Catherine Wanner

The Omeljan Pritsak Book Prize in Ukrainian Studies, established in 2019 and sponsored by the Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University, recognizes a distinguished book in the field of Ukrainian studies that was published in the previous calendar year. Omeljan Pritsak was an esteemed scholar of Ukrainian history and the primary founder of the Harvard Ukranian Research Institute.

Co-Winner: Catherine Wanner
Title: Everyday Religiosity and the Politics of Belonging in Ukraine (Cornell University Press)

Catherine Wanner’s impressive monograph starkly incorporates new commentary on Russia’s war against Ukraine by unpacking problematic aspects of modernity as well as past and current Ukrainian history. She looks carefully at Orthodox communities in order to give us a deeper look into hidden private religious identities that do not necessarily reduce to ethnic or ethnolinguistic concepts of modern nationhood. Wanner strikes a creative balance between the book’s methods and sources, subjects and practices; the theories and complex emotional worlds of, among, and for Ukrainians. The monograph combines cultural anthropology, theology, religious studies, and historical sociology to deal with Ukrainians across regional, linguistic, and confessional divides, and the country’s multiple cultural and political landscapes.

Co-Winner: Rory Finnin