Funding available: Belarusian studies in Poland

[Curt F. Woolhiser]

The Center for Belarusian Studies at Southwestern College (KS) is pleased to
announce that it will be offering partial tuition scholarships to qualified
applicants for the International Summer School of Belarusian Studies in
Hajnówka, Poland (July 6-August 7, 2009). For a downloadable application form,
please see:

http://belarusiancenter.org/

International Summer School of Belarusian Studies
Hajnówka, Poland

The Center for Belarusian Studies at Southwestern College (Winfield, KS) invites
undergraduate and graduate students to participate in its first International
Summer School of Belarusian Studies from July 6 to August 7, 2009. The
program, to be co-sponsored by the Poland-based Belarusian Historical Society,
will be held at the Belarusian Lyceum in the town of Hajnówka (Hajnauka) in the
Podlasie region of northeastern Poland, an area of great natural beauty and
home to Poland’s ethnic Belarusian minority — an ideal setting for the study of
Belarusian language, history and culture, as well as for the study of a broad
range of issues relating to cultural diversity and minorities policies in the
expanded EU. Coursework will include intensive Belarusian language instruction
(beginning and intermediate levels and individual advanced-level tutorials) and
lectures in English and Belarusian on Belarusian history, literature, and
contemporary politics and society. The program will also include a regional
studies component, with lectures and events focusing on the history, culture
and current status of the Belarusian minority in Poland, as well as of the
Podlasie region’s other ethnic groups, including Poles, Jews, Tatars,
Lithuanians, and Russian Old Believers. Faculty will include instructors from
Bialystok University and the Belarusian Lyceum in Hajnówka, as well as
Hrodna University in Belarus. Additional guest lectures on Belarusian history,
politics and culture will be given by visiting researchers from Europe and
North America. Students will have a choice of dormitory accommodations at the
Belarusian Lyceum, or homestays with Belarusian-speaking families in Hajnówka.
     Coursework will be supplemented by a rich and diverse cultural program,
including visits to Belarusian minority cultural organizations and media
outlets, meetings with Belarusian writers and artists, films, concerts,
theatrical performances, and excursions to important sites related to
Belarusian and Orthodox culture and other attractions of the Podlasie region:
the city of Bialystok, the recently restored Orthodox monastery in
Suprasl, the Bialowieza (Belaveža) National Park (the largest
and ecologically most diverse remnant of the primeval forests of the Northern
European plain), the historic town of Bielsk Podlaski, the Holy Mountain of
Grabarka (the most important Eastern Orthodox pilgrimage site in Poland), and
the Borderland Foundation in Sejny, a unique institution dedicated to
preserving the rich multicultural heritage of the borderland region and
promoting dialogue and new forms of cooperation between its many ethnic groups
and cultures. In mid-July students will also have the opportunity to attend
Basovishcha, the annual festival of Belarusian rock music organized by the
Belarusian Students’ Association in the town of Gródek (Haradok) east of
Bialystok. At the end of the program, from August 8-19, students will have
the option of traveling to Belarus on a tour including Hrodna, Navahrudak,
Slonim, Niasviž, Mir, Minsk, Polack, Viciebsk, Mahilou, Pinsk and
Brest.
      The program cost, including tuition, room, board, cultural program and
excursions is $2,900 (the cost of the optional Belarus tour at the end of the
program will be announced as details become available). For further information
and application materials, please contact the program director, Dr. Curt
Woolhiser, Harvard University, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures,
Barker Center 327, 12 Quincy St., Cambridge MA 02138-3804; e-mail:
cwoolhis at fas.harvard.edu; tel. (617) 495-3528. Please note that the due date
for all applications is May 15, 2009.

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