Belarusian Summer School in Hajn ówka,Poland

[Curt F. Woolhiser]

International Summer School of Belarusian Studies
Hajnówka, Poland

July 7-August 6, 2010

The Center for Belarusian Studies at Southwestern College (Winfield, KS) invites
undergraduate and graduate students to participate in its second International
Summer School of Belarusian Studies from July 7 to August 6, 2010. The program,
co-sponsored by the Poland-based Belarusian Historical Society, will be held at
the Belarusian Cultural Center and Belarusian Lyceum in the town of Hajnówka 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,
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.

        The Summer School faculty will include instructors from Bialystok
University and the Belarusian Lyceum in Hajnówka, as well as visiting
instructors from a number of Belarusian universities. Additional guest lectures
on Belarusian history, politics and culture will be given by visiting
researchers from Europe and North America. Participants will have a choice of
hotel accommodations at the Belarusian Cultural Center, 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, and
excursions to important sites related to Belarusian culture and the other
cultures of the Podlasie region: the city of Bialystok, the recently restored
Orthodox monastery and Museum of Icons in Suprasl, the Bialowieza National Park
(the largest and ecologically most diverse remnant of the primeval forests of
the Northern European plain), the historic towns of Bielsk Podlaski, Drohiczyn
and Mielnik, the Holy Mountain of Grabarka (the most important Eastern Orthodox
pilgrimage site in Poland), the 17th-century Great Synagogue in Tykocin, the
Tatar mosque and cemetery in Kruszyniany, and the Borderland Center in Sejny, a
unique institution dedicated to preserving the rich multicultural heritage of
the borderland region and promoting dialogue and mutual understanding 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.

        Following the Summer School from August 7-21, students will have the
option of traveling to Belarus on a guided tour including Hrodna, Slonim,
Navahrudak, Mir, Niasvizh, Minsk, Polack, Viciebsk, Mahilou, Pinsk and Brest.
The trip will end with a visit to the Lithuanian capital Vilnius, including
important sites related to the history of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the
modern Belarusian national movement.

	The program cost, including tuition, room, board, cultural program and
excursions is $3,000 (the cost of the optional Belarus tour at the end of the
program will be announced as details become available). Financial aid from the
Center for Belarusian Studies will be available for qualified individuals.

     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 deadline for all applications is April 30, 2010.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------