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Fall 2023 Newsletter
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Director’s Message
Dr. Andie Palmer
September is here once again, and we are greeting our returning graduate student researchers and meeting new students in our classes. We look forward to seeing friends, colleagues, and Kule Folklore Centre supporters at the Folklore Lunch series and roundtable events coming this term. We also welcome those students and scholars displaced by Russia’s war against Ukraine, including those finding their way to Edmonton and the University of Alberta for the first time this fall: Ласкаво просимо! Welcome.
Please join us for the first public event of the term, by noted ethnomusicologist and member of the renowned speed-folk Kubasonics, Dr. Brian Cherwick. Friday, Sept. 29 at noon: “From Kubasa to Cod: Repackaging Ukrainian Culture for Varying Tastes.”
We’ll be in the beautiful Old Arts Building where the KuFC is based. To make more room for all, we will set up in the Arts Student’s Lounge. We are ordering lunch, so please email lynnien@ualberta.ca to let her know you are coming.
We can reflect on a very full summer for the Kule Folklore Centre’s staff and volunteers, including hosting booths at U-Fest in Edmonton, at Vegreville Pysanka Festival and Ukrainian Day at the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village, and hosting donors and summer researchers at the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives (BMUFA). Travel in Canada and abroad - to conferences and seminars, to plan exhibitions and conduct fieldwork and oral history research - filled the days of our researchers and chairs. These endeavours and more are highlighted in the pages that follow.
- Andie
Andie Palmer, PhD
Interim Director
Reports on research activities
Huculak Chair
Dr. Natalia Khanenko-Friesen, Huculak Chair
May 1 — August 31 2023
On May 15—16, 2023, together with Jelena Pogosjan and Alex Averbuch, Natalia co-organized and co-hosted an international conference, “Censorship, Surveillance, Resistance: Twentieth-Century Ukraine and Letter Writing,” at the University of Alberta.
In this conference, on May 16, Natalia presented a research paper It Takes Three to Tango: Epistolary Transatlantic Adventure in Love, Art, and Diasporic Longing.
The University of Lethbridge’s Centre for Oral History and Tradition invited Natalia to present in the online Oral History Summer Institute (May-June 2023). On May 18, 2023, she led the two-hour seminar 'Oral History - Methods and Theory' together with the world-leading expert Dr. Alessandro Portelli of the University of Rome, Italy.
On May 18, at the conference of the Association for the Study of Nationalities held at the Harriman Institute on the campus of Columbia University in New York, Natalia presented in person in the roundtable “Ukrainian Studies Abroad and the War: What Has Changed Since February 24, 2022.”
At the conference of Association for the Study of Nationalities held at the Harriman Institute on the campus of Columbia University in New York on May 20, along with Daria Mattingly and Myroslav Shkandrij, Natalia was invited to present in the book launch on the book by William Noll, titled “Transformation of Civil Society: Oral History of Ukrainian Rural Culture of the 1920-30s” (UMQP 2023).
On June 10, Natalia traveled to Calgary to deliver a keynote speech at IN SOLIDARITY – Fundraising Dinner in support of Ukrainian Evacuees and Displaced Persons organized by the Polish Canadian Humanitarian Society, Polish Canadian Cultural Centre, Calgary, Alberta.
On June 12—June 16, 2023 after a successful and internationally recognized summer institute that she founded in 2022, Natalia convened and hosted, in partnership with four international institutions, the second installment of the Witnessing the War Summer Institute titled Vectors of Reflection, Practices of Documentation (Krakow, Poland).
Held in Krakow, Poland, the institute ran for 5 days. The institute offered 42 contact hours of instruction delivered by 14 internationally renowned speakers to 35 registered participants recruited through the open call for applications and who hailed from around the world. WWSI 2023 built on the success of the previous Summer Institute and expanded its focus to allow war testimony documentarians—scholars and community-based researchers, oral historians and journalists, writers and performers—to reflect on their work. The goal of our second institute was to formulate key conceptual issues concerning the praxis and ethics of wartime research, as well as create a new transnational research network connecting researchers, activists and creative individuals involved in the collection of testimonies of the war. The institute has become a well-recognized brand and a platform for knowledge creation and knowledge mobilization in the field of testimony research with a focus on war-torn Ukraine.
WWSI 2023 was supported by the work of Anna Olenenko of the Kule Folklore Centre who assisted the organizing committee as its secretary and administrator.
Witnessing the War in Ukraine Summer Institute 2023:
Convenors, keynote presenters, funders
From left to right: Marcin Jarząbek (Jagiellonian U), Gelinada Grinchenko (Karazin University, Kharkiv), Alina Doboszewska(Jagiellonian U), Natalka Vorozbit, Ukrainian Playwright and Film Director, Eleonora Narvselius( Lund U), Natalia Khanenko-Friesen(U of Alberta) and Kateryna Bilotserkovets (Konrad Adenauer Foundation)
Photo by Anna Olenenko
WWSI 2023
Ela Kwiecinska (Warsaw U) is answering a question
from Oksana Koshulko (incoming CIUS UAlberta Fellow)
Photo: Anna Olenenko
Apart from being a principal convenor and chair of the organizing committee, Natalia’s contribution to the work of the institute was the delivery of an invited lecture “Home-making in displacement among Ukrainians in Poland and Canada after February 2022: Collective Memories, Historical Narratives, Transnational Heritage” and the hosting of three presentations of other speakers.
On June 23, at the U of Nottingham, England, Natalia organized and presented in the Round Table “Witnessing the war in Ukraine: vectors of reflection, practices of documentation: A roundtable.” The roundtable was part of the “Making Home Together: Annual Conference of the Oral History Society”, Nottingham, England.
Publications and Reports
In May, William Noll’s “Transformation of Civil Society: Oral History of Ukrainian Rural Culture of the 1920-30s”—one of Ukraine's key oral history projects—was translated and published in English by McGuill-Queen's University Press. As an oral historian and the developer of the online digital archives for the interviews on which the book is based, Dr. Khanenko-Friesen was invited to write an introduction to this book.
In May, with the assistance of Anna Olenenko, Natalia produced a research report “365 Days of Oral History of the War: The database of interview-based projects on war testimony (February 24, 2022 - February 24, 2023)”. The database and analytical tables profile a variety of ongoing interview-based projects that were publicly announced during the 365 days since the full scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation. War testimony collection and research have been evolving very rapidly in the field of Ukrainian studies and have attracted many established and new researchers.
Fieldwork and Research Projects
In spring 2023, Dr. Khanenko-Friesen successfully launched the oral history project “Making Home in Times of Peace and War: Ukrainian Displaced Persons in Canada”. Together with two CUAET visa holders Dr. Alla Vashchenko (Chernihiv) and CIUS visiting scholar Dr. Taras Lupul (Chernivtsi), Natalia has been conducting extended video documentation of life stories of recently arrived Ukrainian displaced persons in Alberta. In particular during the team’s field trip to Lethbridge and Southern Alberta in July 21-29, 2023, twenty in-depth interviews were recorded with Ukrainians from Mariupol, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Poltava, Kyiv and Kharkiv oblasts. Natalia is thankful to Mikhailo Pereverza of Lethbridge, the president of the Project Sunflower, who assisted the team with the organization of the interviews.
On August 19, while on a private visit to Ukraine, Natalia was invited to join a research trip organized by the Museum of Maidan and Revolution of Dignity of Kyiv, Ukraine into the de-occupied territories, freed from the Russian invasion in Spring 2022. Along with the research team of the Museum, she interviewed local witnesses and victims of Russian occupation and documented the destruction that the Russian military troops caused to the local church and sites of spiritual and cultural heritage.
Village of Peremoha, Kyiv Oblast. Village Club destroyed by the Russian missile.
Photo N. Khanenko-Friesen
There are several ongoing writing projects on the go that Natalia is working on and will report on in the upcoming newsletters.
Kule Chair
Dr. Larisa Sembaliuk Cheladyn, Kule Chair
The beginning of the Fall Semester is one of my most favourite times of the year. I love the buzz and excitement as students and faculty regroup to share their summer experiences and discuss upcoming challenges of the new term. This year, my summer activities focused mainly on continuing research-creation related to the Ukrainian Voice Legacy Mosaic, preparing the exhibit “Out of the Kiln: Sharing Traditions in Clay,” in collaboration with the Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts (ACUA), updating the Thomas and Lena Gushul exhibit for travel, and adapting four Folklore and Slavic studies courses for the 2023/24 school year. There was also a lot of activity as the Interim Curator of the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives (BMUFA). See my report below.
This Fall 2023 semester looks to be very exciting. Over 50 undergraduate students have registered for FOLK 204 – Forms of Folklore in which I introduce the class to oral, material, and performative folk expressions of everyday life. And, SLAV 320 – Ukrainian Canadian Culture has been modified this year to examine the earliest waves of Ukrainian immigration through the lens of communication. We are planning to travel together with the Ukrainian Language classes to visit the permanent Ukrainian and Indigenous exhibits at the museum in St. Paul, AB with side trips to the "National Prosvita Society Ivan Kotlyarevski" hall in Musidora, AB and Dickiebush Sts. Peter and Paul Russo Orthodox Church near Bellis, AB. We will also collaborate with the Society of Northern Alberta Printmakers (SNAP) to print our own
newspaper based on historic news and images printed in the “Ukrainian Voice” in the 1930s. Registration is still open for the WINTER 2024 classes - FOLK 205 - History of Folklore Studies and SLAV 399 - Special Topics - Comics, Memes, and Tattoos. But register quickly because they are almost full.
See the courses here. Register on Beartracks.
I welcome back our graduate students from their summer studies and employment. I look forward to continuing our work together as they each contribute their expertise as research assistants in the BMUFA and teaching assistants/instructors in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies (MLCS). Please stay tuned throughout the year for upcoming graduate student pop-up exhibits and contributions to the Folklore Lunch Lectures.
In addition to course work and research, the Kule Chair is also excited to be hosting two upcoming events. The first will be “Embracing the New Calendar,” a panel discussion at the December Folklore Lunch, followed by a ringing in of the new year with the 50th Anniversary celebration of the first University of Alberta Faculty Club Malanka. I look forward to seeing you all there. Further details in this newsletter.
Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives
Fall Greetings From the Interim Curator
Dr. Larisa Sembaliuk Cheladyn
The Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives (BMUFA) has a large and unique collection of primary resources related to a wide range of topics. This past year we have worked hard to achieve our goal of processing all donations in a timely fashion and making our collections publicly accessible online. Over the summer we collaborated with UAlberta Museums to provide archival experience for two summer practicum students, who helped us keep up our momentum. The BMUFA was also represented by myself and Nataliia Yesypenko on a national Ukrainian Canadian Museum and Archives panel discussion held at the end of August. This initiative by the Shevchenko Foundation is in keeping with a vision to coordinate collections across Canada and facilitate the sharing of resources and expertise.
Lida Lahola discussing her father’s archives with researcher Sarah Grandke from the University of Regensburg/Germany.
Recent, significant summer donations to the BMUFA have come from individuals across the country to enrich the collections. In particular I would like to thank Lida Lahola for adding to her father, Ivan Lahola’s, collection by donating personal papers related to his incarceration in German and Austrian concentration camps during WWII. Due to the demand on these types of resources, we are also very thankful for the additional funds she provided to hire a researcher who will work with the materials and bring them online by the end of December.
Pictured: Mrs.Stephanie Soltykewych holding her Hetman Award certificate and medal (2017). Her collection of Christmas and Easter greeting cards (1950’s to present).
The BMUFA is also lucky to receive a new donation from Orest Soltykevych, who over the years has continued to bolster our archives with unique Ukrainian Canadian publications and performance programs. His recent donation, however, was more personal. It included over 400 Easter and Christmas cards collected by his mother Stephanie Soltykewych over the course of 70 years. Not only is the greeting card artwork unique (there are only a handful of duplicates) but the notes inside also give us a glimpse into the lives of Ukrainian Canadians who settled in Canada following WWII. This collection will become available to researchers as soon as it is processed and uploaded to our digital archives.
This summer we also saw a steady stream of researchers come through the doors. Of specific interest were our Dobrolige collection, the Lahola collection, our cookbooks, letters, artwork, and photographs.
The BMUFA prides itself on our unique archives of personal stories, letters, poetry, diaries, manuscripts, etc. I can’t stress enough that no donation is too big or too small – we will consider everything, and if it does not fall within our mandate we will facilitate a transfer to a more suitable institution. Please, keep in mind that with ongoing cutbacks to space and services, we also welcome monetary donations that will help preserve our collections and make them accessible in a timely fashion.
Individuals and organizations can also reach out to the SUCH Network for help making their collections accessible online. SUCH is a multifaceted research and education program of the Kule Folklore Centre supported by the Peter Arabchuk Endowment Fund. Find out more here.
Inquiries and donations can be directed to the BMUFA at: ukrfolk@ualberta.ca Tel: 780-492-6906.
Archivist Report
Nataliia Yesypenko, Archivist Assistant
Summer is traditionally a busy season for archival references, and this year was no exception at the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives (BMUFA). Our archival team, including Archivist Assistant Nataliia Yesypenko, Library Assistant Olesya Komarnytska and Archival Assistant Eric Fincham, were engaged in various tasks and projects to support the research, access, and preservation of our valuable collections.
Nataliia provided reference services, covering a range of research topics: Ukrainian Canadian weddings, Ukrainian embroidery, Cossack history, the family history of first settlers, and Ukrainian folk tales. Half of the consultations took place online, allowing us to extend our assistance to researchers from not only Canada, but the USA and even Europe.
BMUFA enhanced access to their collections this summer. We are thrilled to announce the acquisition of a new turntable, opening the doors to our vinyl disc collections. The 33 and 78 rpm collections are now available for exploration and appreciation. You can browse these fascinating recordings through the links below:
https://archives.ukrfolk.ca/index.php/ukrainian-music-on-record-collection
https://collections.ukrfolk.ca/collections/browse
Nataliia worked closely with PhD student Anna Olenenko this summer. Under Nataliia's guidance, Anna completed the processing of the photographs and documents of Wadym Dobrolige’s fonds. You can delve into this collection here.
Anna also played a pivotal role in cleaning metadata for the Fine Art Collection at the BMUFA, enriching descriptions and facilitating better access to paintings and pictures. Nataliia is working on making this collection available online by the end of the year.
BMUFA was privileged to welcome two talented summer intern students from the University of Alberta Museums, who worked with our collections. Nataliia guided Katja Mueller, who scanned six albums from the Onufrijchuk family fonds. Through this experience, Katja honed her care-handling techniques and gained insights into the fundamental principles of archival work. Meanwhile, another student, Craig Neaves, focused on enhancing the BMUFA Fine Art Collection descriptions and creating an online collection on our website. You can read the reflections from our summer students below.
This summer, the BMUFA witnessed the generosity of several donors who contributed to the enrichment of our collections. We extend our gratitude to Joyce Sirski-Howell, Lesia Savedchuk, Lida Lahola, Orest Soltykevych and Marko Levytsky for their donations, which include treasured cookbooks, various documents, and photographs. Moreover, Nataliia and Olesya Komarnytska visited Dr. Andiy Hornjatkevyc as part of our ongoing efforts to digitize the Bandura magazine. Andriy's possession of the complete run of this journal proved invaluable in this endeavour.
We are thrilled to inform you that our long-term project of digitizing the issues of Ukrainian News is finished, and we want to thank all who were involved, with special gratitude to Maryna Chernyavska, Sarah Severson and Olesya Komarnytska. This collection is accessible through the link here.
Nataliia's engagement extended beyond the archives, as she volunteered at the Pysanka Festival in Vegreville in June, celebrating Ukrainian culture and heritage alongside the community.
In August, Nataliia's started to add descriptions to the Writings from the War project collection. This ongoing collection remains a testament to the enduring spirit of the Ukrainian people in the face of war. To read more about this project and testimonies, you can go here.
On behalf of the entire BMUFA team, we extend our warmest wishes and look forward to sharing more exciting updates in the future.
Arabchuk Family Visit
On August 31, sister Carolyn Walker and cousin Felice Bassie of our late donor Peter Arabchuk visited the Kule Folklore Centre. The KuFC team showed the family the Centre and the Archives and focused on the Sustainable Ukrainian Canadian Heritage Network (SUCH) program that was initiated thanks to Peter’s generous donation to KuFC. SUCH provides networking, collaboration, education and resource sharing among academic, research and memory institutions, cultural heritage repositories, archivists and other heritage professionals, community organizations, and researchers studying Ukrainian Canadian history and culture.
Peter Arabchuk was a prolific biographer of his family history and the family shared his collection of family documents dating back to the last century.
Reflections on Peter Arabchuk’s legacy, including funding for the SUCH Network, continued over lunch. Pictured (left to right) Carolyn Walker, Lynnien Pawluk, Felice Bassie, Andie Palmer and Maryna Chernyavska.
UofA Museum Summer Students
We would like to thank students enrolled in the U of A Museums summer program for their assistance over the summer. They have shared with us reflections on their time working in the BMUFA:
“This past July I had the opportunity to work in the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives for two weeks through the University of Alberta Museums. Under the supervision of Nataliia Yesypenko, I spent my time digitizing photo albums from the Onufrijchuk family, with photos ranging from the 1920s to the 1980s. I managed to digitize approximately 1,400 images from six photo albums during my time here.
As a student studying clothing and textiles, I often found myself focusing on the clothing of the family members. Through the photos and newspaper articles across the albums I was able to gain a deeper understanding of how the Onufrijchuk family celebrated and passed down their Ukrainian heritage to their children born in Canada.
Despite the short amount of time I spent in the archives, I learned a lot about the process of photograph accession and digitization. I hope to apply the invaluable knowledge and abilities I developed here in future museum work.” - Katja Mueller
Pictured: Summer student Katja Mueller at work.
“My name is Craig Neaves, and this summer I had the privilege to work at the University of Alberta Museums as a Collections Assistant, a position obtained through the Arts Work Experience program. A significant component of my job was assisting in several of the 30 collections on our campus, including the E.H. Strickland Entomological Museum, the Vascular Plant Herbarium, and last but certainly not least, the Ukrainian Folklore Archives. In these spaces, I helped curators with ongoing projects, many of them relating to the organization, conservation, and databasing of museum objects.
During my time in the Ukrainian Folklore Archives for the last half of August, I worked exclusively with the substantial Fine Art Collection, which includes over 600 paintings, drawings, block prints,
and embroidery pieces. Although much of the information for these objects had already been documented, it still needed to be carefully filtered through and uploaded onto the Archive’s public database. This was a daunting, yet rewarding task that in the end took me nearly two weeks to complete. In the future, this will hopefully allow students, researchers, and other individuals from the public to easily access information and images regarding these beautiful objects online.
One of my favourite things about working for the U of A Museums has been the exposure to different cultures, stories, and perspectives I’ve encountered, and the Ukrainian Folklore Archives was no exception. While working with the Fine Art Collection, I was able to learn more about Ukraine, its vibrant culture, and the history of Ukrainian people in Canada. Although my time here was all too short, I feel that I have embraced the vast knowledge that the Archives has to offer, and encourage others who are interested to do the same.” - Craig Neaves
Pictured: Summer Student Craig Neaves at work.
Staff Changes
We are sad to say that our Archives & Library Assistant, Olesya Komarnytska will be leaving us at the end of this summer. We thank her for her hard work and dedication; she has been an asset to our team and a pleasure to work with. We wish her well in future endeavors.
Olesya shared a reflection from her time with us:
“I'm incredibly thankful for having had the opportunity to join the talented team at the Kule Folklore Centre and to take part in their important cultural work. It was an invaluable experience for me as I was going through my Master of Library and Information Studies degree. I was able to put into practice much of the theory I was learning about, be it reference work when helping researchers find materials or describing a new archival collection. During my time here I had the chance to work with the archival materials of the Ukrainian Catholic Brotherhood of Canada and was actively involved in the digitization of the Ukrainian News publication. I've really loved being a part of this rich academic environment through special events, collaborative campus projects and new friendships. I know I will use many of the skills I acquired at the Kule Folklore Centre in my new role as an Archives Assistant at the University of Alberta Archives.” - Olesya Komarnytska
Pictured: Olesya Komarnytska.
Summer Events
The Kule Folklore Centre attended several community events over the summer to promote the work that we do at the KuFC and resources available to researchers through the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives.
“UFest” - Edmonton’s Ukrainian Festival
On the 26th & 27th of May, The Kule Folklore Centre participated in “UFest,” Edmonton’s annual Ukrainian Festival. It was hosted in Borden Park and attended by over 60,000 people this year. KuFC set up a booth alongside the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), to represent the University of Alberta. We had many people come by to talk to us about our Centre, upcoming events, our publications, exhibits, and the Ukrainian language and culture courses offered by the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies. We would like to thank the Friends of the Ukrainian Folklore Centre for providing new T-shirts for our volunteers, and a shout out to the students, staff, and volunteers who helped in the booth.
Pictured: Victoria Kostyniuk, Stefka Lytwyn and Lynnien Pawluk at the KuFC booth at Ufest
Vegreville Pysanka Festival
In celebration of the 50th Anniversary of the Vegreville Pysanka Festival, the Friends of the Kule Folklore Centre at the University of Alberta set up a display in the Cultural Pavilion from 7th to 9th July.
The exhibit was anchored by the multimedia exhibit “Dumy Moї - My thoughts: Taras Shevchenko, the Ukrainian Diaspora and the Ongoing War in Ukraine.”
We also released a new mini-documentary “Vegreville Pysanka” featuring construction details and the history behind the creation of the "Veg Egg" - sponsored by the Friends of the Ukrainian Folklore Centre. When people think of Vegreville, Alberta, many people will also think of the giant Pysanka (Easter egg) that draws visitors here from all across Canada. But why is the egg there? Why did they choose to build a giant Pysanka? And what does it mean for the people of Vegreville? Watch our film about the Vegreville Pysanka here, or below:
Visitors could also find out more about the upcoming FALL and WINTER folklore and Ukrainian culture courses being offered through the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies, and pick up bookmarks featuring 6 of our recent and most popular publications. Many thanks to our staff and student volunteers who helped man the booth.
Pictured: the Taras Shevchenko Exhibit at the Vegreville Pysanka Festival.
Ukrainian Day at the Village
On 20th August, 2023, the Kule Folklore Centre alongside the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, participated as a member of the community and representatives of the University of Alberta at the “Ukrainian Day at the Village” celebration, which was co-hosted by the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village and Ukrainian Canadian Congress-Alberta Provincial Council. This was a celebration of Ukrainian culture, leading up to the commemoration of Ukrainian Independence Day on August 24th.
Stefka Lytwyn and graduate student Devon Sereda Goldie spoke to many people, including many Ukrainian newcomers, who had recently arrived in Edmonton, and did not yet know about the Centre and Archives, or the work that we do. Many visitors were interested in signing up for our newsletter to find out about upcoming events for the coming year. Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi also stopped by our table to say hello. Thanks to all the organizers for a memorable event.
Pictured: Devon Sereda Goldie and Stefka Lytwyn at the KuFC Booth at Ukrainian Day in the Village.
Visiting Neighbours: Learning from the Land
The last golden days of August brought an exceptional, two-day intercultural journey, centered on shared experiences on the land and travels through a region rich in the history of relations between Indigenous Peoples and Ukrainian settlers. Working in partnership with the Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Village and Mètis Crossing, the Indigenous-Ukrainian Relationship Building Initiative (IURBI) and kihêw waciston (eagle’s nest) Indigenous Centre at MacEwan, brought together twenty-six participants to make pyrohy and break bannock together, to paddle the North Saskatchewan River in voyageur-style canoes, to dance, to take a medicine walk on a river lot, and to learn from shared experiences and each others’ stories. Initiative leads Maryna Chernyavska (KuFC) and Larisa Hayduk (URDC) were joined by knowledge holders, artists, poets, cultural heritage specialists, students and researchers of Indigenous and Ukrainian heritage. Andie Palmer and Devon Sereda Goldie of KuFC were pleased to join the group. The thoughtful and collaborative work to create a plan for the overall trip and coordinate activities at key sites unfolded over many months through a series of meetings, and laid the groundwork for reflective conversations over the weekend of travel and the follow-up interviews that are now underway.
Caption: Map of the area of travel. Base map from the City of Edmonton. Map graphic design and content by Devon Sereda Goldie, KuFC.
IURBI is a joint initiative between the Kule Folklore Centre and the Ukrainian Resource and Development Centre, MacEwan University (URDC). Its main goal is to advance knowledge about, explore, and reflect on Ukrainian Canadian history and shared Indigenous-Ukrainian pasts.
New Term - Welcome back!
Pictured: (left to right) Nataliia Yesypenko, Alla Vashchenko, Anna Morozova, Anna Olenenko, Dmytro Yesypenko, Lynnien Pawluk, Larisa Sembaliuk Cheladyn, Marta Dvuliat, Brittany Dyck. Photo by Andie Palmer.
Welcome back to all our students for a new Fall Term.
We are looking forward to working with all of you as research assistants and graduate students. Wishing you the very best in your studies this year.
Our students this year:
Brittany Dyck
Area of Study - PhD in Media and Cultural Studies
My area of study focuses on digital folklore and the representation of culture and traditions online. Of particular interest are contemporary memes and interactions on an international scale.
Victoria Kostyniuk
Area of Study - PhD in Media and Cultural Studies
My area of interest is understanding how Ukrainian Church Halls in Alberta have helped to maintain Ukrainian heritage in the diaspora. I intend to study their purposes in both rural and urban environments, as well as how their purposes have changed from the time that they were first established to the present day.
Anna Olenenko
Area of study - PhD in Media and Cultural Studies
My research is dedicated to the history of one of the objects of the historical landscape of Steppe Ukraine, which has become one of the national symbols of the Ukrainians – the Dnipro wetlands (Dniprovskiy plavni), in political, cultural and social contexts. The research will be based on documentary and oral history sources to reveal the history of the destruction of Dnipro wetlands by the waters of the Kakhovka reservoir, the resettlement of the local population and the formation of collective memory about Dnipro wetlands.
Devon Sereda Goldie
Area of Study - PhD in Media and Cultural Studies
Devon is pursuing her PhD in Media and Cultural Studies through the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies. She holds a BFA double major in Applied Theatre and Environmental Studies and an MA in Applied Theatre with a focus on Ukrainian Studies from the University of Victoria, BC. Her MA thesis is titled “Пам’ять/Pamyat (Memory): Theatre as a Vehicle for Healing Intergenerational Trauma within the Ukrainian Canadian Experience.” Devon recently completed her first year of coursework and assignments as a Research Assistant in the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives. She is currently on leave, and upon return, will continue studies related to her research interests.
Dmytro Yesypenko
Area of Study - PhD in Transnational and Comparative Literatures
In my research, “Neverending Epidemics” in Ukrainian and Polish Literatures, 1820s–1900s," I consider epidemic threat as a recurring phenomenon and its manifestation in culture and more specifically in the Polish and Ukrainian literary classics. In particular, I will explain how writers relied on and reinterpreted vernacular representations of epidemics which can be traced in folklore texts.
Anna Morozova
Area of Study: MA in Media and Cultural Studies
My research area is the digitalization of museums and archives, Ukrainian art in the Sixties, New Ukrainian Folklore, and Ukrainian traditional embroidery.
Our graduate students also work as research and teaching assistants, contribute to our folklore luncheons, coordinate pop up displays online and in the display case outside the Kule Folklore Centre. We are excited to see what they bring this year!
Our graduate students also work as research and teaching assistants, contribute to our folklore luncheons, coordinate pop up displays online and in the display case outside the Kule Folklore Centre. We are excited to see what they bring this year!
New Staff
We are happy to welcome two new staff members to our team!
Sia Chernyavska - Library Assistant
Sia Chernyavska is the new Archives and Library Assistant at the Kule Folklore Centre and the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives. She is currently working on her Bachelor of Arts degree in Modern Languages and Cultural Studies at the UofA, with a focus on Latin and Slavic languages. Sia was born in Ukraine and immigrated to Canada with her family at a young age. Growing up in the Ukrainian Canadian community, Sia attended Ridna Shkola and Ivan Franko School of Ukrainian Studies and was an active member of the Ukrainian Scouts organisation Plast. After becoming trilingual as a result of moving to Canada, her interest in languages grew and she is currently studying Polish, German, Japanese, Russian, Italian and Spanish.
Pictured: (left) Sia Chernyavska, (right) Marta Dvuliat.
Marta Dvuliat - Undergraduate Student and Research Assistant
Marta has recently graduated from Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (Ukraine) with a bachelor’s degree in International Relations. Since September 2022 she has been an undergraduate political science student at the U of A and is now in her fourth year. While obtaining her degree, Marta is also involved in research, most recently having worked for The Common Ground Project. This fall she is joining the team of the KuFC as a Research Assistant at the library.
Upcoming Events
Folklore Lunch Series
Every year the Kule Folklore Centre hosts the Folklore Lunch series of lectures prepared by guest presenters, Folklore Alumni, and graduate students funded by the Kule, Kuryliw, and Kawulych scholarships. The topics vary depending on current events, research interests, and resources available in the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives.
FALL 2023 - Folklore Lunch Schedule:
Friday Sept 29, 2023
Guest Presenter: Dr. Brian Cherwick
From Kubasa to Cod: Repackaging Ukrainian Culture for Varying Tastes.
12pm MDT | Arts Student Lounge, Old Arts Building & Convocation Hall
(In-person presentation)
Throughout much of the 20th century, Ukrainian music in Canada was shaped primarily by musical traditions that originated in the western provinces of Ukraine. While the period since 1991 has seen an increased flow of cultural products from Ukraine and a wide variety of musical influences among Ukrainians who relocated to Canada during this time, the Western Ukrainian base material continues to hold a dominant place in the musical fabric of Ukrainian Canadians. This presentation will look at both some general tendencies as well as some specific ways the presenter has selected and shaped material to suit the tastes of varying audiences.
RSVP to lynnien@ualberta.ca
Add to Google Calendar
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Friday October 27 , 2023
Presenter: Nataliia Yesypenko
Threads of Resilience in Fabric Collages of Liubov Panchenko (1938-2022) - KuFC
12pm MDT | Kule Folklore Centre
(In-person presentation)
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Friday November 24, 2023
Presenter: Dr. Natalia Khanenko-Friesen, Huculak Chair
Making Home in Times of Peace and War: Oral History of Ukrainian Displaced Persons in Alberta post-2022 - KuFC
12pm MST | Kule Folklore Centre
(In-person presentation)
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Friday December 1, 2023
Embracing the New Calendar - A Panel Discussion on Change
Hosted by the Kule Chair in Ukrainian Ethnography - Dr. Larisa Sembaliuk Cheladyn
12pm MST | Arts Student Lounge and Foyer - Old Arts Building & Convocation Hall
(In-person event)
Join us in celebrating the beginning of the Winter Cycle with light refreshments and snacks.
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Other Events
50th Anniversary Faculty Club Malanka Celebration
Tickets now available to purchase here.
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Celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the first U of A Faculty Club MALANKA on 13th January 2024
Hosted by the Kule Folklore Centre
At the The University Club, University of Alberta
In Ukraine, the New Year’s celebration of “Malanka” is a festive event that traditionally takes place on the eve of January 13 (New Year’s Eve by the Julian calendar) and continues on until the morning of the 14th. During the festivities ‘Malanka’, together with her entourage of mummers, roams the villages and towns, visiting door to door, singing, partying and bringing tidings of good luck and joy for the coming year.
Historically, “Malanka” was not a tradition that readily made its way to Canada with the first few waves of Ukrainian immigration. However, on January 13, 1973 a major revival of the old tradition took place at the University of Alberta Faculty Club.
Join us in January to bring back this tradition, and to celebrate Ukrainian New Year with a night to remember!
Dinner, music and live performances.
Tickets are $110 +GST, and can be purchased here:
Book Launch
"Ukrainian Ritual on the Prairies
Growing a Ukrainian Canadian Identity"
By Dr. Natalie Kononenko - Kule Chair Emerita at the University of Alberta
September 20th at 7 pm
Audreys Book Store - 10702 Jasper Ave, Edmonton
*Dr. Kononenko will also be the guest speaker in FOLK 204 on Friday Sept 22 (TBC)
About the Book:
While Canada is home to one of the largest Ukrainian diasporas in the world, little is known about the life and culture of Ukrainians living in the country’s rural areas and their impact on Canadian traditions.
Drawing on more than ten years of interviews and fieldwork, Ukrainian Ritual on the Prairies describes the culture of Ukrainian Canadians living in the prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan. Despite powerful pressure to assimilate, these Ukrainians have managed both to preserve their sense of themselves as Ukrainian and to develop a culture sensitive to the realities of prairie life, creating their own uniquely Ukrainian Canadian traditions. The Ukrainian church, an iconic though now rapidly disappearing feature of the prairie landscape, takes centre stage as an instrument for the retention of Ukrainian identity and the development of a new culture. Natalie Kononenko explores the cultural elements of Ukrainian Canadian ritual practice, with an emphasis on family traditions surrounding marriage, birth, death, and religious holidays.
Ukrainian Ritual on the Prairies gives voice to a group of everyday people who are too often overlooked, highlighting their accomplishments and their contributions to Canadian life.
The Sound of Muzyka
A good old-fashioned evening of Ukrainian Folk Music featuring Brian Cherwick of the Kubasonics with special guests the Broken Banjos.
September 30th, 2023 at 6:30PM
Location: Alberta Centre for Ukrainian Arts, 10554 110 Street, Edmonton.
Find out more here
Presented by Alberta Council for the Ukrainian Arts as part of the Kava Club event series. Made possible with the support of the Government of Canada.
Кому весілля, а курці смерть
For some it's a wedding, but for the chicken it means death.
(From the chicken's perspective, we Canadians should really appreciate it when we live so well, not everyone does)
-In memory of Dr. Bohdan Medwidsky
We hope you will enjoy today’s proverb, and the inimitable Dr. Andriy Nahachewsky’s perspective on it.
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