Eighteenth-Century Ukraine
Eighteenth-Century Ukraine
Editors - Frank Sysyn, Zenon Kohut, and Volodymyr Sklokin
Translator - Marta Skorupsky
The forthcoming book Eighteenth-Century Ukraine: New Perspectives on Social, Cultural, and Intellectual History aims to introduce the international academic public to recent trends in the study of eighteenth-century Ukraine. The volume contains eighteen articles by Ukrainian historians, originally written in Ukrainian or Russian and translated into English. The block of translations is supplemented by five articles by US and Canadian scholars, written in English. The book is edited by Zenon Kohut, Volodymyr Sklokin, and Frank Sysyn and is to be published by CIUS Press.
The articles selected for this volume reflect new developments in the study of eighteenth-century Ukrainian history during the last 10-15 years. After enduring forced isolation caused by ideological restrictions of the Soviet regime, during the 1990s Ukrainian historiography experienced the return of its national paradigm, on the one hand, and on the other it became much more open to the world and began adopting best practices from international history writing. As a result, from the early 2000s eighteenth-century Ukrainian studies underwent a noticeable turn-from the traditional political and military history to the new social and cultural history.
With regard to new developments in the cultural history of Ukraine, a great deal of attention has been devoted recently to the transformation of collective identities and political values, as well as to issues in symbolic geography and early modern religiosity. Studies in the field of social history, formerly concentrating almost exclusively on the Ukrainian Cossacks and peasant class, have begun to examine other social groups, such as the clergy and townspeople. We have also seen important progress in the fields of women's history and childhood studies.
The upsurge of interest in Ukrainian historical demography focusing on such topics at the family or household level has brought about the revision of a number of stereotypes about social and economic life in the Ukrainian Cossack autonomies of the Russian Empire. And lastly, the domain of political history has also seen innovation due to ongoing reconsideration of key aspects of imperial Russian history. The new imperial history problematizes the concept of empire and provides a more sophisticated view of relations between the imperial center in Russia and the peripheries, paying attention not only to instances of confrontation but also to the role of the multicultural peripheries and subjugated nations-particularly Ukraine-in establishing and maintaining the imperial project.
The structure of this forthcoming volume reflects the above-described directional turn toward new cultural and social histories of Ukraine, while at the same highlighting important recent developments in the field of Ukrainian political, military, and intellectual history as well as church history and history of education.
In the volume's first section, "Symbolic Geography," Kyrylo Halushko explores the emergence of Ukraine on maps of Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, Volodymyr Kravchenko examines the transformation of the image of Ukraine in the symbolic geography of the Russian Empire, and Oleksii Tolochko analyzes images of Kyiv in late-eighteenth- and early-nineteenth-century travelogues.
The next section, "Cossack Administration and Army," includes scholarly descriptions by Viktor Horobets, of the free election of Cossack political leaders in theory and practice, Oleksii Sokyrko, of reforms of the Cossack army during the reign of Hetman Kyrylo Rozumovs'kyi, and Vadym Nazarenko, of the Kyiv-based imperial cavalry courier (Reiter) detachment from a social history perspective.
The section "Social Structure" contains contributions by Volodymyr Masliichuk, who describes the formation of family clans among Sloboda Ukraine's Cossack officers, Yurii Voloshyn, who examines the population distribution of the city of Poltava by age, sex, and marital status, and Ihor Serdiuk, who explores the demographic structure of cities in the Hetman state.
The following section, "Political and Historical Thought," includes articles by: Zenon Kohut, tracing the development of Little Russian identity and its association with Ukrainian nation building; Frank Sysyn, addressing the emergence and transformation of the idea of fatherland in early eighteenth-century Ukrainian political culture; Serhii Plokhy, analyzing semantic innovations in the concept of fatherland provoked by Hetman Ivan Mazepa's switch to Swedish protection; Natalia Yakovenko, exploring the nature and functions of political power as perceived in the Church and Cossack elites; Gary Marker, discussing the language of politics and the politics of language in the 1710 Bendery Constitution of Hetman Pylyp Orlyk; and Andrii Bovhyria, examining the link between Cossack historical writing and the transformation of collective identities in the Hetmanate.
The penultimate section, "Church, Culture, and Education," includes articles by Maksym Iaremenko, who analyzes relations between the Kyiv Orthodox Metropolitanate and the Synod through the prism of book publishing, Ihor Skochylias, who discusses the introduction of Church Union in Right-Bank Ukraine, Liudmyla Posokhova, who describes the phenomenon of Orthodox colleges in the Ukrainian autonomies of the Russian Empire, and Mykola Symchych, who explores developments during the eighteenth century of the teaching philosophy at the Kyivan Mohyla Academy.
In the final section, "Abolition of the Autonomies," Volodymyr Sklokin examines the abolition of Sloboda Ukraine's autonomy in the context of the "enlightened absolutism" of Catherine II, Oksana Mykhed explores the links between disease control and administrative reform in late eighteenth-century Ukraine, and Vadym Adadurov reconstructs collective identities in the Ukrainian provinces of the Russian Empire during the Russian campaign of Napoleon.
Five of the articles below (those by Frank Sysyn, Zenon Kohut, Volodymyr Sklokin, Natalia Iakovenko, and Oksana Mykhed) are available online.
Cossack Autonomies in the Symbolic Geography of the Empire and the Commonwealth
Kyrylo Halushko
Ukraine on maps in the seventeenth and eighteenth Centuries: From the Wild Fields to the "Cossack Country"
Volodymyr Kravchenko
Ukraine in the symbolic geography of the Russian Empire in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
Oleksii Tolochko
Kyiv in travelogues of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries: From "Russian Jerusalem" to "Slavic Pompeii"
Cossack Administration and Army
Viktor Horobets
Colonel of the Zaporozhian Host: The right to free elections in light of Cossack traditions, prescribed regulations, and political realities
Oleksii Sokyrko
Military Reforms of Hetman Kyrylo Rozumovs'kyi, 1750-1764
Vadym Nazarenko
"For delivery to Tsargrad and other states in the area": The Kyiv Reiters in the eighteenth century
Ukrainian Society in the 18th Century
(social groups, identities, economy, demography)
Volodymyr Masliichuk
The Cossack Starshyna of Sloboda Ukraine in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries: The "Family Clan" and attainment of social status
Ihor Serdiuk
Cities of the regiments of the Hetmanate in the latter eighteenth century: Economy and demography
Yurii Voloshyn
Population distribution of the city of Poltava in the latter eighteenth century by age, gender, and marital status
Political and Historical Thought
Natalia Iakovenko
Frank Sysyn
"Fatherland" in early eighteenth-century Ukrainian political culture
Zenon E. Kohut
Development of a Little Russian identity and Ukrainian nation building
Gary Marker
Constitutio Medievalis: The politics of language and the language of politics in the 1710 Constitution
Serhii Plokhy
"In the name of the beloved fatherland": The loyalty and treason of Ivan Mazepa
Andrii Bovgyria
Cossack historiography: A vision of the past and the construction of identities in the Hetmanate in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries
Church, Culture, and Education
Maksym Iaremenko
Challenges of unification and discipline facing the Kyiv Orthodox Metropolitanate in the eighteenth century: Book publishing as an example
Ihor Skochylias
Implementation of Church Union in Right-Bank Ukraine in the eighteenth century
Mykola Symchych
Teaching philosophy at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy at the turn of the eighteenth century
Liudmila Posokhova
The Orthodox Collegiums of the Russian Empire in the latter seventeenth to early nineteenth century
Abolition of the Autonomies and Its Aftermath
Volodymyr Sklokin
Catherine II, Evdokim Shcherbinin, and the abolition of Sloboda Ukraine's autonomy
Oksana Mykhed
Vadym Adadurov
Identities of the Little Russian Society through the prism of Napoleon's Russian campaign