Professor Paul Robert Magocsi speaks at the 16th All-Ukrainian Methodological Seminar for Educators, "New Ukrainian School: Teaching/Knowledge about the Holodomor and Other Genocides"

On 21 January 2025, Paul Robert Magocsi, Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Toronto and a Board Member of Ukrainian Jewish Encounter (UJE), spoke on the topic "Academic and school history of Ukraine: what should they be like?" at the All-Ukrainian Methodological Seminar for Educators "New Ukrainian School: Teaching/Knowledge about the Holodomor and Other Genocides" in Kyiv.

The Holodomor Research and Education Consortium (HREC in Ukraine) organized the seminar with the Institute of Ukrainian History of Ukraine's National Academy of Sciences and the Hrystia Hranovska Foundation and supported by Ukraine's Ministry of Education and Science. Dr. Vladyslav Hrynevych, Sr., head of the Institute for Memory Studies, moderated the seminar and introduced Prof. Magocsi, who joined the event online from Toronto.

Prof. Magocsi, as always, gave an insightful, interesting speech, rounding it off with a presentation of his book Ukraina Redux: On Statehood and National Identity, published as a bilingual (English and Ukrainian) edition in Ukraine in 2022. This publication is a revised version of Prof. Magocsi's Expert Report submitted to the International Court of Justice at The Hague on behalf of the Government of Ukraine. It succinctly presents the history of Ukrainian identity and statehood from ancient times to the current Russo-Ukrainian war.

According to Prof. Hrynevych, Sr., Prof. Magocsi's significant work shows that statehood and national identity result from natural development spanning nearly four centuries. The book also looks at the legacy of statehood in Ukraine and its various forms before and after the declaration of independence on 24 August 1991. The author analyzes in detail how Ukrainians identify themselves and their attitude towards the state of Ukraine in terms of ethnic or civic national identity.

The seminar participants learned that Prof. Magocsi's book had already been translated and published or was forthcoming in many languages, including Korean, French, Japanese, Turkish, Spanish, Italian, German, and others. Thanks to the efforts of Prof. Magocsi, this book was presented to the public in Ukraine (Uzhhorod, Uman, Vinnytsia, and Kyiv) and abroad (Paris, London, Naples, and Rome). The seminar participants received this landmark publication as a gift thanks to the assistance of the Ukrainian UJE office.

The video recording of Prof. Magocsi's presentation is available below.

Vladyslav Hrynevych, Jr., Regional Manager, UJE Ukraine