Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute
Encyclopedia
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
devoted to Ukrainian studies
Ukrainian studies
Ukrainian studies - interdisciplinary field of research dedicated to Ukrainian language, literature, history and culture in a broad sense.- Ukrainian studies outside Ukraine :A number of research institutes outside of Ukraine focus on Ukrainian studies...
studying the history
History of Ukraine
The territory of Ukraine was a key center of East Slavic culture in the Middle Ages, before being divided between a variety of powers. However, the history of Ukraine dates back many thousands of years. The territory has been settled continuously since at least 5000 BC, and is also a candidate site...
, culture
Culture of Ukraine
Ukrainian culture refers to the culture associated with the country of Ukraine and sometimes with ethnic Ukrainians across the globe. It contains elements of other Eastern European cultures as well as some Western European influences. Within Ukraine, there are a number of other ethnic groups with...
, language
Ukrainian language
Ukrainian is a language of the East Slavic subgroup of the Slavic languages. It is the official state language of Ukraine. Written Ukrainian uses a variant of the Cyrillic alphabet....
, and politics
Politics of Ukraine
Politics of Ukraine take place in a framework of a presidential representative democratic republic and of a multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Cabinet. Legislative power is vested in the parliament...
of Ukraine
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
. Other areas of study include Ukrainian literature
Ukrainian literature
Ukrainian literature is literature written in the Ukrainian language. Ukrainian literature had a difficult development because, due to constant foreign domination over Ukrainian territories, there was often a significant difference between the spoken and written language...
, archaeology
Archaeology
Archaeology, or archeology , is the study of human society, primarily through the recovery and analysis of the material culture and environmental data that they have left behind, which includes artifacts, architecture, biofacts and cultural landscapes...
, art, economics
Economy of Ukraine
The economy of Ukraine is an emerging free market, with a gross domestic product that fell sharply for the first 10 years of its independence from the Soviet Union and then experienced rapid growth from 2000 until 2008...
, and anthropology
Anthropology
Anthropology is the study of humanity. It has origins in the humanities, the natural sciences, and the social sciences. The term "anthropology" is from the Greek anthrōpos , "man", understood to mean mankind or humanity, and -logia , "discourse" or "study", and was first used in 1501 by German...
. Faculty at the Institute include the three endowed professorships in Ukrainian Studies, which are in the Department of History and the Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures; these are supplemented by other Harvard faculty from Harvard as well as visiting scholars.
HURI was formally founded in 1973 by Omeljan Pritsak
Omeljan Pritsak
Omeljan Pritsak was the first Mykhailo Hrushevsky Professor of Ukrainian History at Harvard University and the founder and first director of the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute.-Career:Pritsak began his academic career at the University of Lvov in interwar Poland where he...
and other leading scholars in Ukrainian studies. It functions as a focal point for undergraduate and graduate students, fellows, and professors and provides assistance with their research. Prior to the establishment of HURI, its founders organized weekly seminars in Ukrainian studies. These seminars have continued to the present day (since 2001 under the auspices of the Harvard Ukraine Study Group).
HURI maintains one of the largest collections of Ukrainian books and other media available in the West, both in its own collection and in those stored in Harvard's many libraries. HURI also manages the Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute which offers summer courses in various topics relating to Ukraine. It also publishes the Harvard Ukrainian Studies journal (founded in 1977) and a series of book publications, including the Harvard Series in Ukrainian Studies, the Harvard Library of Early Ukrainian Literature, and Harvard Papers in Ukrainian Studies. HURI also produces Perspectives on Contemporary Ukraine, a bulletin covering current events and developments.