Europe Borderland A Survey of Ukrainian History and Culture

3 credits · Undergraduate

This course offers a multidisciplinary introduction to Ukraine, its history, culture, and peoples from historical, cultural, political and anthropological perspectives. Along with an overview of major developments in Ukrainian history, culture and nation building, the course also focuses on the outcomes and meanings of these developments to contemporary Ukrainians, their neighbors, and the Ukrainian diaspora. Topics include the rise and fall of Kyivan Rus and Galicia-Volhynia, the Polish and Lithuanian rule, the Kozak Era, the impact of Russian and Austrian Imperial rule on Ukraine, the growth of national consciousness in the 19th century, the first World War and the quest for independence, industrialization and collectivization in Soviet Ukraine in the 1920-30s, the famine of 1932-33, Stalin's repressions of 1930s, Western Ukraine between the Wars, Ukraine during the Second World War, Soviet Ukraine in the 1950-1980s, and independent Ukraine in a global context.