The Petryshyn Memorial Lecture in Ukrainian Studies

"Mobilizing the Peasantry: The Quandaries of Modernity in the Galician Carpathians, 1880-1914"

Frank Sysyn 
Director, Peter Jacyk Centre for Ukrainian Historical Research, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies;
Professor, History and Classics, University of Alberta 

Among the Austrian Galician counties, Turka and the highland areas of Staryi Sambir stood out for the high percentage of Ukrainian speakers and Greek Catholics. They also had high rates of illiteracy, few towns, and a high percentage of land in forests. Villagers were divided into various social groups, including former serfs and petty nobles alongside a substantial Jewish rural population. Trade in livestock was an important part of the local economy and especially important for Jewish market towns. Political and economic reforms in the 1860s and 1870s unleashed a series of changes in this isolated region. The granting of Galician autonomy created a new political situation and competition between Poles and Ruthenians. New legislation granted economic emancipation to the peasants and the Jews. Construction of a railway system on the outskirts of the region enabled new movement of people and goods. 

More information: https://www.facebook.com/events/1304652979581867/

2017 04 03 Frank Sysyn: The Quandaries of Modernity in the Galician Carpathians

Founded in June 1973, the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute (HURI) serves as a focal point for graduate and undergraduate students, fellows, and associates pursuing research in Ukrainian language, literature, and history as well as in anthropology, archaeology, art history, economics, political science, sociology, theology, and other disciplines. 