Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Takach, Arthur

Titel

In search of Ukrainian national identity: 1840-1921

Ist Teil von

• Ethnic and racial studies, 1996-07, Vol.19 (3), p.640-659

Ort / Verlag

London: Taylor & Francis Group

Erscheinungsjahr

1996

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Taylor & Francis Journals Auto-Holdings Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Many recent scholars, influenced by nationalist historians, intellectual trends, or political leaders, seek to antedate and create a nation or national identity when in reality none existed. They tend to apply theories based on non-rational, emotional aspects of ethno-nationalism to the formation of national consciousness in general. Thus, the large-scale vertical identity of modern nationalism is projected back into an era which was characterized by a set of horizontal identities. This article seeks to explore the genesis and development of modem national identity in Ukraine during the period 1840 to 1921. Focusing on social-structural and circumstantial conditions, it attempts to demonstrate that the appeals to ethno-national sentiments throughout this period failed to generate a group identity and solidarity among the Ukrainian people. The Ukrainian case, along with that of other subordinate ethnic groups, suggests that nationalism by itself was not operational before the emergence of the so-called nation-states of the 'non-historic' nations of Eastern Europe. The formation of modern nations based on mass national consciousness was accomplished by the centralized bureaucratic state which, through conscious and deliberate socialization, succeeded in transforming potential nations into modern nations.