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Living the Independence Dream: Ukraine and Ukrainians in Contemporary Socio-Political Context

Posted on October 10, 2024 by Lada Kolomiyets

  • Ukrainian cargo jet Book Cover

Book Talk: Living the Independence Dream Ukraine and Ukrainians in Contemporary Socio-Political Context. Please join us for moderated discussion of this new publication. November 18th 2024, 4:30-6:30pm, Max Kade Center, Maxwell Hall. Free and open to the public.

The volume features personal accounts of several generations of Ukrainians who found themselves displaced by political upheavals in foreign lands, the voices of recently displaced people who left the Donbas and other regions of Ukraine following the outbreak of the Russian aggression. It explores the ideologies of Ukrainian language revival and the ways that memory and language construct Ukrainian identity and generate vital energy amidst war.

Reviews:

Marko Pavlyshyn, Emeritus Professor of Ukrainian Studies, Monash University: "Living the Independence Dream" is an important book in which authors living in Ukraine and outside its borders reflect on how the country has been imagined in the past, what it is now and what it might become in the future. Memory, language, religion, and the current war are important factors in shaping the Ukrainian people's rapidly evolving collective identity, and each of them receives insightful consideration in this excellent volume.

Catherine Wanner, Professor of History, Anthropology, and Religious Studies, Pennsylvania State University: This compelling collection of articles analyzes what Ukrainian independence has meant for cultural institutions and for the practices of everyday life for individual Ukrainians. Such a vista offers a new lens through which to understand the ramifications of Russia's war against Ukraine. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in contemporary Ukraine.

Susanna Witt, Professor of Slavic Languages, Stockholm University: A collective effort of Ukrainian and diasporic scholars, the book "Living the Independence Dream" was conceived as a sum-up, providing an array of illuminating perspectives on Ukraine's first thirty years of regained independence. The delayed appearance of the book, in the third year of Russia's genocidal war against Ukraine, its people and statehood, has only enhanced its importance. This is an absolutely essential reading for anyone trying to understand the resilience and inventiveness shown by Ukrainian society as the independence dream is now facing an unprecedented threat.

Contributing Editor & Guest Speaker

Dr. Lada Kolomiyets

Visiting Professor at Dartmouth College

Lada Kolomiyets is a Doctor of Philological Sciences, Professor of Ukrainian and Translation Studies at Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and Visiting Professor at Dartmouth College, Department of East European, Eurasian, and Russian Studies. She is a widely published scholar on Ukrainian and comparative literature, the history of translation and censorship in Ukraine, and Slavic studies, with over 150 scholarly publications. Member of the National Writers Union of Ukraine. Studied Ukrainian diaspora in the USA as a Fulbright Scholar at Pennsylvania State University (2017-18); has held fellowships at the University of Iowa (USA), Wenner-Gren Foundations (Sweden), and others. Her current research involves decolonizing translation, literature and post-communist transformation in Eastern Europe, Ukraine's digital folklore and popular mobilization.

Contributing Authors & Guest Speakers

Dr. Yuri Shapoval

Researcher, the Gerda Henkel Foundation

Yuri Shapoval is a Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor of History at the Institute of Political and Ethno-National Studies, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. Head of the Center for Historical Political Studies. He is one of the leading researchers of the Soviet period of Ukrainian history and author of more than 800 publications, including Ukraine in the Twentieth Century: The People and Events of a Difficult Time (2001), 'The Ukrainian Years, 1894–1949.' In Nikita Khrushchev, ed. W. Taubman, S. Khrushchev, and A. Gleason (2000), Unforgiven: Oleksandr Dovzhenko and the Communist Special Services (2022), etc.; receiver of numerous fellowships, including Leibniz Scholarship of the Institute of Educational Media, Scholarship of the Georg Eckert Institute (Germany), Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung scholarship, and others.

Dr. Antonina Berezovenko

Assoc. Professor at the National Technical University of Ukraine

Antonina Berezovenko is a Doctor of Philology in Slavic Linguistics, Assoc. Professor at the Department of Ukrainian Language, Literature, and Culture of the National Technical University of Ukraine 'Igor Sikorsky Kyiv Polytechnic Institute'; senior research fellow on Petrach Program at the Institute for European, Russian, and Eurasian Studies, George Washington University (2023). She has taught at Columbia, Fordham, Drew, and Rutgers. From 2018-2021 she served on the Book Prize Committee of the American Association for Ukrainian Studies. Current member of the Board of Directors of Association for Slavic, East European and Eurasian Studies (2024-26). Her research interests include problems of national identity, propaganda, linguo-semiotic analysis, and language policy in post-totalitarian societies.

Judge Bohdan Futey

Senior Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims

Judge Bohdan Futey was nominated Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims in 1987. He has been actively involved with Democratization and Rule of Law programs since 1991 organized by the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Department of State, and USAID in Ukraine. He was appointed as a Member of the Constitutional Commission of Ukraine (2015) and participated in judicial exchange programs and has been a consultant to the working group on Ukraine's Constitution and Ukrainian Parliament. Among his honors and awards are Ukraine's Presidential Award (Distinguished Medal), 1995; Rule of Law Award, Ukrainian American Bar Association, 2002; James Madison Award, (U.S. Court of Federal Claims, 2006); Achievement Award, Ukrainian American Bar Association, 2007; Shevchenko Freedom Award, Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (2012); Ukrainian World Congress, St. Volodymyr's Life Achievement Award (2013), the Gareth Jones Commemorative Medal 'Truth and Honor' (2024).Judge Bohdan Futey was nominated Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims in 1987. He has been actively involved with Democratization and Rule of Law programs since 1991 organized by the Judicial Conference of the United States, the Department of State, and USAID in Ukraine. He was appointed as a Member of the Constitutional Commission of Ukraine (2015) and participated in judicial exchange programs and has been a consultant to the working group on Ukraine's Constitution and Ukrainian Parliament. Among his honors and awards are Ukraine's Presidential Award (Distinguished Medal), 1995; Rule of Law Award, Ukrainian American Bar Association, 2002; James Madison Award, (U.S. Court of Federal Claims, 2006); Achievement Award, Ukrainian American Bar Association, 2007; Shevchenko Freedom Award, Ukrainian Congress Committee of America (2012); Ukrainian World Congress, St. Volodymyr's Life Achievement Award (2013), the Gareth Jones Commemorative Medal 'Truth and Honor' (2024).

Moderator:

Dr. Stuart Finkel

Professor, Department of East European, Eurasian and Russian Studies