Ukraine has had a long history of embracing democratic institutions - beginning with the viche in medieval Kyivan-Rus, the Cossack rada that elected their leaders and the Central Rada that declared independence in 1918. In these modern times, we see the example of the Kyiv viche that supported and propelled the Revolution of Dignity in 2013-2014. What exactly was the viche and how did these democratic institutions evolve in Ukraine? Find out in this episode!

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* Nestor the Chronicler, The Primary Chronicle

* Pavel V. Lukin, "The Veche and the 'Council of Lords' in Medieval Novgorod: Hansaetic and Russian Data" in Russian History (2014)

* Petr S. Stefanovich, "The Political Organization of Rus in the 10th Century" in Jahrbucher fur Geschichte Osteuropas (2016)

* Michael C. Paul, "Was the Prince of Novgorod a 'Third-Rate Bureaucrat' after 1136" in Jahrbucher fur Geschichte Osteuropas (2008)

* Olga Sevastyanova, "In Quest of the Key Democratic Institution of Medieval Rus: Was the Veche an Institution that Represented Novgorod as a City and a Republic?" in Jahrbucher fur Geschichte Osteuropas (2010)

* Vitaliy Scherbak, Ukrainske Kozatstvo: Formuvannia Sotsialnoho Stanu (2000)

* Istoria Ukrainskoi Kultury (2001)

* Wladyslaw A. Serczyk, "The Commonwealth and the Cossacks in the First Quarter of the 17th Century" in Harvard Ukrainian Studies (1978)

* Andrzej Kaminski, "The Cossack Experiment in Szlachta Democracy in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth: THe Hadiach (Hadziacz Union)" in Harvard Ukrainian Studies (1977)

A look at the theatric history of the Ukrainian stage: Marko Kropyvnytskyi as Ukraine's greatest directors, playwrights and actors who played more than 500 characters and worked to promote and popularize the Ukrainian stage in the 19th century. Then comes Maria Zankovetska - an actress of such renown that she played her own corpse. Solomiya Krushelnytska was THE Madame Butterfly and Wagner's prima donna while Serge Lifar was a popular and a revolutionary ballet dancer and choreographer in Paris. All of them had one thing in common: they were Ukrainian!

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* Chris Wilkinson, "Solomiya Krushelnytska: The Galician Who Rescued Puccini's Madame Butterfly" in Forgotten Galicia (online) (2018)

* Solomiya Krushelnytska Theatre

* Viktor Hrynevych, "U Marii Zankovetskoi Lev Tolstoi Vyprosyv Chervonu Khustku" in Gazeta.ua (2009)

* Alla Burban & Volodymyr Burban, "Melpomena Ukrainskoi Stseny. Triumf i Trahedia do 150-richchia z Dnia Narodzennia Marii Kostiantynivny Zankovetslkoi" in Dzerkalo Tyzhnia (2004)

* Mark Franco, The Fascist Turn in the Dance of Serge Lifar (2020)

* Ihor Kropyvntsky, "Ukrainsky Shekspir" in Day Kyiv (2010)

* Colin Kendell, The Complete Puccini (2012)

* Irena R. Makaryk & Virlana Tkacz, Modernism in Kyiv: Jubilant Experimentation (2010)

* Serge Lifar Foundation

* Natalia Bilous, "Antyradianskyj Lyfar" in Istorychna Pravda (2021)

Ukrainian nationalism was on the rise during in the interwar years in Poland, and the 1932 trial of Dmytro Danylyshyn and Vasyl Bilas proved to be as tragic as it was popular. But who were these two youths? And why was the trial so broadly talked about? What lasting impact did it have and more importantly - why was the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists in the center of it all? Find out about this and more on this episode of Wandering the Edge.

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* Collection 12.9, Document 246: "Outline of Tentative Report and Recommendations Prepared by the Intelligence Section, in Accordance with Instructions, from President (Wilson) and Plenipontaries, January 21, 1919," in Polish Institute of Arts and Science (New York)

* Danylo Chaikovsky, "Bilas i Danylyshyn" (1969)

* Petro Mirchuk, Narys Istorii Orhanizatsii Ukrainskyh Natsionalistiv (1968)

* Myroslav Shkandrij, Ukrainian Nationalism (2015)

* David Marples, Heroes and Villains: Creating National History in Contemporary Ukraine (2007)

* Sviatoslav Lypovetsky, "Zaborenan Ukraina. Bilas i Danylyshyn" in Photo-Lviv.in.ua (2017)

The bandura and the kobzari - those wandering bandura players - were important carries of Ukrainian oral history and culture. How did the bandura evolve to become the national instrument of Ukraine and where did those kobzari come from? Why were they important in Ukraine's historical memory of the Cossacks and why were they deemed such a treat to the Soviet Union? And how did the bandura find it's voice again in the Diaspora? Find out all of this and more on this episode!

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* Music of Survival (2015 documentary film)

* Oksana I. Grabowicz, "Dumy as Performance" in Harvard Ukrainian Studies ( 2014)

* Natalie Kononenko, "Widows and Sons: Heroism in Ukrainian Epic" in Harvard Ukrainian Studies (1990)

* William Noll, "The Social Role and Economic Status of Blind Peasant Minstrels in Ukraine" in Harvard Ukrainian Studies (1993)

* Maryna Berezutska, "The Development of Bandura Music Art Between the 1920s and 1940s" in Journal of Ethnology and Folklorists (2020)

* Andrij Hornjatkevyc, "The Kobza and the Bandura: A Study in Similarities and Contrasts" in Folklorica (2008)

* Violette Dutchak, "The Ukrainian Bandura as a Musical Instrument of the Chordophone Group" in Journal of Vasyl Stefanyk Precarpathian National University (2017)

* Olha Kubik, "Ensemble in the Bandura Art in the Center of the Ukrainian Diaspora: Cultural-Historical Aspects of Development" in Scientific Notes of Ostroh Academy National University, "Historical Sciences" Series (2020)

An interview with Dr. Sasha Dovzhyk about one of Ukraine's leading poetic and feminist voices - Lesia Ukrainka. Ukrainka, which was her pen name, began writing poetry at a young age, was first published at 8, was anti-Tsarist, passionately Ukrainian and fiercely feminist. In this discussion we talk about how her illness influenced her writing, what she saw of herself and how she saw her fellow females and fellow Ukrainians. Dr. Sasha is a prolific writer, activist and well - a happy wanderer who now splits her time between the UK and Ukraine. One of her many projects included helping to develop "Cassandra" - a play by Lesia Ukrainka, translated into English and performed in the UK. It was one of the many projects of the Ukrainian Institute London, and primarily under the leadership of Maria Montague.

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For more episodes, sources and extras, please visit: wanderingtheedge.net

Who was Olena Pchilka and Petro Kosach? And why and how did they create such enthusiastically nationally-minded and feminist children, like Lesya Ukrainka? What type of family home did they create (both literally and figuratively)? And who else in this super Ukrainian family was so influential in the family life of Lesya Ukrainka? Find out in this episode, about the family life of Lesya Ukrainka and those family members who impacted her so greatly.

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* Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak, Feminists Despite Themselves (1988)

* Andriy Klymchuk, "Lesia Ukrainka: Pro Scho Ne Pyshut u Pidruchnykakh" in Istorychna Pravda (2021)

* Various Authors, Mykhaylo Drahomanov: A Symposium and Selected Writings (1952)

* Andrzej Pankowicz & Arkadiusz Gornisiewicz, "The Dilemmas of Identity in East-Central Europe" in Politeja (2008)

* Roman Solchanyk, "Mykhailo Drahomanov and the Ems Ukase: A Note on the Ukrainian Question at the 1878 International Literary Congress in Paris" in Harvard Ukrainian Studies (1977)

* "10 Faktiv pro Batka Lesi Ukrainky: do 180-richchia Vydatnoho Hromadskoho i Kulturnoho Diacha Petra Kosacha" in Novyny Poltavschyny (2022)

* Ivan Denysiuk, Tamara Skrypka, "Petro Antonovych Kosach" in Tarama Skrypka

* Lilia Solodka, "Kontsept: Rodynnykh Stosunkiv Oleny Pchilky ta Lesi Ukrainky" in Ya Poltavchyn (2021)

Did you know that Ukrainian feminism is different from it's Western sister? What makes it so different and who has influenced the evolution of both Ukrainian feminist theory and practice? Find out in this latest episode, where you will also listen to me fan-girling over Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak, whose book "Feminists Despite Themselves" is one of the most influential histories of Ukrainian feminism...well, ever! There's also a lot from Solomiia Pavluchko - who was a leading Ukrainian feminist scholar, until her untimely death in 1999.

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* Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak, Feminists Despite Themselves (1988)

* Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak, "Feminism in Action: The Ukrainian Women's Union between the World Wars" in Women's Studies International (1982)

* Martha Bohachevsky-Chomiak, "Women in Ukraine: The Political Potential of Community Organizations" in Harvard Ukrainian Studies (1998)

* Solomiia Pavlychko, Feminism (2002)

* Marilyn J. Boxer, "Rethinking the Socialist Construction and International Career of the Concept 'Bourgeois Feminism'" in The American Historical Review (2007)

* Marco Pavlyshyn, "The Intellectuals, the People and the Nation: Olha Kobylianksa's Apostol Cherni" in Harvard Ukrainian Studies (2011-2014)

Medieval King of Kyiv - Oleh the Prophet - was probably a Varangian (aka Viking) who grabbed power and ruled from Kyiv. Some say he was the first emperor of the Kyivan Rus Empire while others call him a warrior king as he raided and received a favourable treaty with Constantinople. Only problem is that primary sources of his life and times are in short supply - the dark ages were really that dark in early Rus! How much of his history is real, how much imagined by Nestor the Chronicler 300 years later and how much do we actually know about Oleh/Helgi? Find out more in this episode!

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* Chronicler Nestor, Primary Chronicle (English translation)

* Paul Robert Magocsi, A History of Ukraine (1996)

* P. Karlin-Hayter, "When Military Affairs were in Leo's Hands: A Note on Byzantine Foreign Policy (886-912)" in Traditio (1967)

* R.J.H. Jenkins, "The Supposed Russian Attack on Constantinople in 907: Evidence of the Pseudo-Symeon" in Speculum (1949)

* Alex Roland, "Secrecy, Technology and War: Greek Fire and the Defense of Byznatium, 678-1204" in Technology and Culture (1992)

* A.A. Vasiliev, "The Second Russian Attack on Constantinople" in Dumbarton Oaks Papers (1951)

* Leontiy Vojtovych, Kniazivski Dynastii Shidnoii Evropy (2000)

* L. Voytovych, "Oleh Vischyj: Istoriohrafichni Lehendy ta Realii" in Naukovi Pratsi Kamianets-Podilskoho Nationalnoho Universytetu im. Ivana Ohienka

What does a travel writer (pictured in the episode cover art), a noble turned foreign royal, a Mohawk tribal chief, a navy man and a space explorer have in common? Well, they were all Ukrainians! This episode looks at some fascinating histories of Sofia Yablonska (1930s travel photographer and writer), Kateryna Desnytska (Ukrainian noble turned Siam princess), Ivan Datsenko (Ukrainian WWII fighter pilot turned Canadian Mohawk tribal chief, and might not be real?), Yuri Lisianskyi (19th century naval explorer who circumnavigated the globe) and Pavel Popovich (Ukrainian cosmonaut and first Ukrainian to leave planet Earth). All of them wandered the globe (and space) and left their marks on history and history and other peoples left their marks on them. 

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Tourist Information:

* Oranta Restaurant (1 Rue de Marivaux, 75002 Paris)

* Mriya Neo Bistro (275 Old Brompton Rd, London SW5 9JA)

* London Ukrainian Club Karpaty (154 Holland Park Avenue W11 4UH London)

* Association of Ukrainians in Great Britain

Sources:

* Olena Haleta, "Instead of a Novel: Sophia Yablonska's Travelogues in the History of Modern Ukrainian Literature" in Aspasia (2020)

* Volodymyr Moroz, "The Whole World Belonged to Her: The Distant Horizons of Sofia Yablonska" in Ukrainskyj Tyzheden (2017)

* "The Incredible Story of a Beautiful Ukrainian Girl from Lutsk who Became the Princess of Siam" in Euromaidan Press (2021)

* Yaroslav Pidhora-Gviadovsky, "Ukrainian Rambo" in Ukrainskyj Tyzhden (2011)

* "Red Indian Chief from Poltava - Ivan Datsenko" in Poltava Arenda

* Urey Lisiansky, A Voyage Round the World in The Years 1803, 4, 5 & 6 (1814)

* Yuriy Doroshenko, "Pavlo Popovych. The First Ukrainian Kosmonaut" in Istorychna Pravda (2012)

The Second World War tore apart the Second Polish Republic and was the main precursor to the creation of the Polish Home Army (AK) and the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA). And while the relationship between Ukrainians and Poles was brutal and complicated during the horrific, anarchic years of the Second World War - both nationalities were targeted by the Soviet Union after it occupied the region. From the betrayal of the Poles during the Warsaw Uprising to the forced deportations of Ukrainians in western Ukraine - there were numerous examples of Soviet brutality that could have been confronted by a mutual Ukrainian-Polish unity. This episode looks at the local agreements that the AK and the UPA had that are examples of a joint Ukrainian-Polish underground union - which shows that both nationalities could have worked together.

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Tourist Information:

* Orsetti House - Museum in Jaroslaw (4 Rynek St., 37-500 Jarosław, Poland)

* Jaroslaw Underground (4 Rynek St., 37-500 Jarosław, Poland)

* Transfiguration of our Lord Church (3 Cerkiewna St., 37-500 Jaroslaw, Poland)

Sources:

* Peter Potichnyj (ed.), Poland and Ukraine: Past and Present (1980)

* Timothy Snyder, "To Resolve the Ukrainian Problem Once and For All" in Journal of Cold War Studies (1999)

* Volodymyr Viatrovych, The Gordian Knot: The Second Polish-Ukrainian War 1942-1947 (2011)

* Timothy Snyder, Sketches from a Secret War (2007)

* UPA, Sviato Pokrovy, 1942-1962 (1962)