In August, we got to know the winners of the 12th edition of the Universalia 2.2 competition of the National Programme for the Development of the Humanities, which is financed by the Ministry of National Education and Science. The winning applications include a project by scientists from Slavic studies in Lodz entitled "W cieniu Rzeczpospolitej czy rosyjskiego mitu imperialnego? Synopsis kijowski – zabytek języka ukraińskiego i historiografii Europy Wschodniej z XVII w. Edycja, polski przekład i opracowanie naukowe" [In the shadow of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth or the Russian imperial myth? Kiev Synopsis – a relic of the Ukrainian language and historiography of Eastern Europe from the 17th century. Edition, Polish translation and scientific study]. The project activities will be implemented in the years 2023–2027 by a team consisting of Dr hab. Halyna Naienko, Associate Professor (project manager), Dr hab. Zofia Brzozowska, Associate Professor and Dr Piotr Kręzel.
Of all applications prepared by the University of Lodz employees, the application submitted by the employees of the Department of Slavic Philology was the only one awarded in this edition of the competition.
It should be noted that Professor from Kiev. Halyna Naienko, who was forced to leave her country and her home university after the start of the war, and who since May 2022 has been actively participating in the implementation of another research grant at the Department of Slavic Philology of the University of Lodz has become the project manager.
The aim of the project is to prepare a critical edition, a translation into Polish and a comprehensive scientific study of the Kiev Synopsis – an Orthodox Church Slavonic historiographical text presenting the history of Kiev and the South Russian lands, from their semi-legendary beginnings in the 9th century, through the era of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, to the end of the 17th century. This Rus' chronicle, published in Kiev in 1674, is the first modern Ukrainian lecture on native history, shown against the background of the history of Eastern Europe.
The project does not only include editing and translation tasks. The activities also involve interdisciplinary research on the lexicon and content of the relic, aimed at identifying its sources, analysing its linguistic specificity and showing the circumstances of its creation. The effect of the project will be to enrich the world of humanities with the edition of a previously unpublished source and shed a new light on the beginnings of the formation of Ukrainian national identity, and Polish historiography – with previously little-explored material for research on the history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 17th century.
– emphasise people responsible for the winning project.
We would like to offer our sincere congratulations to the Slavists and we keep our fingers crossed for the implementation of the planned activities.
Source: Department of Slavic Philology of the University of Lodz
Edit: Promotion and Communications Office at the Faculty of Philology, University of Lodz