Ukrainian Institute launches first-ever English-language online course about Ukraine.

In late 2020, the Ukrainian Institute (UI), a public institution that represents Ukrainian culture internationally, launched a free online course on Ukraine’s history and culture in English titled Ukraine: History, Culture, and Identities . This is a short introductory course in the history, culture, and society of Ukraine from the Middle Ages to the present time developed by the Ukrainian Institute, National University of “Kyiv-Mohyla Academy”, and the studio of online education EdEra.

“The course Ukraine: History, Culture, and Identities will lead the participants through a thousand years of Ukrainian history, from the Middle Ages Kyivan Rus’ to the declaration of independence at the beginning of the 1990s. It aims to provide basic knowledge of Ukrainian history and culture as well as reveal Ukraine’s role in European and world history and dispel stereotypes,” reads the announcement, published on the UI website.

The course consists of video lectures (an hour of on-demand video, according to the course page) and supporting materials that include a timeline, glossary, and a list of suggested readings on particular topics.

• Watch also: Ukrainian history gift to global history – Prof. Snyder

The course Ukraine: History, Culture, and Identities comprises five modules dedicated to particular historical periods:

• Kyivan Rus’ in the Middle Ages
• Ukrainian Lands in the Early Modern Times
• Ukraine in the Long XIXth Century
• Ukraine in the XXth Century
• Independent Ukraine

Inside the course Ukraine: History, Culture, and Identities. Screenshot: udemy.com

• Read also: Ukraine creates free online courses of Ukrainian language for foreigners

Among the particular issues covered by the course are the following topics:

• Impact of the Scandinavian invaders on the Slavic people in Ukrainian lands.
• The beginning, development, and end of Kyivan Rus`.
• The development of Ukrainian lands under the reign of the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of
• Lithuania in the Early Modern time.
• The effect of the Reformation on Ukrainian lands.
• The Cossacks’ military organization, their role in European wars, and the creation of their own statehood.
• Ukraine’s struggle to establish its own cultural and political movements under the reign of two empires during the XIX century.
• Declaration of independence by Ukraine after World War I and its occupation by the Soviet Union.
• Long way of the Ukrainian dissident movement to the declaration of independence in 1991.

The lectors of the course are acclaimed Ukrainian researchers and professors of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy Vadym Aristov, PhD, Tetiana Grygorieva, PhD, Kateryna Dysa, PhD, Natalia Shlikhta, PhD, and Maksym Yakovlev, PhD.

The Ukrainian Institute is a state-run institution established in 2017 by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine for promoting Ukraine, its language and culture.

You can enroll in the course Ukraine: History, Culture, and Identities on its page on the Udemy website.

Read more about Ukrainian history:

• Ukrainian history gift to global history – Prof. Snyder
• How Ukrainians created human chain in late USSR to mark anniversary of Ukraine’s unification: archival photographs
• The struggle for Carpatho-Ukraine (1938-1939), or how WWII started for Ukrainians
• Revision of History: How Russian historical propaganda justifies occupation of entire south-eastern Ukraine
• How Communist propaganda made eastern Ukraine hate the national liberation movement
• Hundreds of UPA documents found in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast
• How Soviet troops destroyed downtown Kyiv and killed Kyivans in 1941
• Five lessons for today from the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
• An Austrian engineer showed these Holodomor photos to Cardinal Innitzer in 1933, pleading for aid to the starving
• Carol of the Bells & the fight for national dignity. Lessons from the history of the Ukrainian National Republic
• A glimpse of 1905 Ukraine in true color
• The many faces of Ukrainian writer & feminist Lesia Ukrainka
• Rare postcards depict Ukrainian village life at turn of 20th century
• Five historic сastles to visit in Ukraine
• Sensational find on Khortytsia reveals the remains of an 18th century Cossack encampment
• Historical reconstruction breathes new life into Ukraine’s iconic Kamianets-Podilskyi fortress
• Treasures stolen from Kyiv cathedrals in the 1930s discovered in State Historical Museum in Moscow
• Hoard of 1000-year-old silver coins with Ukrainian trident found in north Ukraine
• Remnants of a 12th century unique medieval fortification wall discovered in Kyiv
• How Moscow hijacked the history of Kyivan Rus’
• Kings or Princes? Why Do the Titles of Rusian Rulers Matter
• Ukrainian conflict is between ‘heirs of Kyivan Rus’ and ‘heirs of Golden Horde’

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