John-Paul Himka

Galician Villagers and the Ukrainian National Movement in the Nineteenth Century by John-Paul Himka, published by Palgrave Macmillan

John-Paul Himka (born May 18, 1949 in Detroit, Michigan) is an American-Canadian historian and retired professor of history of the University of Alberta in Edmonton.[1] Himka received his BA in Byzantine-Slavonic Studies and Ph.D. in History from University of Michigan in 1971 and 1977 respectively.[2] The title of his Ph.D. dissertation was "Polish and Ukrainian Socialism: Austria, 1867-1890". As a historian Himka was a Marxist in the 1970s-80s, but became influenced by the postmodernism in the 1990s. In 2012 he defined his methodology in history as "eclectic".[3]

Life

Himka is of mixed ethnic background, Ukrainian (on father's side) and Italian (on mother's). Initially he wanted to become a Greek Catholic priest and studied at St. Basil Seminary in Stamford, Connecticut. However, due to the radicalization of his political views to the left by the end of the 1960s he did not pursue that vocation.[3]

Since 1977 he taught at University of Alberta, Department of History and Classics. He became full Professor in 1992 and retired from the university in 2014.[4]

In his academic interests Himka focused on history of Greek Catholic Church and socialism in Habsburg Galicia, sacred culture of the Eastern Slavs (on iconography in particular) and the Holocaust in Ukraine. Since the late 1990s his contention with what he calls Ukrainian "nationalist historical myths" became subject of increasing, sometimes heated, debates both in Ukraine and Ukrainian Diaspora (especially in North America). Himka challenged the interpretation of Holodomor as a genocide and the view that Ukrainian nationalism and nationalists played none or almost to none role in the Holocaust in Ukraine. He also opposed official glorification of such nationalistic heroes as Roman Shukhevych and Stepan Bandera in Ukraine during presidency of Viktor Yushchenko.[3]

Awards

Bibliography

Books
Edited and co-edited volumes
Notable articles

References

External links


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