Ukrainian is the second largest Slavic language, with some 46 million speakers around the world. The Department offers two full years of Ukrainian (UKRA Aa-Ab, UKRA Ba-Bb), followed by tutorials at the advanced level depending on student interest (UKRA Cr). Harvard is a center of Ukrainian studies and there is a rich offering of courses on literature, history, and government. There are additional educational and academic opportunities at the Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute, including opportunities for convenient summer study of the Ukrainian language.
 
Studying Ukrainian provides opportunities to discover centuries of Ukrainian culture and history, to better understand the Ukrainians’ journey toward independence, and to appreciate Ukraine’s cultural diversity. Ukrainian postmodernism resonates with numerous voices of local and global contexts that introduce readers and researchers to histories in and beyond Ukraine. Films, poetry, prose, and art created in Ukraine during the Soviet regime left indelible marks on artistic ways to negotiate between silence and communication, forgetting and remembering, trauma and resilience. The works that appeared after the Declaration of Independence in 1991 guide through the endeavors of decolonization and the entangled narratives of postcolonialism.  
 
Ukrainian writers and artists often spoke multiple languages and spent years in various countries. For instance, the works of Lesia Ukrainka and Ivan Franko shed light on how Ukraine is inherently integrated into the European context. At times, Ukrainian writers and artists had to conceal their connection to Ukraine for political and ideological reasons. In such cases, knowing the Ukrainian language and culture can help trace these hidden messages. At the same time, the knowledge of Ukrainian will open new perspectives on other entities such as Russia and Austria-Hungary.
 
While explicitly related to Kyivan Rus and inextricably linked to the Cossack Hetmanate, Ukraine also helps enhance understanding of the highly entangled history of the Crimean Khanate, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Ottoman Empire, the Russian Empire, Austria-Hungary, and the USSR.
 
The twentieth century defined Ukraine not only as a constituent of the USSR but also as a land of atrocities. The Executed Renaissance, the Holodomor, and the Second World War contributed to the memory of loss and destruction which was silenced for decades. Ukraine also bore witness to resistance toward oppression and resilience of culture. In the twenty-first century, Ukraine again is the epicenter of atrocities as Russia continues its military aggression that started in 2014 and escalated to unprecedented violence in 2022.