A Look Behind the Curtain at UHGI’s Summer Workshops
UHGI scholars from across the world met this May to receive feedback on their working papers
On May 4 and 5, I was given the opportunity to join in on developmental workshops for the Ukrainian History Global Initiative (UHGI). The UHGI is a new project that brings together scholars from across the world in hopes of producing a comprehensive, accessible history of Ukraine.
Finding Ukrainian History
According to Professor Timothy Snyder, the Chair of the UHGI’s International Historical Advisory Council, Ukraine is understood expansively and inclusively as “the land and peoples north of the Black Sea.” The goal of the project is to detail the history of those lands and peoples from prehistory until today.
Given the demands of such an extensive project, a variety of methodologies have been adopted.
For example, prehistorical research will use a variety of techniques in anthropology, archeology, archaeogenetics (a portmanteau of “archaeology” and “genetics”) and ADNA (ancient DNA), whilst participants dealing with comparatively recent times rely on primary source documents in a variety of languages, reflecting the diversity of influences on the development of Ukraine.
A Collaborative Process
Making this wide-ranging research as interesting and accessible as possible requires that the scholars collaborate on a scale rarely seen, but also contribute in a particularly constructive manner.
Participating scholars were advised to always keep in mind the imagined reader. This reader became omnipresent in the room: someone who is interested and comes to the project with good will, but is not a subject matter expert. The imagined reader was oft-cited during comments that scholars provided on their colleagues’ work. Sometimes one scholar simply prompting, “What does that mean?” was enough to make their peer realize that they had neglected to define a term that was ubiquitous in their own field.
The diversity of expertise among participants in the Toronto workshop focused the discussion on how clearly the research was presented for non-expert audiences. It also required the academics to demonstrate excellent listening skills, hearing and taking in their peers’ comments in the spirit of producing a collaborative work that will stand the test of time. Professor Snyder’s advice to the scholars on receiving feedback was, “tomorrow, after you think about it, you will almost always find the comments to be true.”
My Impressions
I admired the scholars’ commitment to pursuing accessibility and befriending the imagined reader. As a student who has only recently been exposed to some of the topics UHGI includes, I identified with the hypothetical, non-expert (but interested) reader. One of my favourite moments of the conference was when music historian Marika Kuzma, of University of California, Berkeley, played a selection of Ukrainian choral songs for the other scholars.
Ultimately, Kuzma decided that her capsule would include a selection of recorded songs, to ensure the reader got the chance to feel the emotion of the music she was writing about. She debated beginning her piece with a discussion of Mykola Lentovych’s “Shchedryk,” a beloved Ukrainian melody perhaps known to the English-speaking world as the Christmas song “Carol of the Bells.”
Another favourite moment was when University of Alberta’s Frank Sysyn and Oksana Vynnyk, writing about the Cossack period, debated whether to adopt historian Yohanan Petrovsky-Shtern’s (Northwestern University) suggestion of beginning their capsule by dispelling misconceptions associated with Cossacks. Petrovsky-Shtern suggested this could be achieved through a discussion of depictions of them in popular culture. Another suggestion was to introduce the reader to the topic through the treatment of a battle during the Cossack state. My mind was immediately drawn to the 1658 Battle of Yellow Waters, where the Zaporozhian Cossacks along with the Crimean Khanate bested the forces of the Polish Lithuanian Commonwealth. Petrovsky-Shtern mentioned that many readers may be familiar with portrayals of Cossack battles from Jerzy Hoffman’s 1999 film adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz’s With Fire and Sword.
UHGI
The project will eventually be structured around more than a hundred capsules, each of which details a practice, time period, or social group of particular significance to Ukraine. These will eventually be available online, and a condensed version will be available in print.
A novel aspect of the project is that readers will be able to begin wherever their interest lies. Although the capsules may be read chronologically, the project is designed so that each capsule can stand alone while linking to other capsules for further reading. I was excited by the idea that a reader could begin with a discussion of neanderthals and end up reading about modern art!
What’s Next?
In June, participating scholars will submit the final drafts of their capsules for review by the International Historical Advisory Council before travelling to Kyiv in September to add finishing touches to their writing through another series of workshops.
Amelia Dease graduated in 2026 with an Honours Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Toronto. She recently completed her senior thesis, which explores the migration of Ukrainians to her home province of Saskatchewan following the 2022 full-scale invasion. In her spare time, she can be found illustrating for The Attaché Journal of International Affairs, where she is the lead political cartoonist.
Professor Snyder is the Chair in Modern European History, supported by the Temerty Endowment for Ukrainian Studies, at the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
Further Reading and Viewing
Book: Timothy Snyder, Black Earth: The Holocaust as History and Warning (2015)
Timothy Snyder will be working alongside Sara Silverstein (University of Connecticut) to produce a capsule about political life in Ukraine. In the 20th century, the concept of statelessness becomes central to the study of Ukraine. In the workshop, Snyder referred to statelessness as a key determiner of who would be killed in the Holocaust. Snyder conceptualized statelessness as something beyond merely lacking a passport; the word also encompasses the experiences of those who are left unprotected by their states, or those whose states were destroyed.
Book: Timothy Snyder, Bloodlands: Europe Between Hitler and Stalin (2010)
The collaborative nature of UHGI allows for different forms of violence to be explored using interdisciplinary approaches. There are numerous capsules about the Holocaust, the Gulag, the Holodomor, Enslavement, and the Terror. These events occurred in what Snyder terms “the bloodlands.” The bloodlands are areas of Europe subject to intersectional violence of Hitler and Stalin.
Book: Zenon E. Kohut, The Making of Cossack Ukraine: Political Thought, Culture, and Identity Formation, 1569-1714 (2025)
Kohut’s book takes a new look at Cossack historiography. Participants Frank Sysyn and Oksana Vynnyk referred to this book while discussing their capsules on the Cossacks and Bohdan Khmelnytsky.
Film: With Fire and Sword (1999) Directed by Jerzy Hoffman
An entertaining adaptation of the classic Polish novel Ogniem i Mieczem. This movie depicts the escapades of the Cossacks and the Polish Hussars during the Khmelnytsky Uprising. The movie is not historically accurate, but rather serves as an example of popular culture’s understanding of Cossackdom. It reminds me of The Princess Bride.
Books: Mykhailo Hruchevsky, History of Ukraine Rus’ (1898-1937)
Hruchevsky’s monumental ten volume historical account of Ukraine’s Viking period was often brought up during epistemological discussions during the workshop. Snyder remarked that much of Hruchevsky’s subject matter seems obscure to the modern mind, but was deeply important to the Ukrainian scholars of the 19th century. He mentioned Lesia Ukrainka’s interest in Mesopotamia as an example of this phenomenon.
Book: Neil Price, The Viking Way: Magic and Mind in Late Iron Age Scandinavia (2019)
Upon having read The Viking Way, Snyder asked archeologist Neil Price (Uppsala University) if he would join UHGI to write a capsule on the religious imaginary of Vikings in Ukraine. This capsule is meant to explore the spiritual beliefs, fables, and symbols of Ukraine’s Viking period. It will also explore how interactions with Turkic groups on the steppe may have influenced beliefs held in Viking Ukraine.
Film: The Northman (2022) Directed by Robert Eggers
The Northman stars Alexander Skarsgård as Viking prince Amleth, a character based on a Danish legend of the same name. Neil Price served as a historical consultant for the film.
Book: Yuval Noah Harari, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (2015)
Workshop participants regarded Sapiens as a mentor text in writing history for a non-expert audience. Harari (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem) also read over some participants’ drafts for clarity and accessibility, and serves as a member of UHGI’s International Historical Advisory Council.
Book: David Graeber and David Wengrow, The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity (2022)
Wengrow (University College London) is a member of UHGI’s International Historical Advisory Council. The Dawn of Everything is a masterclass in writing history for a non-expert audience. Participant Eckart Frahm (Yale University), writing about Ukraine and Mesopotamia, said that this book presents an attractive argument regarding the origins of the modern city.
Book: Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949)
Joseph Campbell’s classic cyclical framework, the hero’s journey, was mentioned numerous times throughout the workshop. Participant Marko Stech (University of Alberta and University of Toronto) cited Campbell’s framework when discussing how the modern concept of heroism evolved.
Book: Sergei Zhuk, Rock and Roll in the Rocket City: the West, Identity, and Ideology in Soviet Dnipropetrovsk, 1960-1985 (2010)
Participant Sergei Zhuk (Ball State University) is writing UHGI’s capsule on the Cold War. During the workshop, he discussed his upbringing in Cherkasy province. Sergei’s first exposure to Western rock music was when his brother smuggled tapes of the Stones, the Beatles, and the Doors into Ukraine for them to listen to. Rock and Roll in the Rocket City explores how cultural exchange between Ukraine and the West impacted the ideological identity of Ukrainian youth during the ‘60s, ‘70s, and ‘80s.
Book: Serhii Plokhii, Chernobyl: History of a Tragedy (2018)
Plokhii (Harvard University) remarked during the workshop that it is important for the general reader to understand the impact of the Chornobyl Zone on the environment of Ukraine today. He referred a colleague to Harvard’s MAPA Digital Atlas of Ukraine’s Chornobyl Project, which maps the lasting effects of the disaster.
Book: Golfo Alexopoulos, Illness and Inhumanity in Stalin’s Gulag (2017)
Alexopolous (University of South Florida) understands the Gulag as something which did not occur because of random negligence, bad weather, or food shortages. Instead, the Gulag system used a series of rules governing the exploitation of people that produced starved people.
Book: Stanislav Aseyev, The Torture Camp on Paradise Street (2023)
Golfo Alexopoulos mentioned Asayev’s book as something she would like to explore within her capsule about the Gulag system. In his memoir, Ukrainian journalist Stanislav Asayev recounts his experience in an isolation camp in Donetsk. Alexopoulos drew parallels between Asayev’s harrowing account and the testimonies of those who spent time in the Gulag.
