Ukrainian Scholars in Times of War

Wars are about people. Not just the soldiers and politicians. They are about the ordinary person working to keep the water running and the lights on. Or librarians from around the world racing to back up the digital archives of a country at war.

And there are webinars. Yes, the familiar Zoom tools we have been putting to use in the pandemic are allowing scholars to share their personal experiences since the war started. A chance talk about the challenges of taking care of families and even to discuss how to conduct research under extremely difficult conditions. A time for sociologists to share ideas on how to study civil society, media , and cultural preservation while waiting for the sound of air raid sirens.

The Danyliw Research Seminar Series started in 2005, and now the Danyliw Ukrainian Scholars in Times of War series is keeping the spirit alive with help from the international community.  

Guests on this podcast:

• Dominique Arel is a professor and Chair of Ukrainian Studies at the University of Ottawa. He is one of the organizers of the Danyliw Online Seminar Series: Ukrainian Scholars in Times of War.
  
  
• Dr. Natalia Otrishchenko is a sociologist and researcher at the Center for Urban History located in Lviv, Ukraine. She has shifted her attention from leading the Urban Media Archive's "Urban Stories" project to working on an oral history of the war. Natalia was out of the country when the war started and had to find a way to get back into Ukraine and to "6 Bohomoltsia" which has been there since 1904. Along with 200 plus other Ukrainians, she is now sheltering in the Center which is where she was when we spoke with her. 

This episode would not have been possible without the support of Genome Canada.
Produced by Mike Spear, Director of Communications for Genome Alberta, and by freelance broadcaster Don Hill.