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Ukrainian History
Global Initiative

Ukrainian history is central to global history, to an extent that can be hard to bear and hard to acknowledge. In this light, the connections between the present war and larger developments in global economy and politics are no surprise.

Ukrainian History Global Initiative seeks a new empirical and conceptual understanding, using an innovative approach across disciplines and application of new technologies to write history today. It is seeking indirectly to answer fundamental questions such as: who are we? how was a nation possible?

Objectives and description of the methodology

Ukrainian History Global Initiative is a major new project in the humanities, social sciences, and sciences, with the goal of establishing a scholarly and accessible presentation of the deep history of the lands of contemporary Ukraine and the peoples who have inhabited them. It aims to generate a new model of synthetic public history.

Since trends in Ukrainian history correspond to trends in global history, the project commits its participants to pursue thematic research rather than national history in any traditional sense. Global history is not flat and homogenous, but a multiplicity of themes in which certain important ones are quite significantly related to the lands and peoples of contemporary Ukraine. Participants will seek these connections from the earliest periods. Although most participants are historians, the project accordingly invites natural history, zoology, paleontology, and archeology to the study of the region and its peoples. New technologies have enabled rapid advances in understanding, and these innovative methods will be supported. Rather than seeking a teleology or just-so story that leads to contemporary Ukraine, the project will seek new empirical and conceptual understanding at every point, seeking indirectly to answer fundamental questions such as: who are we? how was a nation possible?

Ukrainian history is not marginal, but central, to an extent that can be hard to bear, and hard to acknowledge. This can be seen at every stage, from the role of the Yamna in the spread of what will become Indo-European languages; the synthesis of Scythia and the Bosporus Kingdom with ancient Athens in the development of classical culture; the formation of Rus as a unique yet exemplary medieval state with Slavic, Viking, Byzantine, Khazar, and west European elements; the appearance of the Cossacks as an early anti-colonial or proto-national entity; and the centrality of Ukraine to both Soviet and Nazi views of global transformation. In this light, the connections between the present war and larger developments in global economy and politics are no surprise. Though it will conclude with a treatment of the Russo-Ukrainian war, the project lays heavy emphasis on early periods of history, and is concerned with creation more than with destruction. As such, it endeavors to include all approaches to history as well as to engage other humanities, such as literature and philosophy.

Such a project must be institutionalized and collaborative. Ukrainian History Global Initiative is a charitable foundation registered in the United Kingdom. It will support the work of roughly ninety scholars engaged in roughly seventy themes over the course of three years. Three larger conferences will be held. Scholars will carry out research as they see fit, but will be expected to engage colleagues to seek connections and coherence among the themes, including in workshops (that will be funded). Colleagues will find connections during research that are unseen now, and these will enable a coherent final presentation, one that, in the nature of things, cannot be predicted now. This spirit of collaboration across fields and disciplines is essential to the undertaking. Each individual contribution will be all the more significant in its connections to others and to the whole.

Participants are therefore expected, from the beginning, to follow the work of colleagues as they undertake their own. Numerous workshops, initiated by participants, will be funded to enable this. Three larger conferences will also enable a grander view of the project as a whole. At the end of three years, scholars will submit three texts: one at the length of approximately 30,000 words with full scholarly apparatus and illustrations as appropriate; one at the length of 3,000 words, and one at the length of 1,000 words. All of these texts are to be written accessibly, to be read by a general public. This accessibility is an indispensable element of the project. Translation, editing, and research support will be available. Scholars will be in regular contact with the management team, and expected to produce drafts for discussion at regular intervals. A historical advisory council will be among those commenting on drafts. Ukrainian History Global Initiative is designed, in other words, to facilitate excellence in research among invited scholars, and to generate a collective project of which all can be proud.

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Trustees
Anne Applebaum

Anne Applebaum

Pulitzer Prize winning Historian, Staff Writer, The Atlantic

Carl Bildt

Carl Bildt

Chair

Co-Chair European Council on Foreign Relations, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Sweden (2006-2014); Prime Minister of Sweden (1991-1994)

Borys Gudziak

Borys Gudziak

Metropolitan Archbishop of Philadelphia of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, President of Ukrainian Catholic University

Nataliya Gumenyuk

Nataliya Gumenyuk

Journalist specialized in conflict reporting, human rights, Co-Founder of Public Interest Journalism Lab, Co-Founder of the independent media Hromadske

Yulia Mostova

Yulia Mostova

Ukrainian journalist, Сo-Founder, Editor-in-chief of prominent Ukrainian newspaper “Mirror of the week” (ZN.UA)

Victor Pinchuk

Victor Pinchuk

Founder, Author of the idea of the project

Ukrainian Philanthropist and Businessman

Philippe Sands

Philippe Sands

Lawyer, Professor of the Public Understanding of Law, University College London

Timothy Snyder

Timothy Snyder

Ex officio as a Chair of the International Academic Advisory Council

Chair in Modern European History, Supported by the Temerty Endowment for Ukrainian Studies; Director, Public History Lab; Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto

Fareed Zakaria

Fareed Zakaria

Host of Fareed Zakaria GPS on CNN, Columnist for The Washington Post

Serhiy Zhadan

Serhiy Zhadan

Ukrainian Poet and Novelist

International Historical Advisory Council
Timothy Snyder

Timothy Snyder

Chair

Chair in Modern European History, Supported by the Temerty Endowment for Ukrainian Studies; Director, Public History Lab; Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto

Serhii Plokhii

Serhii Plokhii

Co-chair

Mykhailo S. Hrushevs'kyi Professor of Ukrainian History, Department of History, Harvard University

Yaroslav Hrytsak

Yaroslav Hrytsak

Co-chair

Professor, Ukrainian Catholic University, Director of the Institute of Historical Research at Lviv National University

Sunil Amrith

Sunil Amrith

Renu and Anand Dhawan Professor of History; Associate DGS, History, Yale University

Rohit De

Rohit De

Associate Professor of History, Yale University

Yuval Harari

Yuval Harari

Philosopher, Professor, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Ola Hnatiuk

Ola Hnatiuk

Translator, Essayist, Professor of Cultural Studies, Warsaw University, Associate Professor at Kyiv Mohyla Academy

Maya Jasanoff

Maya Jasanoff

X.D. and Nancy Yang Professor, Coolidge Professor of History, Harvard University

Leonora Neville

Leonora Neville

John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Chair of Byzantine History, Vilas Distinguished Achievement Professor, University of Wisconsin Madison

Kelly O'Neill

Kelly O'Neill

Director, Imperiia Project, Lecturer on History, Harvard University

Barbara Engelking

Barbara Engelking

Founder and Director, Polish Center of Holocaust Research, Institute of Philosophy and Sociology at the Polish Academy of Sciences in Warsaw

Hussain Fancy

Hussain Fancy

Associate Professor of History, Yale University

Rory Finnin

Rory Finnin

Professor of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Robinson College, Cambridge

Timothy Garton Ash

Timothy Garton Ash

Professor of European Studies in the University of Oxford, Isaiah Berlin Professorial Fellow at St Antony’s College, Oxford, and a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University

Amelia Glaser

Amelia Glaser

Professor, Endowed Chair in Judaic Studies, UC San Diego

Marci Shore

Marci Shore

Chair in European Intellectual History, Supported by the Temerty Endowment for Ukrainian Studies; Professor, Munk School of Global Affairs & Public Policy, University of Toronto

Thula Simpson

Thula Simpson

Associate Professor of History, University of Pretoria

Iryna Sklokina

Iryna Sklokina

Researcher at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy

Katherine Younger

Katherine Younger

Permanent Fellow, Director, Ukraine in European Dialogue program, Institute for Human Sciences

Anton Drobovych

Anton Drobovych

Head, Human Rights and War Memorialization Centre, Kyiv School of Economics, Head, Ukrainian Institute of National Memory (2019-2024)

Andrea Graziosi

Andrea Graziosi

Professor of Modern History, Università di Napoli Federico II

David Blackbourn

David Blackbourn

Cornelius Vanderbilt Distinguished Chair of History Emeritus, Professor of History, Vanderbilt University

Eckart Frahm

Eckart Frahm

Professor of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, Yale University

Susan Ferber

Susan Ferber

Executive Editor, American and World History, Academic and Trade, Oxford University Press

Piotr H. Kosicki

Piotr H. Kosicki

Associate Professor of History, University of Maryland

Tetiana Hoshko

Tetiana Hoshko

Professor of History, Ukrainian Catholic University

Joseph Manning

Joseph Manning

William K. and Marilyn Milton Simpson Professor of Classics and History, Professor Yale School of the Environment, and Senior Research Scholar in Law, Yale University

David Wengrow

David Wengrow

Professor of Comparative Archaeology, Institute of Archaeology, University College London

Sophie Goldsworthy

Sophie Goldsworthy

Global Academic Publisher, Director of Global Research Books & Reference, Oxford University Press

Jacqueline Norton

Jacqueline Norton

Head of Acquisition, Humanities, Oxford University Press

Mischa Meier

Mischa Meier

Deputy Executive Director, Institute of Ancient History, University of Tübingen

Michael David-Fox

Michael David-Fox

Director, Center for Eurasian, Russian, and East European Studies, Professor, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service/Dept. of History, Georgetown University

Antony Polonsky

Antony Polonsky

Emeritus Professor of Holocaust Studies at Brandeis University

Norman M Naimark

Norman M Naimark

Visiting Distinguished Fellow, Hoover Institution; Robert and Florence McDonnell Professor of East European Studies, emeritus, Stanford University

Lucan Ahmad Way

Lucan Ahmad Way

Distinguished Professor of Democracy, Department of Political Science, University of Toronto, Co-Director of the Petro Jacyk Program for the Study of Ukraine

Glenn Dynner

Glenn Dynner

Jay Berkowitz Chair of Jewish History, University of Virginia

Roman Szporluk

Roman Szporluk

Professor of Ukrainian history emeritus at Harvard; Professor emeritus of history at the University of Michigan

Irena G. Gross

Irena G. Gross

Princeton University

Michael Flier

Michael Flier

Oleksandr Potebnja Professor of Ukrainian Philology, Emeritus, Harvard University

Thomas W. Simons, Jr.

Thomas W. Simons, Jr.

Associate, Visiting Scholar, Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies, Harvard University

Joachim von Puttkamer

Joachim von Puttkamer

Imre Kertész Kolleg, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Germany

Janice Gross Stein

Janice Gross Stein

Belzberg Professor of Conflict Management and the Founding Director of the Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy at the University of Toronto

Victor Ostapchuk

Victor Ostapchuk

Associate Professor, Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto

Bob Rae

Bob Rae

Former UN Ambassador and Ontario Premier, currently Senior Fellow and Visitor, Massey College, University of Toronto, and Matthews Fellow in Public Policy, Queen’s University

Marko Robert Stech

Marko Robert Stech

Director of Scholarly Publications, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta / University of Toronto

Golfo Alexopoulos

Golfo Alexopoulos

Professor in the School of Interdisciplinary Global Studies and founding Director of the USF Institute for Russian, European and Eurasian Studies at the University of South Florida

Research Capsules and Authors
Foundational

Prehistory

Albert Hafner

Professor and Director, Institute for Archaeological Sciences, University of Bern; Member, Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research

Albert Hafner

Prehistory

Inna Potekhina

Head of the Department of Bioarchaeology, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Inna Potekhina

Humans in the Changing Environment of the Pleistocene

Pavlo Shydlovskyi

Head of the Department of Archaeology and Museum Studies, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv

Pavlo Shydlovskyi

Humans in the Changing Environment of the Pleistocene

Victor Chabai

Director, Institute of Archaeology, Corresponding Member of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Victor Chabai

Early Holocene Transformations of Nature and Society

Marta Andriiovych

PostDoc Researcher, School of Archaeology, University of Oxford

Marta Andriiovych

Early Holocene Transformations of Nature and Society

Serhii Telizhenko

Scientific Secretary, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

Serhii Telizhenko

Early farmers and herders (Copper Age – Bronze Age)

Yurii Rassamakin

Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Archaeology, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Section of the Archaeology of the Copper and Bronze Ages

Yurii Rassamakin

Early Farmers and Herders (Copper Age – Bronze Age)

Johannes Müller

Professor and Director, Institute of Prehistoric and Protohistoric Archaeology, Kiel University; Speaker Research Cluster ROOTS - Social, Environmental and Cultural Connectivity in Past Societies

Johannes Müller

Ukraine and the Origins of the Languages of Eurasia

James P. Mallory

Professor (Emeritus) of Prehistoric Archaeology, Queen’s University, Belfast, Northern Ireland

James P. Mallory

Ancient DNA and Indoeuropean Culture

Alexey G. Nikitin

Ph.D., Professor of Biology; Director, Molecular Archaeology Laboratory and Archive, Grand Valley State University

Alexey G. Nikitin

Art, Pre-Historic and Modern

Marko Robert Stech

Director of Scholarly Publications, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta / University of Toronto

Marko Robert Stech
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