Book on Canadian Ukrai­nian­ness in the Late 20th Century published

New series of books from the publishing house Smoloskyp was presented at the bookstore Ye. It is called Ukrainski Studii (Ukrainian Stu­dies) and it will fea­ture interesting and innovative re­search works by young Ukrainian scholars, The Day informs. The first book published in the series is the study by Natalia Khanenko-Frizen Inshy Svit, abo Etnichnist u Dii: Kanadska Ukrain­skist Kintsia Dvadt­siatoho Sto­littia (Diffe­rent World or Ethni­city in Action: Canadian Ukrai­nian­ness in the Late 20th Century). It tells about special aspects of life in a small town of Mandery in Western Canada (settlements with popula­tion of 500 to 600 people are easi­ly called towns in this area), which was founded and populated mostly by Ukrainians. The resear­cher herself, who, by the way, came to the presentation, spent over a year in Mandery.

“Even though it is a small town, it has very rich social life: there are three parishes, many clubs, two retirement homes, and public dinners are hosted re­gularly, with thousands varenyks served along with other dishes,” says Khanenko-Fri­zen. “Various public events take pla­ce so often that you can’t help but get the impression of being somewhere in downtown Kyiv or London.”

While, in her book Khanenko-Frizen has focused on scholarly coverage of folklore, ethno-cultu­ral, and other cha­racteristics of the Mandery residents and the area, where their ancestors came from, during the presentation one could learn more about life of Canadian Ukrai­nians mainly through stories and photos. For example, visitors could have a look at a huge eccentric Sausage monument. They could also see pictures with Ukrai­nian folk images, or an unusual elevator that is considered to be nearly a monument of architecture in this area. Sculpture of blue buffalo with py­san­kas on its sides also looks very impressive. The next book in the series will be the research by Olesia Omelchuk on the magazine Literaturno-Nau­ko­vy Vis­nyk (Lite­rature and Scien­ce Herald) that was published in Lviv in interwar times. The publishing house Smoloskyp invites young scholars to apply with their own projects for books presenting their research. It is planned to publish mostly literary and historical books, but the series will not be limited only to these spheres of knowledge.