Towards new horizons in the study of identities in Ukraine (original) (raw)
Introduction: Studying Identity In Ukraine
Post Soviet Affairs, 2018
While it is common wisdom that “identity matters” in Ukrainian politics, we still lack a robust understanding of precisely when and how it matters. Reflecting challenges facing the broader interdisciplinary field of comparative identity politics, authors frequently bring to their analyses very different notions of the nature of identity itself, skipping a rigorous examination of these notions in an effort to get right to documenting the effects of identity. Similarly, identity is frequently operationalized in quantitative studies without much discussion of the implications of selecting one particular measure over another or of what precisely each measure is reflecting, not to mention what might have changed over time. While we do have nuanced research on Ukrainian identity, it tends not to address the evolution of identity over time or the moments and conditions of identity change. Such issues are particularly important for current research since identities and their associated meanings may shift or “harden” during severe crises or conflicts like those that unfolded in Ukraine during 2013–14. The five original articles that make up this special issue1 all address these challenges, with important implications for how we understand Ukrainian politics after the EuroMaidan.
The Development of National Identities in Ukraine
From “the Ukraine” to Ukraine A Contemporary History, 1991–2021, edited by Edited by Matthew Rojansky, Georgiy Kasianov and Mykhailo Minakov , 2021
Analysis of changes in national identities in Ukraine from the late perestroika period until present times, with particular focus on identities during times of conflict (the Euromaidan and the war in Donbas).
National Identity in Ukraine: History and Politics
RUSSIA IN GLOBAL AFFAIRS, 2022
This article studies the historical background that determined the formation of the specific features of Ukrainian, Little Russian, and Russian identities starting from the late 17th century to the present day. It traces the evolution of Ukrainian identity from the notion of "a single Slavic-Russian people" to the current radicalization and consolidation of anti-Russian sentiment as its dominant element. At different stages of nation-building, intellectual elites molded different constructs of this identity. At times these constructs existed in parallel and independently of each other, and at other times they confronted one another. The notion of a single people (or different peoples) constantly changed. The article highlights the key
Constructing a Ukrainian identity within the European context
The present paper investigates and problematises how the discourse of Ukraine's national identity is being constructed. The transformation of Homo Sovieticus into Homo Europeicus, which consists in the modification of the old boundaries of Ukraine with the Soviet Union, along with the delimitation of new ones within the European Union, is traced on both the tangible (material) and conscious psychological) levels. Due to historical, geopolitical and ethnopsychological factors, various material and mental objects, signs, and notions encapsulating and radiating Soviet ideology, are being replaced with new signs and notions restoring a version of the Ukrainian, pre-Russian past, and simultaneously projecting Ukraine's European future.
Journal of Eurasian Studies, 2013
This paper analyzes the coercive and legitimate forms of power in Ukraine. It describes the crisis of legitimacy in Ukraine as a contradiction between a blatantly cruel system of capitalism dominated by a few oligarchs, and the lingering remnants of a Soviet mentality. Two strategies are used by the Government to stoke the crisis. First, increased identification with ethnic or regional groups are instrumentally used by the Government to take attention from economic and class issues. Second, the incorporation of a Soviet meaning of power into the new national identity and presentation of it as core norms, believes, and values of the people of Ukraine competes with alternative Ukrainian identity concepts. The paper analyzes five main features of the Soviet meanings of power – political, social, and economic paternalism, perception of power as source of profit and violence, and the dual reality of power with the gap between official narratives of power and a real life. The process of i...
Ukraine's 'muddling through': National identity and postcommunist transition
The paper argues that the profound identity split strongly influences Ukraine's postcommunist development, precluding effectively consolidation of any political system – either democratic or authoritarian. In most cases, the identity issue supersedes all other issues on the agendas of political parties and largely determines the character and results of electoral rivalry, and the way in which both domestic and international politics is viewed and articulated. The paper examines historical roots of competing identities in Ukraine, their essence and impact on two different visions of Ukrainian past, future, and " Ukrainianness " itself. The use and misuse of identity issues by Ukrainian authorities is a special concern of the paper that stresses the need of alternative policy aimed at a national reconciliation.
National Identity as a Crisis Challenge for Immigrants from the East of Ukraine
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research), 2022
The purpose of an article is to analyze the concept of «the identity» of theoretical discourse, to identify its crisis for settlers from the East of Ukraine and to search for possible ways out of the marginality zone. The methodology. To achieve this goal, the following research methods were used: semiotic analysis, the generalization of the problem under study, content analysis, systemic and historiographical methods, scientific works from the theory and history of culture, ethnocultural science were used. Scientific novelty. The research consists in summarizing the concept of «national identity» and identifying its critical state in the context of a military conflict. Conclusions. In modern conditions, essential changes occur in the socio-cultural space and the formation of a national identity of the individual. Man, as a social being, is in constant interaction with the surrounding world, with other people and continuously identifies himself with different social groups, defines his status in society, his attitude to one or another event. Maximum consideration of historical experience and the creation of sophisticated methods for the study of ethnonational identity will contribute to the procedural nature of the concept being studied.
Changing identities in Ukraine? Lviv and Donetsk: 1994–2015
Ukrainian society
Ever since Ukraine gained independence in 1991, there have been reports as to whether its people have become more identified as Ukrainians. This only became more evident with the Orange Revolution in 2004 and again with the events following the Euromaidan in 2013, namely the war with Russia. Is Ukraine more Ukrainian than ever as one might expect from these seismic events? The answer depends on how you define identity and where and how you look for it. This research reveals identification levels in mostly Lviv and Donetsk from 1994 to 2015, years which cover the periods before and after both revolutions (Maidan in 2004 and Euromaidan in 2013) and the war with Russia. We find heightened identification over that period primarily in Lviv, but multiple identifications with Ukrainians and Russians in Donetsk. Including six major cities in 2015 indicates that Lviv is an anomaly in its strong Ukrainian identification and Donetsk likewise in its multiple identities. The other four cities (Kyiv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Dnipro) are much more moderate in their commitment to Ukraine and in some cases have stronger city identities. Social identity theory provides a framework for understanding these different responses as based in reactions to realistic and symbolic threat.