Scientific and organizational work of N. Hryhoryiv in the Ukrainian institute of sociological studies in Prague

Abstract

The article is devoted to the consideration of the scientific-organizational and research activity of the outstanding Ukrainian public-political figure and social scientist Nykyfor Hryhoryiv at the Ukrainian Institute of Sociological Studies (Ukrainian Sociological Institute) in Prague.

The role of N. Hryhoryiv in the development of the Іnstitute is significant from its foundation in 1924 and the end of existence in 1938. With Mykyta Shapoval he was one of its founders, as well as one of the leaders and leading researchers. N. Hryhoryiv was a permanent member of the supreme governing body of the Іnstitute – the Сuratorium, he headed it in 1926 and in 1933–1938, he was a director and a scientific council. He solved the administrative and financial problems of the Institute. At the same time, he was the director of the Department of Ethnology and two autonomous institutions of the Institute – the Ukrainian National Museum-Archive and the Ukrainian Workers University. He was also a member of the Department of Sociology and Policy and head of the Study of the Village, held separate courses and a political seminar.

At the same time, N. Hryhoryiv showed himself as a scientist – a sociologist and political scientist, an active researcher. During this period, his scientific interests included the theory of the state, the Ukrainian national-state tradition, national sociology, socio-economic history of Ukraine and socio-political movements in Ukraine, the Ukrainian diaspora in the USA and Canada, international relations and the geopolitical role of Ukraine. The work of the scientist in these directions is considered. During his time at the institute he has prepared several dozen of monographs, articles and reports, which are an important contribution to Ukrainian sociological and political science.

This study is based on the materials of the so-called Prague Archive, in particular the fund of the Ukrainian Institute for Civic Science. Some archival sources are introduced to scientific circulation for the first time.

Keywords: Nykyfor Hryhoryiv, Ukrainian Institute of Sociological Studies in Prague, Ukrainian Sociological Institute in Prague