[aaus-list] H-Ukraine?

[Victor Ostapchuk]

There would be inevitable trade-offs were AAUS to try the H-Ukraine route.
Most of the political "prattle" (which I personally enjoy and don't consider
necessarily a "bad thing") would have to go. As to "committee board members
[vetoing] your writing," sorry Max Pyziur, it does happen, but usually
rarely--rejections or requests for rephrasing queries such as, "I'm working
on a paper on the Cossacks and would be grateful for some leads on this
topic" and to minimize ad hominem attacks. It's part of what it takes to
have a serious academic list. Having list editors who manage a list serves
inter alia, to save the time of list members by minimizing impertinent
postings. Editorial duties are not as onerous as they may seem--at a list
such as H-TURK, to the tune of less than 30 min. a day--usually more like
half of that at. At least 2 and ideally 3 or 4 list editors. Typically 1
editor manages to the list for a month or two. At H-Turk we post 1-2 times a
day.

Sobering thought that Ukrainian studies in the US or even the internet
connected world might not be able to find people to commit to.  Perhaps
(perhaps not) gives a notion of the size of our field (cf. H-Cervantes,
H-Luso-Africa [there are about 8 other African studies lists],
H-Pentecostalism...). Perhaps AAUS and CAUS might join forces?

My proposal for an H-Ukraine is just a trial balloon. I'm not sure it would
fly, but certainly it's worthy of serious consideration. In any event I
think there's a need as well for a free-for current events-oriented list
could continue either under AAUS aegis or completely independently (Max's
List? Cf. the venerable Johnson's List etc.).

Victor Ostapchuk
University of Toronto

> From: Alexandra Hrycak <hrycaka at reed.edu>
> Date: Wed, 27 Aug 2008 12:11:51 -0700
> To: Adrian Ivakhiv <aivakhiv at uvm.edu>
> Cc: Victor Ostapchuk <vostap at chass.utoronto.ca>, Rob De Lossa
> <radelo at earthlink.net>, Myroslava Znayenko <znayenko at andromeda.rutgers.edu>
> Subject: Re: [aaus-list]  H-Ukraine?
> 
> Dear Colleagues,
> 
> I welcome the proposal, but I am not sure that we can do this without
> discussing it at a meeting. Based on the discussions Rob and I have had,
> such a move will solve some but not all of the problems that we
> encountered. None of the people who were the subject of complaint were
> AAUS members, so if we simply divided the list into AAUS-members and
> AAUS-community discussions, we might actually find a resolution. Another
> issue is that H-net requires a degree of time investment that in our
> experience (I am speaking of my impression, but Rob and Myroslava might
> agree) Ukrainian Studies at present is not able to find people to commit to.
> 
> Thanks - we will add this to our meeting agenda for the November AAASS
> meetings!
> Alia
> 
> Adrian Ivakhiv wrote:
>> That's an excellent idea. The AAUS listserv could be kept for
>> membership-related issues - and available only to members, as has been
>> suggested - while a new H-Ukraine list could be open to international
>> participation on scholarly topics related to Ukraine. To start the
>> process, I believe that a network sponsor or lead editor is necessary.
>> Would anyone on the AAUS board be willing to take that on? Or perhaps
>> one of our international contributors? (If nominations are acceptable, I
>> would nominate Roman Senkus.)
>> 
>> Adrian Ivakhiv
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Victor Ostapchuk"
>> <vostap at chass.utoronto.ca>
>> To: "AAUS" <aaus-list at ukrainianstudies.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, August 27, 2008 10:53 AM
>> Subject: [aaus-list] H-Ukraine?
>> 
>> 
>>> Dear Colleagues,
>>> 
>>> In regards to the request from the AAUS executive board regarding use
>>> of the
>>> list, perhaps it might be time to consider having AAUS list become a
>>> member
>>> of H-Net and become H-Ukraine? And thereby becoming a member of the
>>> venerable family of lists such as H-Russia, H-Turk, HABSBURG, and more
>>> than
>>> 100 others edited by scholars in North America, South America, Europe,
>>> Africa, and the Pacific? The H-Net family is based on the kinds of
>>> standards
>>> members have been complaining about as lacking in the AAUS list. Many
>>> H-Net
>>> lists also have a book review component. All lists are moderated.
>>> 
>>> Often H-Net lists are sponsored/owned by organizations such as AAUS.
>>> E.g.,
>>> H-Turk, a list that I co-edit belongs to the Turkish Studies Association.
>>> However to be a list member one need only have a bona fide connection
>>> to the
>>> field in question and not necessarily a member or the sponsoring
>>> organization.
>>> 
>>> H-Net has proven to be an excellent, nurturing environment for many
>>> fields
>>> in the humanities and social sciences and Ukrainian studies certainly
>>> deserves to have such a platform. For more information see
>>> www.h-net.org and
>>> www.h-net.org/lists
>>> 
>>> Victor Ostapchuk
>>> Associate Professor
>>> Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations
>>> University of Toronto
>>> 
>>> H-Turk Co-editor and Review Editor
>>> v.ostapchuk at utoronto.ca
>>> www.utoronto.ca/nmc/faculty/ostapchukcv.htm
>>> www.h-net.org/~turk
>>> www.h-net.org/reviews
>>> 
>> 
>> -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> ---------------------------------
>> 
>> Adrian J. Ivakhiv, Associate Professor
>> Coordinator, Environmental Thought & Culture Graduate Concentration
>> Environmental Program/Rubenstein School of Environment & Natural Resources
>> University of Vermont, 153 S. Prospect St, Burlington VT 05401
>> Adrian.Ivakhiv at uvm.edu  www.uvm.edu/~aivakhiv
>> _______________________________________________
>> aaus-list mailing list
>> aaus-list at ukrainianstudies.org
>> http://www.brama.com/mailman/listinfo/aaus-list
>> 
> 
> -- 
> **************************
> 
> Alexandra Hrycak
> Associate Professor
> Department of Sociology
> Reed College
> 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.
> Portland, Oregon 97202-8199
> 
> 
> E-mail: hrycak at reed.edu  
> Telephone: 503-517-7483   
> Fax: 503-777-7776   
> Personal web page: http://academic.reed.edu/sociology/faculty/hrycak/
> 
> 
>