We are still in awe after our Round-table & Networking event: ‘Ethnography. Ethnology. ICH (Intangible Cultural Heritage)’. Emotions are overwhelming both for us and for the participants. We would like to recap what happened from July 19 to 21 in Bohuslav.

DAY ONE

On the first day, we held a roundtable discussion ‘Ethnography, Ethnology, Museum Studies, ICH: Actualities and Challenges, Search for Common Solutions’ with the participation of leading Ukrainian ethnographers, folklorists, and museum historians. This part was moderated by Ms Valentyna Demian, Head of the Expert Council on Intangible Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

The main postulates of the meeting:

• despite all the challenges that Ukrainians have faced, they have managed to preserve their traditions;
• tradition is a flaming fire, but to keep it burning, you need to keep adding firewood;
• museums and folk culture centres are the sites of nurturing traditions and should be open and accessible to visitors;
• training of high-level specialists in specialised universities, a professional approach to the study of traditional culture phenomena is a must;
• it is important not only to record and preserve the phenomena of traditional culture but also to popularise it among different segments of the population both in Ukraine and abroad;
• visiting museums, centres of traditional culture, active participation in cultural and educational events works as the purification of our souls, self-reflection and psychotherapy.

As a result, scholars, experts, public figures, and practitioners must join forces to ensure that all our knowledge, skills, and abilities remain relevant. One of the top priorities is to bring Ukrainians back to the tradition that will become their modernity, their everyday life.

DAY TWO. FROM THEORY TO PRACTICE

The second day of our Round-table & Networking event: ‘Ethnography. Ethnology. ICH’ was also remarkably productive. We shared practical experiences, had a lively debate, masterclasses, and much, much more.

We discussed a series of important issues, including

• the need to digitise collections (both private and museum);
• a roadmap for including items in the Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage;
• the importance of involving young people in traditional culture in the urban environment;
• revitalisation of cultural heritage;
• reconstruction of traditional Ukrainian costumes.

In addition, we talked about the peculiarities of ethnology, ethnography, intangible cultural heritage, tried to find common ground and determine the differences, enjoyed stories about the traditions of Crimean Tatar coffee making, and learned more about the “ornek” (Crimean Tatar ornament), which in 2021 was inscribed on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Esma Adzhiieva, head of the ALEM NGO, shared valuable guidance for all those seeking to inscribe an element on the ICH Lists. Olha Yarema-Vynar talked about the experience of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (Met, USA) in preservation and museumification of works of art made of textiles.

DAY THREE

The third day of the event ‘Ethnography. Ethnology. ICH’ of the NGO ‘Around Us. UA’ was rich in presentations about successful examples of research in ethnology.

The day opened with a presentation of the Ethnology journal moderated by Valentyna Demian (Head of the Expert Council on Intangible Cultural Heritage at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine) and stories about fascinating research on Ukrainian culture published therein. In particular, Myroslava Vertiuk, representing the Ivan Honchar Museum, spoke about the international project Night of Traditional Dance implemented by the museum.

Andriy (Andrey) Nagachevsky, a professor of ethnology at the University of Alberta in Canada, spoke about the ways that researchers of intangible cultural heritage use to turn tradition into heritage. Among other things, he talked about studying the folk dances of Ukrainians in Canada and Brazil.

Inna Tilnova, head of the NGO ‘Baba Yelka’, and Svitlana Lystiuk, head of the ‘Baba Yelka’ Ethnolab, as well as Sofia Bezverkha (blogger @krapka.krapka) shared their experience of studying local culture to overcome the Ukrainian inferiority complex imposed by russia.

Iryna Batiuk from the National Museum of Folk Architecture and Life spoke about the museum’s work to recreate traditional Ukrainian housing and the way the heritage of roofing masters is passed on.

Halyna Zabashta, representing the Mykhailo Boichuk Kyiv State Academy of Decorative and Applied Arts and Design, shared her experience of creating the stage image of Nina Matviienko based on the use of samples of folk costumes from Bohuslavshchyna (and not only from here). During the talk, attention was also paid to the artist’s father, also the artist, Vasyl Zabashta, who lived in Deshky near Bohuslav for the last years of his life and created a series of drawings and paintings with local landscapes and scenes.

Finally, Yevhen Puzatko gave the participants a tour of old Bohuslav. We really wished we wouldn’t have to say goodbye and go back home. For sure, we will meet again in Bohuslav.

The event is supported by the Partnership for a Strong Ukraine Fund, which is funded by the governments of Canada, Estonia, Finland, the Netherlands, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.