New Directions in Challenging Entrenched Beliefs and Stereotypes in Interethnic Relations: Ukrainian-Jewish Encounter Case Study

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Brief Description

This roundtable will treat the theme of “beliefs” in the sense of deeply held convictions that are based on preconceptions, myths, generalizations, stereotypes, and partial truths. The focus will be on the expression of such “beliefs” in the folklore, literature, and historiography of both Jews and of Ukrainians, and their impact on Ukrainian-Jewish relations. Roundtable participants will be invited to reflect on the origins of such beliefs, the dynamics that sustained them and unique features in how they manifested in the Ukrainian-Jewish experience historically, the prevalence and contemporary impact of such beliefs, the extent to which the issue is being addressed in Ukrainian and Jewish public discourse today, and possible approaches to overcoming such “beliefs” in the public sphere at a popular level.

Sub Unit

• Jewish Studies

Chair

• Berel Rodal, Ukrainian Jewish Encounter Initiative (Canada)

Roundtable Members

• Gennady Estraikh, New York U

• Yaroslav Hrytsak, Ukrainian Catholic U (Ukraine)

• Serhii Plokhii, Harvard U

• Alti Berthe Rodal, Ukrainian Jewish Encounter Initiative (Canada)

• Myroslav Shkandrij, U of Manitoba (Canada)