Veebiseminar reedel, 25. aprillil 2025, kell 9.15–15.00
Folkloori säilitamine modernses arhiivis: välitööde ja dokumenteerimise küsimused Euroopa praktika kontekstis
Kava ja teesid
EKM Teaduskirjastus 2025. Toimetajad: Taive Särg, Mari Väina, Inna Lisniak
Ukraina-Eesti ühisel veebiseminaril kõnelevad teadlased Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumi Eesti Rahvaluule Arhiivist, Ukraina Teaduste Akadeemia M. Rylsky nimelisest Kunstiuuringute, Folkloristika ja Etnoloogia Instituudist, Ukraina Tarass Ševtšenko Rahvusülikooli Folkloristika, Hariduse ja Filoloogia Instituudist.
Seminar keskendub modernse folklooriarhiivi tegevustele: pärimuse kogumine, säilitamine, uurimine ja taaskasutamine muutuvas ajaloolises kontekstis. Arhiiviallikatel on mõõtmatult suur roll kultuurilise identiteedi loomisel, mineviku mõistmisel ja tänapäeva mõtestamisel, sealjuures ka ühise rahvusliku kultuuripärandi kujundamisel ja säilitamisel. Arhiivimaterjalide säilitamise teema on eriti esile kerkinud alates Venemaa sissetungist Ukrainasse 2022. aastal. Seminari üks keskseid eesmärke on tutvustada Ukraina folkloristide tegevust eriti käimasoleva sõja ajal, kuid samuti vähetuntud materjale nii eesti kui ukraina pärimuskogudest, heita valgust eesti ja ukraina kultuurisidemetele ja luua ka uusi teaduskontakte.
Seminar toimub Ukraina Teaduste Akadeemia M. Rylsky nimelise Kunstiuuringute, Folkloristika ja Etnoloogia Instituudi ja Eesti Kirjandusmuuseumi 2024. aastal sõlmitud koostöölepingu raames.
Töökeel on inglise keel.
Koosoleku link: Join the meeting now
Meeting ID: 378 685 722 201
Passcode: vb9z9sf7
Kontakt: inna.lisniak@folklore.ee
TK215U6 “Eesti juured: rahvastiku ja kultuuri kujunemise transdistsiplinaarsete uuringute tippkeskus” (01.01.2024−31.12.2030); Vastutav täitja: Mari Väina; Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum;
PRG1288 “Folkloorse varieeruvuse korpuspõhine käsitlus: regilaulutraditsiooni piirkondlikud stiilid, teemavõrgustikud ja suhtlusviisid” (01.01.2021−31.12.2025); Vastutav täitja: Mari Väina; Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum.
Kava
9:15–9:30 Avasõnad
Korralduskomitee tervitus
Risto Järv, Eesti Rahvaluule Arhiivi juhataja
Myroslava Karatsuba, Ukraina Teaduste Akadeemia M. Rylsky nimelise Kunstiuuringute, Folkloristika ja Etnoloogia Instituudi tegevdirektor
9:30–10:30
Session 1. Moderator: Taive Särg
1. Ave Goršič
Cultural Identity, Security and Power – Reflections of Societal Notions from the Perspective of Folklore Archives
2. Oksana Mykytenko
Digital Repository for the Preservation of Folklore Collections: An Inter-South-Slavic Project of Scholarly Expertise
3. Olesia Naumovska, Nataliia Khomenko, Iryna Baramba
Folklore Archiving: Experience of the Department of Folklore Studies at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
10:30–10:45 VÄIKE VAHEAEG
10:45–11:45
Session 2. Moderator: Taive Särg
4. Larysa Vakhnina
Folklore of National Minorities in Archival Sources of M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the NAS of Ukraine
5. Olena Chebanuk
Problems with the Publication of the Materials of the Ethnographic Commission of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences during 1920–1930
6. Inna Lisniak
Ukrainian Musical Folklore in the Estonian Folklore Archives: A View Through Changing Historical Contexts
11:45–12:30 LÕUNA
12:30–13:30
Session 3. Moderator: Oksana Letychevska
7. Tetiana Brovarets
Folklorist’s Fieldwork While Eliminating the Consequences of Hostilities: on the Author’s Experience in the Ranks of a Volunteer Building Battalion Dobrobat, Kyiv and Chernihiv divisions, Ukraine, 2022–2024
8. Iryna Koval-Fuchylo
Oral History of Resettlement from the Flood Zone: from Construction (1950–1980s) to the Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam (2023)
9. Olha Petrovych, Mari Sarv
Preserving and Analysing Folk Songs in the Digital Age: Open Science and Research Infrastructure
13:30–13:45 VÄIKE VAHEAEG
13:45–14:45
Session 4. Moderator: Inna Lisniak
10. Oleksii Dedush, Maryna Oliynyk
The Colonial Policy of the Russian Empire Towards Ukrainian Cultural Life: Ukrainian Archival Materials from the 19th Century
11. Maryna Oliynyk
Popularisation of Ukrainian Culture in the Estonian Film The Smerichka Ensemble Performs (1975) from the Collection of the Estonian Television Archives
12. Janika Oras
Tartu Ukrainian Folk Song Circle and the Songs from Archival Sources: The Journey of an Estonian Folklore Revivalist
14:45 Kokkuvõte: Taive Särg
Teesid
Folklorist’s Fieldwork While Eliminating the Consequences of Hostilities: on the Author’s Experience in the Ranks of a Volunteer Building Battalion Dobrobat, Kyiv and Chernihiv divisions, Ukraine, 2022–2024
Tetiana M. Brovarets, PhD
Junior researcher
M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the NAS of Ukraine
tetiana.volkovicher@gmail.com
Among the people who joined the regional volunteer civil defense units in the first months of the full-scale Russian war against Ukraine (since 2022) were representatives of very different specialties, often completely unrelated to the sphere of defense or construction. Ignoring the risks to their lives and health, many Ukrainians – including intellectuals, or so-called white-collar workers, who in recent years used to solve their tasks in cozy offices or remotely from home – voluntarily went to locations affected by missile attacks to carry out physically exhausting and dirty work. It was truly a great force of unity.
As a person who has dedicated her life to the study of folk culture ( a field which, despite the folklore expeditions, is generally considered a job that is not dusty and does not require physical endurance), I was deeply impressed by this team spirit. It gave me the strength (both moral and physical) to work harder and better amid the rubble. At the same time, I could not help but observe phenomena of newly emerging folklore, created right within our community during the work processes.
The following episode from fieldwork serves as an example. Once, when we were, as usual, clearing the rubble of a destroyed house, one of our comrades started humming a song. Others joined in. Gradually, our entire team became a continuous polyphony. It was a Ukrainian folk song – of the so-called endless songs:
There is a tree in the forest,
Next to it is another tree,
And behind it is another tree –
And that’s the end of the forest.
Oh, no, no, there is another tree,
Next to it is another tree,
And behind it is another tree –
And that’s the end of the forest…
[The cycle continues in similar fashion, repeated many times.]
We were singing this old folk song which in essence has no end. Traditionally, once it is said that “the forest is over”, it must be indicated that “there is still a tree”, and “beside it, there is still a tree”, and “behind it, there is still a tree”, etc. We sang it for quite a long time – so long, that some people began laughing at the absurdity of the situation, but still kept singing. Remaining a folklorist by nature, even working in a new role, I reflected on how a folklore text is born. In folklore, each performance is considered the (re)creation of a text, and here the determining influence of the situational context was especially clear.
Photo 1. Clearing the rubble of a destroyed house. Volunteers form a traditional human chain, passing bricks one by one. Photo from the archive of the volunteer building battalion Dobrobat, one of the volunteer civil defense units. (Irpin, Bucha district, Kyiv region; July 27, 2022).
Firstly, it was the model of the work itself, where we formed a bucket brigade to pass bricks (see Photo 1). Obviously, such maximum interconnectedness of the participants in the process – (both physical and mental – prompted a collective song performance. Secondly, it was the very essence of the task: monotonous, repetitive labor. The pile of rubble seemed never-ending, and physical work in one place – when you can’t see the end of it – undoubtedly influenced the choice of this particular type of song, which in folklore is considered endless.
Those theoretical considerations, which stemmed from personal practical involvement in the process itself, were reinforced during several subsequent work trips, when this song was sometimes performed in particularly difficult areas.
Of course, folk culture is very much alive. One day, some comrades got tired of this “endless” song and wanted so-called real folk songs – once that best represent Ukrainian culture. A lively discussion began about what should be sung, which for me as a folklorist was no less fascinating. Therefore, I listened silently, trying to remember as many nuances as possible (for obvious reasons, working amid rubble does not allow for proper recording). On the way home, one of my comrades informed everyone that I held a PhD in Folkloristics. The person who had initiated the search for a new song asked me in surprise: “Really?! Why don’t you educate us then?”
This question, despite its apparent simplicity, actually presented me with a complex dilemma. On the one hand, it would probably be easiest and most pleasant for me to tell my comrades in eliminating the consequences of hostilities, the peculiarities of folk culture as this is my life’s work. On the other hand, conducting such scientific and educational activities (although not initiated by me) definitely would have disrupted the naturalness of the moment and a value of participant observation, which I had unexpectedly begun applying to myself.
The current report reflects my choice as a researcher, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of each of these paths of a folklorist, involved in the ranks of voluntary civil defense formations during the war.
Problems with the Publication of the Materials of the Ethnographic Commission of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences during 1920–1930
Olena Chebanuk, PhD
Senior researcher
M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the NAS of Ukraine
echebanuk@gmail.com
The Scientific Archive of the MRIASFE – M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology – of the NAS of Ukraine is a unique and the largest collection of humanitarian manuscripts in Ukraine. The collection of the Ethnographic Commission (1920–1930) contains materials from the Ukrainian folk calendar. They were collected by famous scientists, folklorists, ethnologists, musicologists, amateur local historians, and respondents of ethnographic clubs. The ethnographic commission prepared the materials for publication, but was unable to publish them due to political circumstances. The presentation is devoted to the analysis of the methods of processing and preparation of the collected materials by the Ethnographic Commission for publication by the Institute's researchers.
The Colonial Policy of the Russian Empire Towards Ukrainian Cultural Life: Ukrainian Archival Materials from the 19th Century
Oleksii Dedush, PhD
Researcher
M. Rylskyi Institute for Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of NAS of Ukraine
died-90@ukr.net
Maryna Oliynyk, PhD
Senior researcher
M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the NAS of Ukraine
marina.oliynik@gmail.com
Theatrical performances with a Ukrainian repertoire are not only an expression of culture, but also a powerful political tool. Archival materials from Ukrainian institutions allow us to explore this issue in more depth by offering the perspectives of various contemporary observers. These documents provide valuable insight into the mood and worldview of the time, allowing for a new retrospective analysis.
Due to repressive nationalities policy of the Russian Empire – often described as a “prison of peoples”* – it was impossible in the 19th century to openly advocate for the rights of other, non-Russian, nationalities. As a result, cultural figures who understood the importance of national identity and the need for political struggle turned to symbolic forms of expression through the arts.
The Russian bureaucratic apparatus began to counteract the Ukrainian national movement: the Ukrainian language was banned from print, and Ukrainian theatrical performances were subject to censorship and required official permission. The Ukrainian intelligentsia carried out significant cultural work that affirmed Ukrainian identity and prepared the groundwork for political struggle.
In the presentation, normative-legal acts prohibiting the Ukrainian language are analyzed, namely the Valuyev Circular (1863) and the Ems Decree (1876). Documentation of the imperial special services is studied regarding “petitions from various individuals for permission to stage theater performances in the Little Russian (Malorusskiy) dialect, as well as songs, couplets…” for the years 1893 and 1896, from the fund of the "Chancellery of the Kyiv, Podolia, and Volyn Governor-General" of the Central State Historical Archive of Ukraine in Kyiv. These documents testify to the repressive nature of the imperial authorities toward Ukrainian culture and identity in general.
* The phrase “The Russian Empire as a prison of peoples” is a historical reference — it’s a widely used metaphor, often attributed to Marxist or early 20th-century revolutionary discourse (e.g. Lenin used this term: “prison of peoples” (тюрьма народов) to describe the imperial suppression of national identities.
Cultural Identity, Security and Power – Reflections of Societal Notions from the Perspective of Folklore Archives
Ave Goršič, PhD
Senior researcher
Estonian Folklore Archives, Estonian Literary Museum
ave.gorsic@folklore.ee
The development of a systematic interest in Estonian folk culture has its roots in romantic nationalism and Estonian folklorists primarily drew upon the works of researchers from Germany, Russia and Finland. The field of folkloristics expressed the aspirations of nationalising intellectuals during the period of modernisation, and there was a fundamental conflict with the conservative monarchist state power and the state-based social order. Following the national awakening movements and the growing awareness of the importance of traditional culture in the 19th century, museums and archives around Northern Europe and beyond were established at the beginning of the 20th century with the main aim of collecting and preserving ethnic folk knowledge and evidence of everyday life (e.g., Chernyavska 2018, Kolovos 2010).
The foundation of these institutions played an integral and influential role in the development of early folkloristics into a full-fledged, institutionalised academic discipline (e.g. Bula 2017: 12). As in previous periods, the interest in folk culture in Estonia was part of a national movement (e.g. Raun 2003). Estonians lacked their own written history and the intellectuals who began constructing the modern Estonian nation had little to draw upon other than traditional peasant culture, which was given a new meaning and thus became highly significant from the point of view of national identity.
The presentation will explore a series of notions impacting any folklore archive globally. These include cultural programming, security, identity and archival power, contextualised within the framework of conflict-ridden 20th century Eastern Europe. It also poses a question regarding the scope of the responsibility of folklore archives as carriers of identity, by being visible and invisible at the same time.
References
Bula, Dace 2017. Foreword. In: Latvian Folkloristics in the Interwar Period. Bula, D. (ed), 12–13.
Chernyavska, Maryna 2018. The contested identity of folklore archives. In: Lauri Harvilahti et al. (eds.). Visions and Traditions: Knowledge Production and Tradition Archives. FFC No. 315. Porvoo, 24–40.
Kolovos, Andy 2004. Contextualizing the Archives. – In: Folklore Forum, Vol. 35 (1/2), 18The presentation28.
Raun, Toivo 2003. Nineteenth and early twentieth century Estonian nationalism revisited. – In: Nations and Nationalism. Wiley. 9 (1): 129–147. doi:10.1111/1469-8219.00078.
Oral History of Resettlement from the Flood Zone: from Construction (1950–1980s) to the Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam (2023)
Iryna Koval-Fuchulo, PhD
Senior researcher
M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the NAS of Ukraine
E-mail: koval-fuchylo@ukr.net
The archive of oral history on resettlement from flood zones in Ukraine consists of materials collected during seven expeditions, that took place in the following settlements:
1) Poltava region, village of Pidhirne, Kremenchuk district, 3 storytellers; Kirovohrad region, Vlasivka township, village of Hlynsk, Svitlovodsk district (May 2012), 5 storytellers;
2) Khmelnytsky region, village of Horaivka, Kamianets-Podilsky district (July 2014), 14 informants;
3) Cherkasy region, village of Skorodystyk, Chornobaiv district (July 2014), 10 informants;
4) Kyiv region, city of Pereyaslav, villages of Andrushi, Tsybli (June 2019), 9 informants;
5) Kyiv (December 2019), 1 informant;
6) Cherkasy region, village of Khudyaki, Cherkasy district (June 2021), 12 informants;
7) Kyiv (June 2024), 2 informants, residents of Kherson.
Six regions of Ukraine that experienced resettlement due to the flooding of territories were surveyed, and 56 people were interviewed.
The informants primarily focus on the loss of land, the destruction of rural communities, and the difficulties of building new homes during the difficult post-war period. Typical motifs include disbelief that flooding could happen and the tragedy of relocating cemeteries. Over the past 10–15 years, new traditions of annual meetings of former villagers have emerged in the resettled communities. These gatherings are often held on the former temple holiday of the resettled village.
Ukrainian Musical Folklore in the Estonian Folklore Archives: A View Through Changing Historical Contexts
Inna Lisniak, PhD
Senior researcher
Estonian Literary Museum
M. Rylskyi Institute for Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of NAS of Ukraine
inna.lisniak@folklore.ee
The Estonian Folklore Archives (EFA), established in 1927, and now part of the Estonian Literary Museum, has served as a central institution for the collection, preservation, and study of folklore in Estonia. Its primary focus has been the folklore of Estonians and their linguistic relatives, as well as that of other ethnic groups traditionally inhabiting Estonian territory. Occasionally, materials have also been collected from other nations and ethnic communities. (For an overview of the folklore of other peoples in the EFA, see Salve 2002.) The collections reflect how Estonia’s population and its contacts with other peoples have changed over time. The EFA also contains Ukrainian musical folklore materials – a total of 24 archive units – collected and recorded primarily in the second half of the 20th century.
This paper analyses and systematises Ukrainian musical folklore materials preserved in the EFA. Most of these materials have been digitised and are available in the digital repository Kivike: https://kivike.kirmus.ee/
The samples of Ukrainian folklore in the EFA are not numerous, but they include interesting materials, for example, some Ukrainian folk songs recorded from Estonian singers in Siberia. This report draws on materials available in the Kivike repository. In general, Ukrainian musical folklore preserved in the EFA collections can be categorised into audio recordings and manuscripts. The audio collection contains examples of vocal, instrumental, and vocal-instrumental music. Among the examples of traditional singing folklore are examples of calendar-ritual Ukrainian songs (Vesnianka, Petrivka) and family-ritual songs (wedding songs). These songs were recorded during the folklore concert in 1974, 1975 by Estonian ethnomusicologist Ingrid Rüütel, with the commentary by Ukrainian ethnomusicologist Oleksandr Pravdiuk. In 1995 and 1996, during the fieldwork of the EFA in Siberia, two Ukrainian lyrical songs of late origin were recorded from local Estonians by Anu Korb. Samples of vocal-instrumental Ukrainian music were recorded by the Estonian folklorist Mare Kõiva from Yevheniia Rubinova, in 1989 in Tartu. The audio recordings of instrumental music include traditional wind instruments. There are samples of dance music performed by musicians from the Lityn village in Vinnytsia region (1976), and Kryvorivnia village in Ivano-Frankivsk region (1977). The materials of field work (manuscripts) with texts of Ukrainian folk songs, descriptions of wedding ceremonies, as well as other examples of folklore (proverbs, fairy tales, legends) were collected by students of the University of Tartu in the Chernivtsi region (Khotyn, Volovets, Kitsman and other districts) during 1983–1984.
In the process of working with the Ukrainian materials in the EFA, details such as song titles, village names, musical styles, and instruments were clarified. It was found that the manuscript collection of Ukrainian folk song texts was included in a broader collection, titled ”Vene” (Russian), which contains texts from various locations in different languages written in Cyrillic. This indicates the need for a critical re-valuation of archival folklore materials.
Reference
Salve, Kristi 2002. Muude rahvaste folkloor Eesti Rahvaluule Arhiivis. — In: Kogumisest uurimiseni. Artikleid Eesti Rahvaluule Arhiivi 75. aastapäevaks (ERA Toimetused, 20). Tartu: Eesti Kirjandusmuuseum, 29–52.
Digital Repository for the Preservation of Folklore Collections: An Inter-South-Slavic Project of Scholarly Expertise
Oksana Mykytenko, DSc
Professor
M. Rylskyi Institute for Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnology of NAS of Ukraine
oksana_mykytenko@hotmail.com
Safeguarding is a central concept and objective in the field of cultural heritage, encompassing both tangible and intangible forms. The war in Ukraine has caused – and continues to cause – the destruction and damage of cultural heritage.
While the destruction caused by war is sudden and visible, cultural globalisation poses a more gradual, yet equally concerning, threat to the continuity of intangible heritage.
According to Article 2 (1) of the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH Convention, 2003), intangible cultural heritage includes: 1) handicrafts and visual arts that demonstrate traditional craftsmanship; 2) gastronomy and culinary practices in the preparation of meals; 3) social practices, rituals and festive events; 4) music and the performing arts; 5) oral traditions and expressions, including language.
In the context of both destructive conflict and the homogenising pressures of globalization, safeguarding intangible cultural heritage becomes a key element in building and maintaining national identity. The need for international collaboration among experts and institutions has become urgent in the sphere of safeguarding cultural heritage in Ukraine. The paper discusses the importance of a Digital Repository for the preservation of folklore collections and its role in drawing upon national and regional experiences in Bulgaria, North Macedonia, and Serbia.
Folklore Archiving: Experience of the Department of Folklore Studies at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv
Olesia Naumovska, DSc
Professor, Head of the Department of Folklore Studies, Taras Shevchenko National University
o.naumovska@knu.ua
Nataliia Khomenko, PhD
Assistant
Taras Shevchenko National University
n.khomenko@knu.ua
Iryna Baramba
Folklorist
Taras Shevchenko National University
irabaramba@gmail.com
The report presents the activities of the faculty of the Department of Folklore Studies and specialists from the Center for Folklore and Ethnography at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in the field of folklore archiving. The archival collection primarily consists of textual, audio, and video materials gathered during folklore expeditions and student fieldwork, covering various genres of oral tradition.
The methodological foundation of the archiving process relies on:
- the Department of Folklore Studies' many years of experience in creating a corpus of folklore texts;
- collaboration with academic, educational, and cultural institutions involved in folklore archiving.
The report analyses the challenges associated with digitisation and cataloging of materials, explores the prospects for integrating archival resources into academic and educational environments, and places special emphasis on the use of modern information technologies for the preservation and promotion of folklore heritage.
Popularisation of Ukrainian Culture in the Estonian Film The Smerichka Ensemble Performs (1975) from the Collection of the Estonian Television Archive
Maryna Oliynyk, PhD
Senior researcher
M. Rylskyi Institute for Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnology of NAS of Ukraine
marina.oliynik@gmail.com
The report presents the contribution of the musical film The Smerichka Ensemble Performs to the popularization of Ukrainian culture. The film was produced by the Estonian Telefilm company in 1975. Its concept lies in combining elements of traditional Ukrainian culture with aspects of its modernisation, including both musical and visual components.
The attention of Estonians to Ukrainian culture aroused suspicion from the Soviet authorities. The band Smerichka began to be criticised at Communist Party meetings, and the film was banned in Ukraine. However, the songs from the film became popular. The folk song arranged by Lev Dutkivskyi “Ой, чорна, я си чорна” ("Oh, Dark I Am, So Dark"), containing the lines “Іванку, мій Іванку / сорочка-вишиванка” ('Ivanko, my Ivanko / embroidered shirt-vyshyvanka') drew attention to the national marker vyshyvanka. The word vyshyvanka became very popular, and now Ukrainians celebrate Vyshyvanka Day as a cultural holiday (since 2006).
No footage of the film has been preserved in Ukraine. The film is in the archive of Estonian television. The main goal of the report is to analyse how the song "Oh, Dark I Am, So Dar" and vyshyvanka became symbols of Ukrainian national identity in the film shot by Estonian directors and the role this film played in the popularisation of Ukrainian culture.
Tartu Ukrainian Folk Song Circle and the Songs from Archival Sources: The Journey of an Estonian Folklore Revivalist
Janika Oras, PhD
Leading researcher
Estonian Literary Museum
janika.oras@kirmus.ee
In the spring of 2022, in cooperation with my Estonian folklore revival-based folk song group Väike Hellero, I founded the Ukrainian Folk Song Circle in Tartu. The goal was to offer the local Ukrainian community, including war refugees, an opportunity to find a supportive community through the collective learning of folk songs, alleviate war-related trauma, strengthen mental well-being, identity, and stability, and help them integrate into a new society. This circle has developed a more stable core group, but many people participate only occasionally or join periodically. The activities of the circle include weekly gatherings in the Ukrainian House (Ukraina Maja) in Tartu, as well as performances at Ukrainian community events and Estonian folklore-related events.
Based on the topic of the seminar, I will focus my presentation on analysing the folk song group’s repertoire choices and preferences, examining these processes from an autoethnographic, applied ethnomusicologist’s perspective. Since, in addition to myself, the members of the circle also contribute to the repertoire selection, different cultural experiences and individual preferences come together. When examining the repertoire, the following questions arise: What repertoire and singing style can be considered “authentic”, connected to the deeper layers of identity and experience – and for whom? How to balance the various aesthetic and ideological values that influence song choices? In order to understand how different identities influence the repertoire selection process, I will draw on the perspectives of critical ethnopedagogy and intercultural pedagogy, which emphasise the importance of self-reflection for the teacher, the need to understand cultural difference as an enriching resource, and the development of dialogical practices to achieve a common goal.
Preserving and Analysing Folk Songs in the Digital Age: Open Science and Research Infrastructure
Olha Petrovych, PhD
Senior researcher
Estonian Literary Museum
Senior lecturer
Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University, Ukraine
Mari Väina, PhD
Leading researcher
Estonian Literary Museum
In recent years, the digital turn in the humanities has transformed how we preserve, access, and study intangible cultural heritage. This presentation introduces the principles of Open Science and the FAIR framework (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) as a foundation for collaborative, transparent, and sustainable research in folkloristics and ethnomusicology.
Focusing on folk song collections, particularly Ukrainian dumas and Finnic runosongs, we demonstrate how historical texts can be digitized and converted into structured data formats such as CSV files, enabling computational analysis in environments like RStudio or Python. FILTER project devoted to common Finnic song heritage has served as a model example on how sustainable research environment can be built using open data and open code available through Github. We provide an overview of practical pathways for data publication, with an emphasis on platforms such as Zenodo (https://zenodo.org) and its subrepositories dedicated to EU-funded research (https://zenodo.org/communities/eu/), which support citation, metadata standardization, and long-term preservation.
To illustrate these approaches in action, we present a case study from our recent research on textual variation in Ukrainian dumas. Using digital tools originally developed and applied in FILTER Project (https://blogs.helsinki.fi/filter-project/) for investigating variation, we analysed 74 known variants of the duma “Escape of Three Brothers from the City of Azov, from Turkish Captivity.” (Втеча трьох братів із города Азова з Турецької неволі). Through methods such as bigram similarity, clustering, and network visualization, we identified structural bifurcations, thematic motifs, and the evolving roles of key characters. This work underscores how computational methods can complement philological and folkloristic expertise, revealing new insights into oral-formulaic traditions.
Ultimately, this presentation advocates for a research culture where folk songs are not only preserved but also made computationally accessible – bridging archives, code, and community through the principles of Open Science.
References
Petrovych, Olha; Sarv, Mari; Janicki, Maciej; Kallio, Kati 2024. How to analyse variation in folklore: Finnic runosongs and Ukrainian dumas. In: 8th Conference on Digital Humanities in the Nordic and Baltic Countries (DHNB 2024) “From Experimentation to Experience: Lessons Learned from The Intersections Between Digital Humanities and Cultural Heritage”, Reykjavík, Iceland, 27−31 May 2024. University of Iceland, 62−63.
Petrovych, Olha 2024. Exploring Vocatives in Folk Songs of the Podillia Region [Data set]. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13362628
Folklore of National Minorities in Archival Sources of M. Rylskyi Institute for Art Studies, Folklore and Ethnology of NAS of Ukraine
Larysa Vakhnina, PhD
Associate Professor
M. Rylskyi Institute of Art Studies, Folkloristics and Ethnology of the NAS of Ukraine
lvakhnina655@gmail.com
The activities of the Ethnographic Commission of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences are connected with several unique folklore and ethnographic studies carried out in the 1920s and 1930s, both in Ukraine and in remote regions of the former USSR. The Ethnographic Commission was founded by a whole galaxy of famous folklorists and ethnologists, such as Klyment Kvitka (husband of the famous Ukrainian poetess Lesya Ukrainka), Vasyl Kravchenko, Kateryna Grushevska, Jevgen Rykhlik, Moisei Beregovsky, and Mykhailo Gaidai. Of interest to modern science are the activities of the Cabinet of Musical Ethnography and the Cabinet of National Minorities at the Ethnographic of the All-Ukrainian Academy of Sciences Commission (ВУАН), whose plans also included studying the music of other peoples and the folklore of national minorities in Ukraine. As a part-time research fellow at the Cabinet of Musical Ethnography of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences (1924–1933), Gaidai was fortunate to make numerous recordings of Ukrainian folk art, as well as the folklore of the Aisors, Armenians, Jews, Chuvashes, Crimean Tatars, Greeks of the Azov region, and Gypsies. One of his first expeditions as a research fellow was a trip to Balkaria in 1924, initiated by Kvitka.
Archival field materials became the basis of the publication “Under One Sky: Ethnic Folklore of Ukraine” (Kyiv, 1996). Already in the independent Ukrainian state, records of national minorities from the archives have been published, as well as a unique edition in two volumes, “Ukrainian People’s Thoughts” by Kateryna Hrushevska, which was banned in the Soviet era .
The report will also mention modern recordings of the folklore of national minorities and their publications, in particular by Poles, made by the author. The Institute is preparing for publication a volume dedicated to national minorities in the series “Ethnographic Image of Modern Ukraine”. Today, during the period of Russian aggression, national minorities need urgent protection due to new migration processes and the threat of occupation, especially in the South and East of Ukraine. A Working Group has been created in Ukraine to develop a draft Strategy for the Preservation and Development of Languages in Danger of Extinction, which includes the rapporteur.
