On October 12, 2017, at the Faculty of Philology of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv the 15th International Sorabistic Seminar entitled “Topical Issues of Sorabistics and Prospects for its Development” began its work. Ukrainian and foreign researchers of language, culture, literature, history and modern life of the Sorbs take part in the seminar.
During the official opening, the Chairperson of the Ilarion Svientsitskyi Department of Slavic Philology Alla Tatarenko greeted all the participants and expressed her gratitude to everyone who helped to organize the event and participated in it.
“It is the fifteenth time Lviv University has organized the International Sorabistic seminar and every time it develops into a fruitful and interesting academic discussion,” pointed out Alla Tatarenko.
The Dean of the Faculty of Philology Sviatoslav Pylypchuk emphasized the importance of the seminar for Ukrainian and global Sorabistics.
“The seminar has long-established traditions. The systematic work of the seminar demonstrates that it has a wide range of problems to be discussed. A number of issues put forward for discussion provide the opportunity to deepen, improve and extensively explore various aspects of Sorabistics,” said Sviatoslav Pylypchuk.
Futhermore, Dr. Fabian Kaulfürst, a member of the Matica Srpska, a research fellow at the Sorbian Institute in Bautzen/Budyšin (Germany), greeted the participants of the seminar in excellent Ukrainian.
In addition, Oleksii Pronevych, a professor of the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, chief researcher of the Center for Approximation of Ukrainian Legislation to Legislation of EU, shared the experience of research in the field of Sorabistics and emphasized the need for an in-depth discussion of the culture, language and history of the Sorbs.
Then, the participants of the seminar had an opportunity to deliver their reports and participate in the discussion on the most topical issues of Sorabistics – language, literature, culture, history and national identity of the Slavic people who do not have their own state.
It is worth mentioning that International Sorabistic seminars at Lviv University have been the only academic event in Ukraine and in other eastern and southern Slavic states dedicated to the language, literature, history and culture of the Sorbs living in the Federal Republic of Germany. The seminars enable the Slavic academic community to get acquainted with the problems and priorities in contemporary Sorabistics.
International Sorabistic seminars held every two years, and lately every three years, are organized by the Department of Slavic Philology of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv and the Sorbian Institute in Bautzen/Budyšin (Germany).
The first Sorabistic seminar took place at the Department of Slavic Philology of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv in October 1984. Subsequently, it developed into a high-profile international forum that gathers Slavic scholars from different countries and became an important center for the development of Sorabistics both in Ukraine and abroad.
This year the Sorabistic seminar is held with the financial support from the Lviv Convention Bureau as part of the Scientific Lviv Program implementation in 2016-2017.
The seminar ends on October 13, 2017.