On Tuesday, May 29th,
I had the opportunity to engage in three conversations involving
Ukrainian food, place, and culture with high school European history and
World Civilization classes at St. Johnsbury Academy in Vermont. The
framework for these conversations included moving borders and the
complexity of historical narrative across the differing ethno-linguistic
regions in Ukraine. We focused our conversation on Western, Eastern,
and Southern Ukraine paying special attention to differences in
language, tradition, and national identity. For residents of Western
Ukraine this includes the use of Ukrainian language, history of the
Ukrainian insurgent army, and a strong sense of Ukrainian culture. For
residents in Eastern Ukraine, it can include the use of Russian and
direct ties to the region’s industrial history. The Southern regions of
Ukraine, as well as Crimea, reflect the influence of trade and
multi-cultural history. Together we examined whether physical borders
could impact national identity, and how? How one’s historical narrative
could change across place and time and, above all, what does food have
to do with it?
As
an independent private high school with boarding students from across
the United States and overseas, the conversations included students from
China, Finland, Germany, South Korea, and Spain. Each class began with
students presenting their end-of-semester research projects, including
several that discussed the formation of national identity, and continued
with a discussion of Ukraine. We snacked on beet salad while discussing
the fundamentals of Ukrainian history and diving into regional
traditions and food culture.
The
last portion of the class was spent digging deeper into questions and
current events. The accelerated World Civilization class was interested
to sift through differences in perception and actuality - “does Ukraine
care about Yulia Tymoshenko’s arrest as much as the Western media does?”
Other students asked about the relationship between Ukraine and Russia
“Are Ukrainians happy that Putin is back in power?” Each of these
questions led us deeper into our discussion of regional differences. In
addition to being interested in their questions, I was also curious to
see their reaction to the beet salad – some excited to dig in and other
students approaching with great hesitation.
Like
the April conversation hosted at Shelburne Farms, it was a wonderful
opportunity to bring the discussion of Ukrainian traditions home and
explore connections to culture and community. Thank you to Helen Wilbur
for hosting and to her three history classes for their wonderful
comments and conversation.
Christie
Bond is a former Peace Corps Volunteer to Ukraine and a Pickle Project
enthusiast. She looks forward to continuing the conversations and
sharing her love of Ukraine with all she meets!
Photos: top to bottom: St. Johnsbury Academy, Embroiderer in L'viv; the Black Sea in Odessa; and a village in the Donbass Region.
No comments:
Post a Comment