°ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼

skip to content
 

Ukrainian Identity after EuroMaidan

Rory Finnin at Chatham House

On 17 January 2017 Rory Finnin (Director, °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ Ukrainian Studies; University Senior Lecturer in Ukrainian Studies) joined Ukrainian intellectual Mykola RiabchukÌýat the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House for a discussion about 'Ukrainian Identity after Euromaidan: Drivers of Change and Impact on Reforms'.

'What is our scholarly basis for determining whether a national sense of self is strong or weak?' Finnin askedÌýduring his presentation.Ìý'Our metric tends to be contingent on perceptions of sameness or unanimity. That is, strong national identities are typically considered those whose boundaries are sharp and whose content is more or less homogenous. Their constituents hold to the same story about themselves. By contrast, weak national identities are considered those whose boundaries are fluid and whose content is heterogeneous. Their constituents may have multiple stories about themselves.'

He continued: 'This strength-weakness, sameness-difference axis is reductive and, in my view, increasingly useless as an analytical instrument.ÌýIn effect, weÌýhave been studying national identity with algebra when we need calculus, a means of studying relationships with an unwavering view to change, tension and variability rather than stasis, harmony and homogeneity.' Ìý

A summary of the event, produced by Chatham House, can be read . An excerptÌýfrom anÌýinterview Rory Finnin on Ukraine's ongoing campaign of reforms is given below.

Keep in touch

ÌýÌý ÌýÌýÌýÌýÌýÌý ÌýÌý​

Upcoming events

Latest News

Slavonic Studies Taster Day

21 May 2024

Nations and Cultures Academic Taster Day: Polish, Russian & Ukrainian Calling all Slavonic-curious linguists, literary critics, cultural historians and political scientists! Applications are open until 9 June , for the °ÄÃÅÁùºÏ²Ê¿ª½±¼Ç¼ University Slavonic Studies Taster Day on Wednesday 3 July. This event is followed by the...

Rory Finnin Wins Two ASEEES Book Prizes

21 September 2023

We are delighted to share that Professor Rory Finnin has been awarded two prestigious prizes by the Association for Slavic, East European & Eurasian Studies (ASEEES) for his book Blood of Others: Stalin's Crimean Atrocity and the Poetics of Solidarity (University of Toronto Press, 2022). These ASEEES prizes follow on from two other awards for Blood of Others announced earlier this year.