Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Fall 2012
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly 32:4 (Fall 2012).
Abstract
Hinther and Mochoruk offer the reader an interdisciplinary look at aspects of Canadian history through the prism of the Ukrainian Canadian experience. The volume includes contributions from an array of specialists: historians, literary critics, archivists, curators, geographers, and others. Consequently, the quality of the articles is wide-ranging, but overall the editors succeed in demonstrating that the immigrant experience is neither homogeneous nor adequately studied.
The editors' introduction is most helpful, succinctly describing the state of academic inquiry into the Ukrainian Canadian experience. The editors accurately describe the "mythology" of the prairie peasant-cum-dangerous foreigner. They present the evolution of scholarship from essentializing Ukrainian identity to recognizing its complex nature, noting the invaluable works of Frances Swyripa and Orest Martynowych. The volume's focus on the Ukrainian Canadian left and the early and mid-twentieth-century shift of community activity to urban centers deepens our understanding of this complexity. Nevertheless, there is a surprising lack of attention to the prairie experience.
Comments
Copyright © 2012 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska.