Olena Apanovych and Olena Kompan in the Cultural Field of Ukrainian Soviet Historiography or Two Versions of Upgrading the Historical Narrative of the 1960s and early 1970s

The purpose of the publication is to compare the life stories, intellectual biographies, scientifi c practices, and research strategies of two women historians of the same generation from the point of view of their attempts to upgrade methodology is based on the strategies of comparison and typology. The scientifi c novelty is related to the study of diverse infl uences of the socio-cultural environment, ideological, political, and cultural transformations of the postwar period and the liberalization of the Soviet regime in the 1960s' on the horizon of conceptual proposals of Ukrainian scholars specialized in the study of the so-called «history of feudalism». The emphasis is placed on the similarity of life scenarios of both women historians. It is noted that their belonging to the same scientifi c generation was determined by the traumatic and adaptive experience gained during the Stalinist regime, military upheavals, as well as contradictory and palliative de-Stalinization. The parallel formation of both women historians, in particular the role of persons close to them in this process, is shown. The leading topics and problems in their scientifi c works are covered, in particular the studies on the role of cities and the Cossacks in the history of Ukraine in the 17th and 18thcenturies. It is argued that the outlined versions of the Ukrainian historical narrative upgrading were based on different paradigmatic patterns and research strategies. Conclusions. Studies by Olena Apanovych (1919–2000) on the history of the Cossacks as the basis of the Ukrainian army offered an updated projection of the old «populist» discourse, and were primarily focused on a signifi cant expansion of Ukrainian plots and problems within the republican historical narrative. Studies by Olena Kompan (1916–1986) of the history of cities and socio-economic relations, comparison of Ukrainian and Western European historical processes, and attempts at a humanistic and nationalcultural reading of Marxism were aimed at revising the customary limits of applying the prevailing theory of socio-economic formations to the history of Ukraine.