Course Co-Directors: Diána Vonnák (Institute of Ethnology, Czech Academy of Sciences, Vienna/Prague) and Iryna Shuvalova (poet, independent scholar, Changsu)
This course examines how and by whom Ukrainian literary recognition is being reshaped amidst repeated revolutions and the current war. Scrutinising canon-making as a social and aesthetic process, we do not only look at what gets called “good” literature in various historical moments, but also analyse the institutional infrastructures (publishing, museums, curricula) that produce that judgment. The course combines literary history and cultural studies with a sociology/anthropology of knowledge approach. Sessions will trace threads such as decolonization as an early framework in literary studies, multilingual and regional literary traditions (including Jewish literary revival and diaspora), and the rise to prominence of the Executed Renaissance and Ukrainian modernism. The course will feature guests, as per IUFU tradition.