Annual Bohdan Medwidsky Memorial Lecture
6 April 2022
FROM SHEVCHENKO TO COVID: New perspectives on Ukrainian folklore in Canada
Thursday, April 28, 2022 at 3 pm
Canada’s Ukrainian folklore complex constitutes a structure of phenomena both old and new. In this presentation, Dr. Klymasz draws on his years of research to explore and re- examine the nature of this structure and its operative elements. Special attention will be given to the implications of language loss vis-à-vis Ukrainian folk traditions in Canada and the resultant fall-out. The presentation will serve to assert the need for a new approach to the study of folklore in general with particular reference to Ukrainian Canadian folklore.
Dr. Robert Bohdan Klymasz obtained a B.A. from the University of Toronto, and later studied at Charles University, Prague (1962), University of Manitoba (M.A., 1960), Harvard University (1960-1962), and Indiana University (Ph.D., 1971). In 1967, he joined the Canadian Museum of Civilization and served as its first programme director for Slavic and East European Studies. He was the executive director of the Ukrainian Cultural and Educational Centre (Oseredok) in Winnipeg, visiting associate professor in Folklore for Memorial University's Department of Folklore, visiting professor in Folklore and Slavic Studies at the University of California at Los Angeles, and visiting scholar at Harvard Divinity School. In 1993, as a curator with the Museum of Civilization, Dr. Klymasz began a comprehensive study on community life in Gimli, Manitoba. Dr. Klymasz is a renowned expert on Ukrainian Canadian folklore, having extensively written, published, and lectured on this subject.
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