3rd International Summer School of Belarusian Studies (Hajnowka, Poland)

[Curt Woolhiser]

Southwestern College

3rd International Summer School of Belarusian Studies

Hajnówka, Poland

July 8-August 5, 2012



The Center for Belarusian Studies at Southwestern College (Winfield, KS)
invites undergraduate and graduate students to participate in its 3rd
International Summer School of Belarusian Studies from July 8 to August 5,
2012. The program, co-sponsored by the Belarusian Historical Society in
Bialystok, Poland, will be held at the Belarusian Cultural Center and
Belarusian Lyceum in the town of Hajnowka 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, society 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.



PROGRAM



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 culture, 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

* *

The Summer School faculty will include instructors from Bialystok
University and the Belarusian Lyceum in Hajnowka, as well as visiting
instructors from a number of Belarusian universities. Additional guest
lectures on Belarusian history, politics, society and culture will be given
by leading researchers in the field of Belarusian studies from Europe and
North America.



ACCOMMODATIONS

* *

Participants will have a choice of hotel accommodations at the Belarusian
Cultural Center, or homestays with Belarusian-speaking families in Hajnowka.




CULTURAL PROGRAM

* *

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 from both Belarus and
Podlasie, 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 (Belavezha) 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),
the 17th-century Great Synagogue in Tykocin, the Tatar mosque 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
Grodek (Haradok) east of Bialystok.



OPTIONAL TOUR OF BELARUS AND LITHUANIA



At the end of the program, from August 6-20, students will have the option
of traveling to Belarus on a guided tour including Hrodna, Slonim,
Navahrudak, Mir, Niasvizh, Minsk, Polatsk, Vitsebsk, Mahilou, Pinsk and
Brest. The trip will end with a tour of the Lithuanian capital Vilnius,
including important sites related to the history of the Grand Duchy of
Lithuania and the modern Belarusian national movement.



PROGRAM FEES & FINANCIAL AID

* *

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



CONTACTS

* *

For further information and application materials, please visit the CBS
website (http://belarusiancenter.org/) or contact the program director, Dr.
Curt Woolhiser (Brandeis University): cwoolhis at brandeis.edu. Please note
that the deadline for all applications is March 30, 2012.

Center for Belarusian Studies
Southwestern College
100 College St
Winfield, KS 67156 USA

E-mail: james.sheppard at sckans.edu
Phone: 620-229-6227

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