Natalia Khanenko-Friesen

Professor

khanenko.friesen@ualberta.ca 

Research Interests

Oral history, testimony, vernacular cultures
Diaspora, transnationalism, migration
Ukraine, Eastern Europe, Canada, Ukrainian Canadian culture

Education

2001  Ph.D. Anthropology

Modern Languages & Cultural Studies

University of Alberta 

Current Projects

Decollectivized: The Last Generation of Soviet Farmers on Agency, Meaning, and Social Change in Rural Ukraine

The 'Quiet' Work of the Immigrant Letter: (Un)doing the Self, the Family and the Community in Personal Correspondence between Canada, Ukraine and the World in the 20th Century

Post-1991 Ukrainian Immigration to Canada: An Assessment Study 

Courses

MLCS 696 Oral History as Theory and Praxis

Books

2015               Ukrainian Otherlands: Diaspora, Homeland and Folk Imagination in the Twentieth Century. Madison: University of Wisconsin. 

2015               Reclaiming the Personal: Oral History in Post-Socialist Europe. Khanenko-Friesen & G. Grinchenko, (Eds.). Toronto: University of Toronto. 

2011               The Other World or Ethnicity in Action: Canadian Ukrainianness at the End of the 20th Century // Інший світ, або етнічність в дії: Канадська українськість кінця 20-го століття. Kyiv: Smoloskyp. 

2011               Orality and Literacy: Reflections Across Disciplines. Carlson, K. Fagan, & N. Khanenko-Friesen, (Eds.). Toronto: University of Toronto. 

2010               In Search of Voice: Oral History as Theory, Method, and Source // В пошуках власного голосу: усна історія як теорія, метод, і джерело. N. Khanenko-Friesen & G. Grinchenko (Eds.). Kharkiv: Karazin National University. 

Book Chapters

2023  Introduction. In William Noll, "The Transformation of Civil Society: An Oral History of Ukrainian Peasant Culture, 1920s to 1930s", MQUP

2018 “Betrayal and Public Memory: The ‘Myroslav Irchan Affair’ in the Diaspora-Homeland Disjuncture.” In G. Grinchenko & E. Narvselius (Eds.), Traitors, Collaborators and Deserters in Contemporary  European Politics of Memory (pp. 361-382). London: Palgrave Macmillan.  

2017 with J. Fedun, “Ukrainian Foraging in Western Canada: Practices in Ethnobotany of East Central Saskatchewan.” In Z. Karanovic (Ed.), Peony Mountain: Plants and Herbs in the Traditional Slavic Culture (pp. 227-243). Novi Sad: Felton.

2017 “Migrant Self-Reflectivity and New Ukrainian Diaspora in Southern Europe: The Case of Portugal.” In M. Nikolko & D. Carment (Eds.), Post-Soviet Migration and Diasporas: From Global Perspectives to Everyday Practices (pp. 47-63). London: Palgrave Macmillan.

2015 with G. Grinchenko, “Introduction: Reclaiming the Personal: Oral History in Post-Socialist Europe.” In N. Khanenko-Friesen & G. Grinchenko (Eds.), Reclaiming the Personal: Oral History in Post-Socialist Europe (pp. 3-18). Toronto: University of Toronto.

2015 “In search of History’s Other Agents: Oral History of Decollectivization in Ukraine in the 1990s.” In N. Khanenko-Friesen & G. Grinchenko (Eds.), Reclaiming the Personal: Oral History in Post-Socialist Times (pp. 231-255). Toronto: University of Toronto. 

2015 “Negotiating Good Luck: Rituals of Vernacular House Construction in Central Ukraine.” In C. Geambasu (Ed.), Omagiu Profesoriului Ioan Rebusapca la 80 de Ani (pp. 49-72). Bucharest: RCR Editorial.

2011 “From Family Lore to a People’s History: The Role of Oral Culture in Ukrainian Claims to the Canadian Prairies.” In K. Carlson, K. Fagan, & N. Khanenko-Friesen (Eds.), Orality and Literacy: Reflections Across Disciplines (pp. 177-196). Toronto: University of Toronto. 

2011 with K. Carlson & K. Fagan, “Introduction.” In K. Carlson, K. Fagan, & N. Khanenko-Friesen (Eds.), Orality and Literacy: Reflections Across Disciplines. Toronto: University of Toronto.

2007 “Robinson Crusoes, Prostitutes, Heroes? Constructing the Ukrainian Labour Emigrant in Ukraine.” In A. Gow (Ed.), Hyphenated Histories: Articulations of Central European Bildung and Slavic Studies in the Contemporary Academy (pp. 103-120). Boston: Brill Academic.

2003 "Making Ukrainian House Calls: On Diasporic Tourism and Rituals of Homecoming."  In S. Ingram, M. Reisenleitner, & C. Szabó-Knotik (Eds.), Ports of Call: Central European and North American Cultures in Motion (pp.121-154). Fankfurt: Peter Lang. 

2002 "On Local Readings of the Overseas Kin: Visions from Ukraine." In S. Ingram, M. Reisenleitner, & C. Szabó- Knotik (Eds.), Reverberations: Representations of Modernity, Tradition and Cultural Value in-between Central Europe and North America (pp. 201-222). Frankfurt: Peter Lang.

2000 "Overseas Brethren and Local Identities." In T. Dekker, J.Helsloot, & C.Wijers (Eds.), Roots and Rituals: The construction of Ethnic Identities (pp. 405-416). Amsterdam: Het Spinhuis.

Articles

2022              "Narrative Framings of Individual Agency: Life Stories of Soviet Farming in Ukraine." The Oral History Review, 2022, AHEAD-OF-PRINT, 1-26 https://doi.org/10.1080/00940798.2022.2101931

2019 with A. Halko-Addley, “Language Use and Language Attitude among Ukrainian Canadians on the Prairies: An Ethnographic Analysis.” East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies, 6(2), 53-71.

2015 “Letters from the ‘Old Country’: Exploring and Defining Ukrainian Canadian Vernacular Letter Writing.” Canadian Ethnic Studies Journal, 47(4/5), 145-169.

2013 "Трудова Міграція та літературна творчість: на порозі транснаціонального в українському культурному просторі // Labour Migration and Creative Writing: Carving Transnational Spaces in the Field of Ukrainian Culture.” Схід/Захід: Історико­­-культурологічний збірник // East/West: The Journal for History and Cultural Studies, 16/17, 488-520. (used with permission)

2010 “Ритуали повернення або канадсько-українські траекторії діаспорного туризму // The Rituals of Homecoming or the Ukrainian Canadian Diaspora Tourism.” Ukrainian Folklore Studies in Canada: New Visions of Traditional, Traditional Visions of New – Special Issue of Народознавчі Зошити // Ukrainian Journal of Ethnology, 3/4, 60-74. 

2010 “У пошуках нового суб’єкта історії: усна історія деколективізації 1990-х – Селянський досвід // In Search of History’s Agents: Oral History of Decollectivization in Ukraine in the 1990s.”  Український історичний журнал // Ukrainian History Journal: An Academic Journal of the Institute of History, Ukrainian Academy of Sciences, 5, 188-199.

2008 “Усна історія деколективізації в Україні 1990-х рр.: селянський досвід // Oral History of Decollectivization in Ukraine in the 1990s: Rural Experiences.” Схід-Захід: Історико-культурологічний збірник // East West Journal of Historical and Cultural Studies, 11/12, 370-376.

2008 “Про усні свідчення та продукування значень – українсько-канадські дослідницькі практики // Oral Evidence and Interpretations: Ukrainian Canadian Research Practices.” Схід-Захід: Історико­­-культурологічний збірник // East/West: The Journal for History and Cultural Studies, 11/12, 109-138.

2007 “On Oral History and the Production of Meaning: Notes from the Ukrainian Canada.” Україна Модерна // Modern Ukraine, 11, 25-47. 

2006 “In Search of Cinderellas, in Naples and Beyond: Popular Culture Responses to Labour Migration from Ukraine.” Spaces of Identity: Tradition, Cultural Boundaries & Identity Formation in Central Europe, 6(2). 

2006 "Baba phenomenon: Communal Cooking and Local Ukrainianness in the Canadian Context.” Canadian-American Slavic Studies, 40(1), 127-151. 

2004 “Through Networks and Ordeal Narratives, or Making Meaning of One’s Displacement: Labour Migration from Western Ukraine.” Spaces of Identity: Tradition, Cultural Boundaries & Identity Formation in Central Europe, 4(3/4). 

2003 Zustreech, or Encounters of a Transnational Kind: Negotiating Ukrainianness in Western Canada.” Ethnologies, 25(2), 77-105. 

2002 “To Whom Does a Poet Belong? The Reburial of Vasyl Stus (1989) as a Ritual of Cultural Appropriation.” Spaces of Identity: Tradition, Cultural Boundaries & Identity Formation in Central Europe, 2(3), 7-18. 

1999 "Scholastic Before and Scholarly After? Ukrainian Folklorists and their Folklore after 1991." Ethnologies: Post Socialist Ethnography, 21(2), 73-97.1999 "Value Village in My Village: Western Ukrainians and Overseas Kin." Anthropology of Eastern Europe Review, 17(2), 56-62. 

1995 "Ukrainian Peasant Home: Space Domestication." Canadian Folklore Canadienne, 17(2), 51-71.

Other Select Publications

2018 “Oral History and National Renewal: Politics of ‘Truth and Reconciliation’ in Canada since 2008.” Krytyka: Thinking Ukraine. January. 

2016 “Engaging with Indigenous Communities, in Canada and Beyond.” Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-Engaged Research, Teaching and Learning, 2(1), i-vi. 

2016 “У пошуках інших суб'єктів історії: усна історія деколективізації в Україні в 1990х роках // In Search of History’s Other Subjects: Oral History of Decollectivization in Ukraine in the 1990s.” Україна Модерна // Modern Ukraine, Summer 2016. 

2015 “Building Engaged Scholarship in Canada.” Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-Engaged Research, Teaching and Learning, 1(1), 3-11. 

2015 “Conversation with Randy Stoecker, University of Wisconsin-Madison.” Engaged Scholar Journal: Community-Engaged Research, Teaching and Learning, 1(1), 193-196. 

2014 Україна Модерна // Modern Ukraine: International Journal for the Study of Ukrainian History, published segments of the book The Other World or Ethnicity in Action. 

2014 "Трудова міграція та літературна творчість: До питання визначення феномена заробітчанської літератури // Labour Migrants’ Creative Writing: Defining the Phenomenon.” In Ukraiinoznavchyi Almanakh (Vol. 15, pp. 230-238). Taras Shevchenko National University.

Other Research Outcomes

2018 Online oral history exhibit: Canada 150 Voiced: Looking Back (an Oral History)
An online exhibit of oral history interviews conducted by students in the course ANTH 330 Oral History and Storytelling. The project documented a variety of perspectives as expressed by Canadian representatives of various cultural groups, on what Canada 150 meant to them and their communities.                  

2017 Online oral history exhibit & archive: Many Faces of a City Core Neighbourhood: The Oral History of 20th Street
An online exhibit of oral history interviews conducted by me and students in ANTH 330 course Oral History and Storytelling, with residents and business operators in Saskatoon’s core neighbourhood. The collection is based on a five-year collaborative, course-based, student-led, and community-engaged project. Project data is digitized, transcribed, documented, and archived and available to the public on the Saskatchewan History Online web portal.

2015 Online oral history archive: Transformation of Civic Society in Rural Ukraine in the 1920-1930
126 interviews with elderly villagers, recorded in the early 1990s by William Noll research team, digitized, and exhibited in the bilingual online archives. Project developed in partnership with Rodovid Publishing House.

2012 Video documentary: Oral History of 20th Street
Produced with students in my course “Oral History and Storytelling” (ANTH 330), for Saskatchewan Cable Television. Director: Brent Poncelet. 

2009 Archival collection: Letters from the Old Country
Initiated Canada’s first Ukrainian Immigrant Letter Archival Collection. Collected close to 2,000 ‘old country’ letters from Ukraine, Canada, and the world. Personal correspondence processed, organized, and housed in the Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage Personal Sources Archives, St. Thomas More College, U of Saskatchewan.

2009 Oral history collection: Oral History of Decollectivization in Ukraine in the 1990s
Research collection consisting of 170 interviews with former collective farmers in Ukraine in ten regions. An archived collection of interview transcripts, audio files, and other documentation. 

2007 Oral history collection: Oral History of Sociocultural Change on the Canadian Prairies
Research collection consisting of 103 interviews with Ukrainian Canadians in Saskatchewan and Alberta. An archived collection of interview transcripts, audio files, and other documentation, is housed in the University of Saskatchewan Library system (Shannon Library) and is accessible through the Library Catalogue.

Career Highlights

Professor, Cultural Anthropology, STM College & University of Saskatchewan (2001-2020)

Founding Editor, Engaged Scholar Journal (2013-20)

Led the development of Canada’s first scholarly peer-reviewed journal on the  scholarship of community-engagement. As a founding editor, produced eleven issues of the Journal. The Journal now enjoys significant success nationally and  internationally.  

Director, Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage (2005-07, 2009-11, 2020), STM, U of Saskatchewan  

Founding Director, Spring Session in Ukraine, U of Saskatchewan (2003-2019)      

Initiated and led the U of S annual study-abroad semester in Ukraine, first in  partnership with the Catholic University in Lviv (2003-04) and then with Ternopil National Pedagogical University (TNPU), Ukraine (since 2005). First organized as a  ‘twelve credit’ program, the program today offers 9 credits and seven courses in  Ternopil and run every May-June.  In 2015, students published a blog, Spring Session in Ukraine 2015: Student Blog, built  around the excerpts from their class assignments, “Reflections on learning” that they  wrote for the course ANTH 233 “Anthropological Perspectives on Contemporary Ukraine”.                                 

Research Fellow, Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute, Harvard U (2018)

Director, Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute, Harvard U (2001)

Oversaw an eight-week, eight-course program, including organization and hosting of visiting speakers (twice or more per week), weekly extracurricular activities, and the publication of a student literary almanac (Apostrophe), while teaching eight credits of language.

Coordinator, Ukrainian Language Program, Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute, Harvard U (1998-2001)

Spearheaded professional development initiatives (such as training and certification of all language faculty under the American Council of Teachers of Foreign Languages), resulting in HUSI faculty becoming the first-ever certified testers of Ukrainian as a Foreign Language. Initiated training workshops for all language faculty at HUSI with leading specialists in Slavic languages education. Developed teaching materials (audio lessons) for 100-level Ukrainian language classes.

Lecturer, Harvard Ukrainian Summer Institute, Harvard U (1994-2001)

Visiting Professor, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, U of Toronto (1999-2000) 

Ethnographer, Museum of Folklife and Architecture  (1989-1992) 

Conducted extensive fieldwork throughout Central and Eastern Ukraine, focusing on documenting folk architecture and lifestyle of Central Dnieper region of Ukraine.

OTHER TEACHING RESPONSIBILITIES

Undergraduate Courses

Introduction to Cultural Anthropology, (U of S)
Anthropology of Central and Eastern Europe (U of S)
Anthropological Perspectives on Contemporary Ukraine (U of S)
Oral History and Storytelling (U of S)
Ethnicity in Action: Ukrainian Canadian Culture (U of S)
Ritual Spaces in Ukrainian Culture (U of S)

Graduate Courses

Ritual and Narrative: Intersections (U of S)
Ethnographic Methods (U of S)
Ukrainian Canadian Experience: Select Topics (U of S)
Religion and Ethnicity: Select Topics in Ukrainian Canadian Culture (U of S)

Recognitions and Awards

2018 Kobzar Literary Award for Ukrainian Otherlands, Finalist

2016 Teaching Excellence Award, STM College, U of Saskatchewan

2015 Margaret Dutli Community Engagement Award, STM College, U of Saskatchewan