Iryna Ponomaryova (1958-2024)

Professor Iryna Ponomaryova, born in Mariupol, was a specialist in Mariupol ethnology and history. She studied the ethnic and cultural history of the Greeks of the Azov area, as well as other ethnic groups of the region. She took her first degree from Donetsk State University and she carried out her graduate studies at Mariupol Institute of Humanities, at the Institute of National Affairs and Politics of the National Academy of Sciences in Kyiv and at the Kyiv National University of Taras Shevchenko. In 1993 she was appointed as lecturer at the Mariupol Institute of Humanities at the Department of History, where she later became Dean (2005-2012). In 2008, she became an associate professor at the Department of International Relations and Foreign Policy of Mariupol State University and in 2013 she received her professorship. In 2017 she also got the position of professor at the Language and Humanities Department of the Donetsk Medical University; that same year she became a member of the Expert Council of the Ministry of Education of Culture and Science of Ukraine on the issues of conducting the examination of academic dissertations. During 2023 she also taught part time as Professor at the National Aviation University in Kyiv. She participated in a number of national research and educational projects. Among others, she carried out extensive field research during 1996-2011 as the organizer of ethnographic expeditions and head of ethnographic and folklore field research in the south of Ukraine, leaving a significant historical impact on local history and contributing to the preservation of the heritage of the Greeks of Azov. Her research interests, publications and teaching were in the history and ethnology of peoples in Ukraine, traditional culture, local history, traditional medicine, history of medicine, political and legal processes. Among her 138 publications on the previous themes, her book stands out: Ethnic History of the Greeks of the Azov Region (late 18^th – early 21^st centuries), Kiyv 2006.

Iryna Ponomaryova developed international academic activities creating particularly strong links with Greek Universities and Research Institutions since 2008. She served as a visiting Professor at the International Hellenic University in Thessaloniki (2012) and in the Ionian University in Corfu, Greece (2015). During 2007-2010 she took part in the international Research Programme, “The Development of the ports of the Azov and the Greeks in the 19^th century”, led by the Ionian University and the Hellenic National Foundation. During 2011-2015 she took part in the Research programme “The Black Sea and its port-cities, 1774-1914. Development, convergence and linkages with the global economy”, a collaboration of 6 Greek Universities led by Ionian Universities with 23 Universities and Research Centres, in Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia, as well as from Moldavia, Norway, Italy, Israel and the United States. For this project Iryna Ponomaryova wrote thirty short articles on Mariupol for the “Black Sea Port Cities – Interactive history, 1780s-1910s”, www.blacksea.gr. She also wrote the chapter “Ethnic processes in Mariupol and Russia’s imperial migration policy. (19th – early 20th century)”  in Gelina Harlaftis, Victoria Konstantinova, Igor Lyman, Anna Sydorenko and Eka Tchkoidze (eds), Between Grain and Oil from the Azov to Caucasus: The port-cities of the eastern coast of the Black Sea , late 18th – early 20th centuries, Black Sea History Working Papers, volume 3, IMS-FORTH, Rethymnon, 2020, published in www.blacksea.gr.

During 2022-2024 Iryna Ponomaryova lived in Rethymno, Crete, where she was a Visiting Researcher, at the Institute for Mediterranean Studies (IMS) of the Foundation of Research and Technology (FORTH). I have collaborated with Iryna Ponomaryova since 2008 and it was our special honor to have her in Crete. The Board of Directors of FORTH, IMS-FORTH and the Crete University Press provided the funding for a two-year contract for Iryna Ponomaryova to write the History of Mariupol, 1778-1820 to be published by Crete University Press; this would be within the ongoing research programme “History of the Black Sea, 18^th-20^th centuries” of the Centre of Maritime History of IMS-FORTH.

In late February, March to beginning of April 2022 Iryna went through an incredible suffering from the wild conditions she had to face due to the war conflicts and bombardments upon the unfortunate Mariupol that has seen its destruction. She had to spend 46 days and nights in February and March with her family in an underground shelter of an apartment building in Mariupol, with no electricity, heating, minimal food and water. She managed to escape with the unofficial help of volunteers to Tbilisi, Georgia in late April. From there, where she was warmly hosted, she flew to Rethymno Crete in June 2022, where she became a most welcome member of our Institute. In Crete, her “paradise”, as she described it, Iryna found herself and started writing again, while continuing her on-line courses in the Ukrainian Universities. She took part in all the events of the Institute whether they were academic events like seminars and conferences or local celebrations for Christmas/Easter/Carnival. She always gave a special tone to our celebrations preparing Ukrainian food delicacies for us bringing us good humour and her broad smile. Her last international academic participation was on the 6^th Mediterranean Maritime History Network Conference during 27-31^st May where she presented in English a paper titled “The port city of Mariupol as a unique industrial - resort and tourist center of Ukraine”, as part of her upcoming book. She left Rethymno for Norway in June 2024; we expected her to visit us quite soon. Everybody here in the Institute for Mediterranean Studies was shocked by the terrible news of her premature loss just six months later.

Iryna Ponomaryova was a great lady. A woman full of life, radiant, smiling and always well meaning; she had made her neighbors in Rethymno happy with her little yard full of colourful flowers. Iryna was an educated and productive scholar, a beautiful and dynamic woman, a very friendly and good colleague. She will be greatly missed.

          Gelina Harlaftis

   Director IMS-FORTH

&

Professor of University of Crete

Image caption: Iryna Ponomaryova, in her last academic presentation at IMS-FORTH, May 2024