The Revival of Ukrainian Ethnography in the 1940s–1960s and Development of the Collective Monograph “Ukrainians” as an Important Stage in the Formation of Ukrainian Academic Ethnology

Author

Bekh Mykola

a Ph.D. in History, a head of the Archival Scientific Funds of Manuscripts and Audio-Recordings Department of M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine).

ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4186-1339

The Revival of Ukrainian Ethnography in the 1940s–1960s
and Development of the Collective Monograph “Ukrainians” as an Important Stage
in the Formation of Ukrainian Academic Ethnology

Abstract

The process of revival of Ukrainian ethnography in the 1940s–1960s as one of the defining stages in the development of modern academic ethnology is analyzed in the article. The study is based on a combination of institutional and intellectual approaches, which enables a comprehensive examination of the conditions of the discipline functioning in the postwar period. The main factors influencing the development of ethnographic research, particularly the impact of staff shortages, ideological control, and organizational transformations caused by the Soviet policies are considered. Particular attention is paid to the process of restoring scientific institutions, specifically the establishment of the Institute of Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences of the Ukrainian SSR, as well as the formation of its structural units. The significance of leading scholars, primarily Maksym Tadeiovych Rylskyi, in the revival of ethnological research, the organization of field expeditions, and the training of scientific personnel are analyzed. The importance of comprehensive stationary and expeditionary research as the foundation for forming the source base of postwar Ukrainian ethnology is highlighted. A central focus of the article consists of the analysis of the collective monograph «Ukrainians» as a large-scale academic project that has become a crucial stage in the institutionalization of ethnological science. The specifics of the edition preparation, the organization of scholarly collaboration, and the role of field research and interdisciplinary cooperation are described. The ideological restrictions those have influenced the edition’s fate, including its ban and restrictions on distribution, are analyzed separately. It is shown that, despite the ideological pressure, the monograph «Ukrainians» has become the foundation for the further development of ethnology, as it contributed to the systematization of knowledge about traditional culture, the formation of new research approaches, and the establishment of a scientific school. The subsequent reception of this work in independent Ukraine, its reprinting, and its use in contemporary scientific research are traced. It is concluded that the revival of Ukrainian ethnography in the 1940s–1960s is the process of restoring a scientific tradition as well as a stage in the formation of a new research paradigm, in which the collective monograph «Ukrainians» played a key role both as a scientific and an institutional phenomenon.

Keywords

Ukrainian ethnography, ethnology, the collective monograph «Ukrainians», institutionalization of science, postwar period, field research, academic schools, ideological influence, historiography of Ukrainian science.

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