Ukrainian Language Courses
Beginning Ukrainian
(8 units: UN, GR, NC)
Alla Parkhomenko,
Ph.D., Kyiv State University
An intensive course for students with little or no knowledge
of Ukrainian. Basic grammatical structures are introduced
and reinforced through an active oral approach. By the
end of the course students are expected to develop the
ability to conduct short conversations in a range of familiar
situations related to daily activities, understand simple
factual texts, and write routine messages. They will be
able to initiate, maintain and bring to a close simple
exchanges by asking and responding to simple questions.
A variety of original sources will be used to establish
an authentic environment.
Development of students' conversational skills in a variety
of real life communicative settings gets priority treatment
in the course. This is accompanied by a review of basic structures
and further expansion of grammar fundamentals. Major emphasis
will be placed on the development of vocabulary through readings
and viewings of videotaped programs focusing on contemporary
cultural and political issues. By the end of the course students
will be able to narrate and describe in major time frames,
deal effectively with unanticipated complications in most
informal, and some formal settings on topics of personal
and some general interest.
Advanced Ukrainian
(8 units: UN, GR, NC)
Volodymyr Dibrova,
Preceptor, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures,
Harvard University
This is an intensive course for
students who wish to develop their
mastery of the language. Reading
selections include annotated articles
on contemporary issues in business,
economics, politics, and culture.
Short written reports and oral presentations
will be part of the course. By the
end of the course the students will
be able to discuss extensively a
wide range of general interest topics
and some special fields of interest,
hypothesize, support opinions and
deal with linguistically unfamiliar
situations. Classes will be conducted
largely in Ukrainian.
History, Literature, and Politics Courses
Modern Ukraine
(4 units: UN, GR)
Volodymyr Kravchenko, Professor, Department
of History, Kharkiv University
This class will provide a narrative overview and analysis
of the formation of the modern Ukrainian national identity
from the end of the eighteenth through the twentieth century.
It will investigate the process of the intellectual mapping
of Ukraine, trace the evolution of the interpretations of
Ukraine's past in parallel with the evolution of national
identity; the emergence of the Ukrainian national idea and
national movement in the nineteenth century; the role of
regions and new intellectual centers in the process of modernization
of Ukraine under the Austrian and Russian Empires; the Ukrainian
national movement 1917-30s; new concepts of Ukrainian national
identity in the USSR and in the western lands; the problem
of the Great Famine of 1932-33, and the purges of Ukrainian
national elites; the Second World War; Soviet identity versus
National identity in the USSR; the collapse of the USSR,
the emergence of an independent Ukraine, post-communist and
post-colonial problems, state-and nation-building; Ukraine,
Russia, and the West.
The Myth of Kyiv: A
City through Centuries and Cultures
(4 units: UN, GR, NC)
Taras Koznarsky,
Assistant Professor, Department of
Slavic Languages and Literatures,
University of Toronto
Throughout its history spanning more than a millennium,
the Ukrainian capital experienced glorious times and devastating
downfalls. Kyiv became an integral part of various historic
and cultural traditions, a place where Ukrainians, Russians,
Poles, and Jews reconstructed their own "versions"
of the city, its origins, and its roles. The course focuses
on the literary texts and cultural processes (from the early
nineteenth century to contemporary times, with a few detours
into the medieval period) that shaped the symbolic topography/geography
and myth of the city.
Independent Ukraine:
Politics, National Identity and Democratization
(4 units: UN, GR, NC)
Andrew Wilson, Senior Lecturer, School of Slavonic
and East European Studies, University College London
A detailed study of Ukraine since independence in 1991,
focusing on the interaction between the post-Soviet political
system, the complexities of modern national identity and
the attempt to build a functioning democracy based on European
values.
The course will look in detail at Ukraine's initial progress
as a new state under President Kravchuk (1991-4), at how
Ukraine gained a reputation for political drift and corruption
under the second presidency of Leonid Kuchma (1999-2004),
and at how hopes were dramatically revived by the Orange
Revolution in 2004. The course will examine the Orange Revolution
and will conclude by looking at the prospects for the new
Ukraine under President Yushchenko, asking whether the new
authorities can deliver on the hopes invested in the Orange
Revolution, and whether they can find a meaningful place
for Ukraine in the new Europe. |
