Authors:Olga Bertelsen Pages: 7 - 54 Abstract: This study analyzes the foundations of unity developed by the Kharkiv multi-ethnic community of writers, and explores post-Khrushchev Kharkiv as a political space and a place of state violence aimed at combating Ukrainian nationalism and Zionism, two major targets in the 1960s-70s. Despite their various cultural and social backgrounds, the Kharkiv literati might be identified as a distinct bohemian group possessing shared aesthetic and political values that emerged as the result of de-Stalinization under Khrushchev. Archival documents, diaries, and memoirs suggest that the 1960s-70s was a period of intense covert KGB operations and “active measures” designed to disrupt a community of intellectuals and to fragment friendships, bonds, and support among Ukrainians, Russians, and Jews along ethnic lines. The history of the literati residing in Kharkiv in the 1960s-70s, their formal and informal practices and rituals, and their strategies of coping with state antisemitism, anti-Ukrainianism, terror, and waves of repression demonstrate that the immutability of ethnic barriers, often attributed to Ukrainian-Russian-Jewish encounters and systematically reinforced by the KGB, seems to be a myth and a stereotype. The writers negated them, escaping from and at the same time augmenting the politics of the place. Their spatial and social practices and habits helped them create a cohesive community grounded in shared history, shared interests in literature and dedication to it, and shared threats emanating from city politics and the KGB. They transcended ethnic boundaries constructed by the authorities, striving for unity, free from Soviet definitions. PubDate: 2020-04-15 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus568 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Svitlana Malykhina Pages: 55 - 104 Abstract: The paper studies change and continuity in the urban semiosphere of Kharkiv in the post-Maidan period, focusing on themes such as the interplay of languages, street art, toponyms, and the significance of political, ideological, commercial, and artistic discourses in the urban space. The urban vernacular of Kharkiv is examined via the concept of the palimpsest that helps to expose the process of acceptance or rejection of the past, and to assess how things are remembered and forgotten through the tropes of the old narrative that were scrapped and replaced with new ones. The analysis of the linguistic landscape in this study focuses on a broader, more inclusive set of components that are part of public spaces, such as street graffiti metaphors and reactions to the text on graffiti. Thus, а multimodal approach is essential to provide deeper meanings and interpretations of public spaces. To examine the complex linguistic landscape, I bring together a representative collection of public signage that mirrors the dynamics of different historical, linguistic, and ideological factors that shape the contemporary Ukrainian identity, along with the too obvious and simultaneous presence within it of markers of the collective identity from the Soviet period. The juxtaposition of overlapping narratives provides a means to discuss the city’s community-building efforts. My paper introduces a few familiar cases of how post-Soviet urban dwellers have shaped social spaces. PubDate: 2020-04-15 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus569 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Ganna (Anna) Pletnyova Pages: 105 - 128 Abstract: This paper explores the linguistic diversity of the city of Kharkiv, focusing on the language ideologies and practices of Russian-speaking Kharkivites in the wake of the Russo-Ukrainian military conflict of 2014. This conflict polarized Ukrainian Russophones into competing ideological positions for or against Russia and gave fresh vigour to the long-existing linguistic debate in Ukraine, which was a result of the Russian government’s manipulations of the Ukrainian language situation. The political convictions of Russian-speaking Kharkivites affect their linguistic behaviour, motivating them to attempt to switch to Ukrainian, to advocate bi- or multilingualism, or to demonstratively use only Russian. A field study that I carried out in Kharkiv in the summer of 2018 examined correlations and discrepancies between Kharkivites’ linguistic ideologies and their real-life language practices, focusing on the interaction between two factors: the discourse of “pride” in speaking a particular language, which is anchored in a speaker’s interpretations of the role of language in a nation, and the discourse of “profit,” which is based on a speaker’s expectation of economic benefits related to mastering a certain language. The study results reveal the vacillations of this Russian-speaking community between support for the monolingual ideology of the nation-state and the globalizing concept of multilingualism, demonstrating an interplay between discourses of “pride” and “profit” and the influence of local and global forces. PubDate: 2020-04-15 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus570 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Serhii Posokhov, Yevhen Rachkov Pages: 129 - 167 Abstract: The emergence and evolution of the symbolic space of Kharkiv, one of the largest university centres in Ukraine, represent changes in the urban cultural landscape and the urban narrative of memory. Here, the transformations of sign-space (ritual practices and symbolism) in Kharkiv’s institutions of higher education are traced from the first half of the nineteenth century to the present time. The genesis of sign-space in the city’s institutes of higher education is an example of the transfer of western European university ideas to eastern European terrain, and their further adaptation there. The functioning of sign-space is studied in the fifteen largest institutions of higher learning in Kharkiv today. University symbols and rituals define a system of views of the modern university, its functions, and its ideals. Building a university sign-space is also interpreted as a competition for the symbolic environment of the city in which it exists. In this way, institutions of higher education seek not only to be represented in the urban milieu, but also to promote the consolidation of a certain part of the surrounding urban community. Kharkiv’s symbolic space as a university city is tightly knit but heterogeneous, representing a complex system and comprising a wide variety of visual and verbal elements. The current forms of visual (self)representation of Kharkiv’s universities are a synthesis of local and borrowed academic traditions. The “commercialization” and “service function” of the modern university clash with the “old” ideals of Enlightenment, a conflict reflected in the symbolic and ritual forms perceived by the university community. PubDate: 2020-04-15 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus571 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Volodymyr Kravchenko, Marta Olynyk (trans.) Pages: 169 - 196 Abstract: The article attempts to identify Kharkiv’s place on the mental map of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union, and traces the changing image of the city in Ukrainian and Russian narratives up to the end of the twentieth century. The author explores the role of Kharkiv in the symbolic reconfiguration of the Ukrainian-Russian borderland and describes how the interplay of imperial, national, and local contexts left an imprint on the city’s symbolic space. PubDate: 2020-04-15 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus572 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Oleksiy Musiyezdov, Ksenia Maryniak (trans.) Pages: 197 - 217 Abstract: This article aims to highlight the results of an empirical study of urban identity that was conducted by the author in Kharkiv and Lviv. The theoretical underpinnings of this research are based on the ideas of Manuel Castells and Zygmunt Bauman, as well as others. They assert that under the conditions of (post)modern society, groups which are involved in one way or another in the global post-industrial economy interpret cities and their relationship with them in a variety of ways—in other words, their definitions of urban identity vary. The author’s hypothesis is generally confirmed that groups will interpret their connection to a city in distinct ways: representatives of different groups will differ in their interpretation of the question of what it means to be an “urbanite” or a “true [insert city name]-ian,” in their ways of participating in the resolution of urban issues, etc. The unique features of the sampled Ukrainian cities (Kharkiv, Lviv) are described. The confirmation of the hypothesis serves as an argument in favour of considering urban identity in the context of an “imagined community.” Under such consideration, a city comprises not a “local community” but an aggregate of groups that consider the city to be “theirs” and defend their “right to the city” based on their individual image of the world, which depends on their social, cultural, and economic conditions. PubDate: 2020-04-15 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus573 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Dmytro Zaiets' Pages: 219 - 240 Abstract: What makes certain places in a city fascinating, even magical' This is not about the so-called “nice city” areas, be it views of historical districts or monuments or city parks—places that are by default associated with pleasant ambiance or recreation. This essay is about places that create an immediate impression and that can become intimate, eliciting an emotional response or addressing our hidden needs. It describes research results achieved by sociology students of the Kharkiv School of Architecture in the 2017-18 academic year. The research was dedicated to urban places with a “soul,” with all of the possible shades and differences this social construct implies. The purpose of this research was to find a way to recreate the charm of places, to recreate their atmosphere and their aura in other contexts. Overall, this essay emphasizes the importance of authentic places and stresses the need to study and preserve them as a basis for the urban life of contemporary Kharkiv. PubDate: 2020-04-15 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus574 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Jeffrey D. Stephaniuk Pages: 251 - 253 Abstract: Book review of David Mitchelhill-Green. Fighting in Ukraine: A Photographer at War; Rare Photographs from Wartime Archives. Pen & Sword Military, 2016. Images of War. 176 pp. Illustrations. Maps. Appendix. Bibliography. £14.99, paper. PubDate: 2020-04-16 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus576 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Marko Pavlyshyn Pages: 255 - 259 Abstract: Review of: Volodymyr Yavorivsky. The Chornobyl Madonna. Translated from the Ukrainian by Yuri Tkacz, Bayda Books, 2016. 192 pp. Paper. Valeriy Shevchuk. Breath of Evil: Novellas Written by the Goatherd Ivan Shevchuk and Fashioned for Literary Use by His Great-Grandnephew. Translated from the Ukrainian by Yuri Tkacz, foreword by Marko R. Stech, Bayda Books, 2016. 246 pp. Paper. PubDate: 2020-04-16 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus577 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Alla Nedashkivska Pages: 261 - 264 Abstract: Review of Michael S. Flier and Andrea Graziosi, editors. The Battle for Ukrainian: A Comparative Perspective. Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University, 2017. Distributed by Harvard UP. Harvard Papers in Ukrainian Studies. x, 626 pp. Map. Tables. End-of-chapter notes. Index. $29.95, paper. PubDate: 2020-04-16 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus578 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Thomas M. Prymak Pages: 265 - 269 Abstract: Review of Andreas Kappeler. Ungleiche Brüder: Russen und Ukrainer vom Mittelalter bis zur Gegenwart [Unequal Brothers: Russians and Ukrainians from the Middle Ages to the Present]. Verlag C. H. Beck, 2017. 272 pp. Illustrations. Maps. Notes. Bibliography. Photo Credits. Index of Names. €16,95, paper. PubDate: 2020-04-16 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus579 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Sara Jo Powell Pages: 271 - 273 Abstract: Review of Iryna Starovoyt. A Field of Foundlings: Selected Poems. Translated from the Ukrainian by Grace Mahoney, Lost Horse Press, 2017. Lost Horse Press Contemporary Ukrainian Poetry Series 1. 92 pp. Illustrations. $21.00, paper. PubDate: 2020-04-16 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus580 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Simone Attilio Bellezza Pages: 275 - 277 Abstract: Review of Zbigniew Wojnowski. The Near Abroad: Socialist Eastern Europe and Soviet Patriotism in Ukraine, 1956-1985. U of Toronto P, 2017. xx, 324 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $55.50, cloth. PubDate: 2020-04-16 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus581 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Thomas Bremer Pages: 279 - 281 Abstract: Review of Nicholas E. Denysenko. The Orthodox Church in Ukraine: A Century of Separation. Northern Illinois UP, 2018. xvi, 298 pp. Illustrations. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $39.00, paper. PubDate: 2020-04-16 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus582 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
Authors:Jeff Kochan Pages: 283 - 285 Abstract: Review of Rhonda L. Hinther. Perogies and Politics: Canada’s Ukrainian Left, 1891-1991. U of Toronto P, 2018. Studies in Gender and History, general editors, Franca Iacovetta and Karen Dubinsky. xii, 300 pp. Illustrations. Appendix. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $33.50, cloth. PubDate: 2020-04-16 DOI: 10.21226/ewjus583 Issue No:Vol. 7, No. 1 (2020)
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