Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures

SLA238, Literature of the Ukrainian Canadian Experience, Fall 2022

Final Papers

Term papers are due after the last class, Thursday, Dec 1, 2022, and no later than Sun. Dec 11, 2022 at midnight. Papers are to be 5–6 pages, typed, double spaced, and in English. Papers are to be written on topics approved by the instructor.

Here are some possible paper topics to help guide you:

1. The best topics are those you think of yourself. The best papers are always those that reflect a student's own, original thinking.
2. Examine the role of ethnic institutions (churches, political organizations, community groups) in a number of the works we have read.
3. Examine the role of rituals (religious, social, family) in a number of the works we have read.
4. Examine how folk culture is presented in a number of the works we have read.
5. Compare how ethnic Ukrainians are compared to other minority groups in Canada in a number of the works we have read.
6. Examine the role of children (or women) in the process of assimilation.
7. Examine how conflicts between parents and children are depicted in a number of works we have read.
8. How is Ukraine depicted in various works we have read.

In composing your papers, you should keep in mind that the works we have read are fiction and we have no authority to claim they actually represent reality. Your papers should not argue a specific connection between the actual conditions of Ukrainians in Canada and those depicted in the readings. For example, you should NOT claim that "most Ukrainians in Canada are very religious and therefore the authors we have read frequently depict the religious concerns of Ukrainians in Canada." Only the second part of that sentence can be used (the authors we have read frequently depict the religious concerns of Ukrainians in Canada). The first half would require a sociological study about the religious beliefs of Ukrainian immigrants in Canada. Such a study no doubt exists and if you want to make use of it, then look it up and CITE it in your paper. Otherwise, make sure the claims you make in your paper are substantiated by the fictional works we have read. This is a course about how Ukrainians in Canada ARE DEPICTED in works of FICTION. That's what you're writing about. You're not writing about Ukrainians in Canada.

Avoid lengthy and unprovable assertions about the general condition of humanity. For example, "Ever since the times of Adam and Eve, mankind has been faced with the problem of moving from one place to another and building a new life in a foreign country. Throughout history, countless immigrants have had to adapt to the climate and customs of a new land. So too with Ukrainian immigrants in Canada." That's just filler used to lengthen your paper to the required length. It is undesirable. If your paper begins to sound like the opening pages of Ralph Connor's The Foreigner you will receive a very poor grade.

Ukrainians in Canada came from various countries (The Austro-Hungarian Empire, Poland, The Russian Empire, The Soviet Union, etc.) and it is not always appropriate to say they came from Ukraine. But where it is appropriate to use the name of the country that now exists, its name is Ukraine, without the definite article. Not "THE Ukraine," just Ukraine. The use of the definite article is an old custom that is now considered insulting to Ukrainians. You will see it in various old texts but you should not use it yourself.