Timothy Snyder, dozens of academics begin a large-scale study of Ukrainian history

Yale University history professor Timothy Snyder, history professor and director of the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University Serhiy Plokhiy, Ukrainian Catholic University professor Yaroslav Hrytsak and dozens of other academics are starting the project "Ukrainian History: A Global Initiative".

Snyder spoke about this in an interview with Babel.

The purpose of the project is to deeply investigate the history of the lands that are now Ukraine and the peoples who once inhabited them. The study will last three years and involve about 50 Ukrainian and 40 international academics. Most of the participants are historians, but the project will also include experts in natural history, zoology, paleontology and archeology. The researchers will be working on 70 topics ranging from the prehistory of Ukrainian lands to the present day.

In particular, they will study the origins of early settlements, the spread of Indo-European languages, the relationship between classical Greece and the Black Sea region, the Viking Age Europe, Byzantium and Kyiv, the Renaissance and the Reformation, as well as modern issues related to nation-building and empire.

The project will be managed by the International Academic Advisory Council, which will include politician and diplomat Carl Bildt, Metropolitan-Archbishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia Borys Gudziak, Pulitzer Prize laureate Anne Applebaum, poet Serhiy Zhadan and businessman Viktor Pinchuk, who initiated the project.

"This project is in no way a response to Russian propaganda. History should not be conflated with counter-propaganda. Counter-propaganda helps to better fight propaganda and distinguish it from the truth. If this was a response to Russia, it would be angry, aggressive, and the impetus of this project is creative," says Timothy Snyder.

As you know, Yale University history professor Timothy Snyder is a supporter of Ukraine in the war against Russia. In 2022, he joined the team of ambassadors of the fundraising platform United24 to crowdfund for a "Shaheed catcher".