our real shield, and after the war ends Ukrainian language will be at the international level. Key words: language and war, extermination of languages, russification, nationalization, language situation, language as a shield and a sword, national minorities, bilingualism.

Ukrainian Pupils in Czech Schools and History Lessons – Teaching Materials, Knowledge, Testing and Assessment

The study presents the results of a questionnaire survey on the involvement of Ukrainian students (who arrived as a result of the war conflict) in the teaching of history at Czech elementary schools. It is part of a broader research, and this study focuses on the results related to the availability of teaching materials, the knowledge of Ukrainian students, their testing, and evaluation. The results indicate that in the spring of 2023, teachers did not agree on the state of availability of history teaching materials for Ukrainian students. If anything was lacking, it was most commonly worksheets and textbooks. They also often lack assistants for Ukrainian students. An interesting aspect is the effort of Czech teachers to incorporate Ukrainian history into Czech history education. Most respondents cannot assess the historical knowledge of Czech and Ukrainian students. Those who compare them mostly state that the knowledge of Ukrainian students is inferior, citing the different thematic placement of history classes in Ukraine as the main cause. It is positive that Czech teachers generally observe improvements in the history skills of Ukrainian students. They attribute this improvement primarily to the enhancement of their language skills. In the case of testing Ukrainian students in history, teachers most often choose a combination of written and oral exams, usually in the Czech language. Ukrainian students can frequently use an online translator, especially during written tests. Only a minority of Ukrainian students have an assistant available. During the research period (spring 2023), they were mostly tested on a reduced curriculum. Evaluation is usually done using grades, but a common approach is a combined form where the evaluation is supplemented with verbal feedback. Ukrainian students are generally assessed less strictly than Czech students. The results are compared and contextualized with the findings of other research.

Państwowość zachodnioukraińska 1918–1923 oraz teorie losowości XX – początku XXI wieku

In the article author focused on the understudied and disputable aspects of the Ukrainian Revolution of 1914–1923, mainly on how Western Ukrainian statehood was established and developed in 1918–1919, as well as some specific issues of the political history of the West-Ukrainian People’s Republic (WUPR) in 1918–1923. By applying the theories of randomness introduced by scientists in the 20th – early 21st centuries (generally, Nassim Nicholas Taleb, Michele Wucker, Peter Grassberger, Edward Lorenz), the author puts forward an approach to the events of the early 20th century Ukrainian history, which is completely different to what has been suggested before, in its “Galician” form.

Ukrainian historical terminology designating social and military status in Old Rus': Examining their counterparts in English

The article researches translators' challenges in rendering domain-specific terms which include culture-specific items. The study has been carried out using Old Rus' historical terminology employed to designate social and military status. It was selected en masse from academic texts, using monographs and academic articles in both languages. 82 language units representing culture-specific historical terms related to social, political and military organisation of the society of that period were chosen and described in terms of appropriate translation. Our hypothesis has been tested as to the unacceptability of approximation (analogous translation and generalisation) in rendering culture-related terms that designate highly specific concepts of the defined period in Ukrainian history. The research establishes that approximate translation fails to meet the requirements of strict definition and accuracy demanded by professional terminology. Our study underlines the importance of secondary term formation, descriptive translation, and the method called combined renomination (transcription and description combined). For a translation to be accurate, the shift in translation should follow the shift in concept. The specific term may have wider, more general semantics, and in each particular context it should be specified. The use of the description or combined renomination helps to make the meaning of the concept clearer. The study demonstrates that the most accurate and effective secondary term formation usually follows the pattern of term formation in the original language.

PUBLIC SCULPTURE IN WARTIME UKRAINE AS A FORM OF THE STATE’S MEMORY POLITICS

The authors argue that during wartime in Ukraine, public sculpture serves as a reflection of the memory politics of the contemporary Ukrainian state. As such, these politics are aimed at breaking away from the Soviet legacy that continues to exist simultaneously in the form of hidden or sometimes obvious remnants of older colonial narratives of Ukrainian history and in the form of aesthetic artifacts akin to those that can be seen in the public space of big cities, e.g. sculptures and reliefs, etc. However, in its efforts to shed the Soviet legacy, Ukraine's memory politics often uncritically adopt dominant capitalist narratives, inadvertently perpetuating another form of cultural oppression and colonization. In addition to critiquing contemporary market-driven discourse, the authors stress the importance of not overlooking the layer of mythological memory, as it constitutes one of the most fundamental elements of Europe's cultural landscape.

The relevance of studyng the history of Ukraine in institutions of higher education in today's conditions

The purpose of the study is to substantiate the need for a thorough study of the discipline “History of Ukraine” in Ukrainian universities as a guarantee of strengthening the sense of national dignity and national identity of the Ukrainian people in the conditions of the Ukrainian-Russian war among student youth. The methodological basis of the research is the principle of historicism and scientific objectivism. During the research, universal methods of scientific knowledge (analysis, synthesis, inductive, deductive), as well as special methods of historical research (retrospective, chronological, historical-comparative) were used. Scientific novely. An analysis of the policy of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine aimed at introducing European norms and standards into the national educational sphere was carried out. It is noted that the way to optimize educational programs by reducing the study of socio-humanitarian disciplines does not take into account the national specificity of Ukraine and does not correspond to the current stage of the existence of Ukrainian statehood. It is proved that the study of national history in institutions of higher education should be carried out at a deep theoretical level against the background of the pan-European historical process and be provided with appropriate educational and methodological literature. Conclusions. It is emphasized that in the conditions of a full-scale war unleashed by Russia against Ukraine, deep knowledge of the historical path of our people, the origins of its identity is the basis for the education of patriotism, the formation of a sense of national dignity. The chronological principle of history teaching, characteristic of the school course, does not give an opportunity to see the historical path of our people in perspective, against the background of pan-European processes, to understand the naturalness and inevitability of Ukraine’s European choice. At the current stage of our country’s existence, the return of the discipline “History of Ukraine” to the system of higher education as a mandatory component of educational programs of all specialties is an important task. The teaching of national history in institutions of higher education should be carried out in the context of the pan-European historical process, which requires providing an updated course with appropriate educational and methodological literature.

SPACE-TIME CONTINUUM OF PRZEMYSLAW LIS-MARKIEWICZ’S NOVELS

The work outlines the artistic space-time as an author's model of the world, its main features and functioning in the works of the contemporary Polish writer Przemysław Lis‑Markiewicz. The paradigm of space-time discourse is studied on the basis of the novels "Confession of the Spirit" and "Moskal". The article indicates that the plot of novels by Przemysław Lis‑Markiewicz, which also depict Ukrainian history, unfolds in a linear perspective, each chapter is marked with dates according to the calendar time. The works synthesize calendar, event and perceptual time. The spatial picture of the works is built on open and closed models of the world, macro- and microcosm. The study of the implementation specifics for the concepts of time and space made it possible to point out the relationship between the historical / character chronotope, the role of retrospection and prospection in the novels of the Polish artist. The chronotope of novels is determined by the narrative strategy, the author's intention, and the genre structure. "Confession of the Spirit" is perceived as the author's attempt to understand the formation of personality in the complex period of social and political events of the late 19th – 20th centuries and is defined as a novel-biography. The novel "Moskal" is considered as a synthesis of documentary and psychological, which testified the author's attention to social and political, spiritual problems of a person in a border situation, a historical and political novel. The article traces peculiarities of the artistic interpretation of Ukrainian geographical and cultural spaces, realized in artistic works. The space-time in the author's novels reflects the essence of the spiritual and material world of the inhabitants of the Ukrainian-Polish border, acts as a marker of the identity of the inhabitants of the region, which appears as a certain palimpsest construction, signifying the memory of Ukrainians and Poles, their narratives. In his novels, Przemysław Lis-Markiewicz unfolds the space of Ukraine in the days of wars or political vicissitudes, emphasizing the tragic pages of history.

Transformation of the role of the state in the regulation of economic processes through the prism of modern trends in the development of the world economy

The article aims to analyze the current trends in the development of the world economic system, identify the current risks of its development, and identify the vectors of transformation of the macroeconomic regulation system in the conditions of the departure from the state-centric paradigm. The influence of globalization processes on the mechanisms of regulation of economic processes and changes in the weight and scope of application of traditional macroeconomic policy tools are studied. In the structure of the risks of the development of the world economy, those that have the most significant long-term impact in case of untimely application of corrective strategies are identified, namely the threat of a large-scale debt crisis in developing countries, the risk of non-fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals. An analysis of the conceptual reasons for asymmetric economic development on the global market was carried out. The mutual conditioning of probabilistic events at the meta-level is shown. Based on understanding the mainstream nature of the tendency to move away from the state-centric paradigm, the erosion of national sovereignty and the formation of governmental and non-governmental international organizations of their sovereignty based on the alienation of objects of power from the state were investigated. Examples of the influence of non-state actors on the strategic directions of development of the world community as a whole and the national economic system represented by the Club of Rome and the IMF, are given. Identified factors affecting the country's place in the system of determining trends in geopolitics depend on several factors, including the country's image, the ability to mobilize human and material resources, independence in determining its goals and interests, the state's ability to form effective alliances and coalitions. It illustrated (based on the history of Ukraine's interaction with the IMF) the causes and consequences of the deliberate loss of autonomy and independence regarding decision-making regarding domestic economic policy and transformation into an object of world politics. Keywords: state regulation of the economy, macroeconomic regulation, world economy, globalization, sustainable development, economic policy, international organizations.

Rhythm in Genre Cinema and Cinematic Avant-Garde

The article attempts to outline certain principles and prerequisites for the study of the role of rhythm as the fundamental moment of any film and various approaches (avant-garde and mass cinema) to overcoming, or vice versa, fixation in the film of a given rhythm of the social whole, often associated with and expressed through aspects of industrial production rhythm. General connections between Fordism and classic Hollywood cinema are outlined, as well as between post-Fordism as an economic expression of postmodernism (the cultural logic of late capitalism) and the “cinema of nostalgia” of the 1970s. A comparative study of the approach to the issue of rhythm in the field of the cinematic avant-garde (using the example of the German avant-garde movement of the 1920s (“absolute film”)) and classic genre American cinema is offered. An attempt was made to connect the approach to the rhythm of the cinematic narrative in the film La Palisiada (1923, directed by Philip Sotnychenko) with the above-mentioned moments of the history of cinema, understanding La Palisiada as, at the same time, a study of rhythm and a study of modes of perception of the 1990s years in the current Ukrainian society. It is argued that the research in the realm of rhythm and the nostalgic orientation of films (including La Palisiada) can be closely related manifestations of the same deeply-rooted process — nostalgia for a different rhythm of the social whole, given in this particular case as the 1990s of Ukrainian history

Ukrainian Scenography at the Beginning of the 21st Century: Algorithms of Existence—Essential Meanings

The article identifies the main trends in the development of Ukrainian scenography of the beginning of the 21st century, which are implemented by th artists of the national theatre in the complex reality and historical contexts. The author analyses aspects of psychological reformatting of Ukrainian scenography, the artists’ creative guidelines reevaluation under the influence of war and their ability to fully implement their ideas in the formats of theatrical performances, in the space of exhibition projects, installation performance practices formats, in easel works and teaching. The paper studies the projects’ conceptual characteristics and targets of Mariya Levytska, Andrii Aleksandrovych-Dochevskyi, Lyudmila Nagorna, Sergiy and Natalya Rydvanetskis, Bogdan Polishchuk, Inessa Kulchytska, Oleg Tatarynov, Yulia Zaulichana, Olesya Holovach, Olena Polishchuk, and other artists. The author defines the theatre artists’ positions in critical moments of Ukrainian history, identifies the figurative characteristics of the participants’ project installations as manifestations of the artists’ style and the phenomenon of artistic response to the Russian-Ukrainian war and analyses the main participants’ features of the creative development in artistic processes and their role in the evolution of scenography culture in Ukraine. Highlighted is the extraordinary role of theatre artists of the early 21st century as the successors of the national scenography school leading development concepts, in whose creative projects national consciousness is manifested and clearly defined constantly gravitating towards European values.