Ukraine Between Empire and Globalization

Excerpt

Introduction: The First Generation of Consciously Pro-European Ukrainians

My generation is often called the children of perestroika or the children of Chernobyl. Such labels often have a negative connotation, which is why I prefer to call my own generation the first generation of consciously pro-European Ukrainians. These are the ones who entered first grade a week after Ukraine gained independence. Although on September 1, 1991 they held a textbook with a portrait of Lenin and a red carnation in their hands, they began their school education in Ukrainian, with open minds and a thirst for knowledge. Many chose to learn foreign languages and continue their studies abroad.

Wanting to understand my place in life and the country that was born at almost the same time as me, I also decided to study abroad and fulfill the will of Taras Shevchenko: 

“Study, read and learn
Thouroughly the foreign things —
But do not shun your own.”¹

When I studied in the USA, I realized for the first time what a privilege it was to study, read and learn. 

At the time, I took a course on Women and Politics, focusing on feminism, Hillary Clinton running for the first female presidency of the United States, and the role of women in the global economy. I wanted to focus on the role of Ukrainian women, and my instructor, Dr. Deborah Halbert, supported this idea. She liked my work so much that she recommended it for an international conference. Together with the professor we went to the conference in her car. The conference was held on the idyllic campus of Walsh University in Ohio. There, I presented my research and received many questions. It was the first time I had presented at an American conference.

After the conference, the professor drove us back to Columbus. But there was a surprise stop for me in the Ohio Amish Country. There I saw with my own eyes how women give up all rights except belonging to the Amish community. They wear long pastel dresses, cover their heads, and look down. The men have beards and ride around on horse-drawn wagons. I had the impression of stepping into a parallel reality of 19th century America.

I was so astonished by this reality that I even began to look at my own work in a different way. The title of my presentation, “Ukrainian Women Globalized: We Have Just Begun” took on a new meaning in this light, because I saw women who had not even begun this process, not because they could not, but because they had adopted different values. On the contrary, my path unfolded according to the motto:

go, see, do, be
go – go out into the world
see – look around
do – make something, connect
be – take it in

It gave me a completely different view of myself as a woman, Ukrainian, and scholar, and stimulated my desire to be intellectually active. And indeed, “I have just begun.”

While studying in the USA and Germany, I wrote two theses, dozens of papers, and published fifteen scholarly articles in four countries. The works presented in this collection were written at different times and in different parts of the world. Yet they have one common denominator—Ukraine and its rich history.

In the years 2000–2012 I did intensive research on the history of Ukraine, both during my studies in the USA and Germany and on my own initiative. This work resulted in research papers on selected topics from the 19th to the 21st century. I believe they are even more relevant today than they were at the time of their research, writing, publication and presentation.

The collection includes contributions on three periods: independent Ukraine, Ukraine as part of the Soviet Union, and Ukraine as part of the Russian Empire. In the following, I give a summary of the contributions.

1. Independent Ukraine in the Era of Globalization

The “Western” Vector of Ukrainian Foreign Policy: When will Ukraine be Integrated into Western European Structures? A Perspective from 2004. Fourteen years after its independence, Ukraine is still searching for its place in the international arena. Its international policy is inconsistent and ambivalent. The aim of this paper is to analyze the “Western” and “European” vectors of Ukrainian foreign policy and to determine Ukraine’s place in the international community. This question is considered through the prism of the country’s unique ethnic situation, which has led to the division of the country into Ukrainians and Russians. This division has been detrimental to Ukraine’s foreign policy. 

Essay on Concepts of Feminism. This essay, which I wrote as part of the “Women and Politics” course, examines modern concepts of feminism from the perspective of American women. 

Ukrainian Women Globalized. This paper analyzes the positive and negative effects of globalization on women around the world. In particular, it examines how globalization will affect the daily lives and careers of Ukrainian women by the year 2022. The aim of the paper is to analyze both the opportunities and threats that globalization has brought to Ukrainian women since the country’s independence in 1991. The paper was presented at the international conference “All Politics is Local” in North Canton, Ohio, USA. 

What Will Happen to Ukrainian Culture in the Age of Globalization? and High Tech and Homo Faber in the Global Dimension. These articles were published in the proceedings of the conference “Science, Culture, Technology in the New Millennium” held in Kharkiv. 

Kryvorizhstal: a Mirror of Socio-Economic Processes in Ukraine. Kryvorizhstal, now Mittal Steel Kryvyi Rih, is the best-known brand of the Soviet and post-Soviet economy in Ukraine.

The Kryvyi Rih Iron and Steel Plant is the largest industrial giant in Ukraine, a company based in Kryvyi Rih that is unique in its size and performance. The core business of the plant is the production of long products.

The history of the plant’s creation and development is a story of gradual construction, commissioning and development of blast furnaces, high-capacity steelmaking and rolling mills, as well as the development and creation of unique technical equipment and technological processes that have not lost their significance to this day.

During the Orange Revolution, Kryvorizhstal became a symbol of hope for change in the country and a symbol of change itself. 

In these articles I analyze the history and economic performance of the plant and draw the appropriate conclusions.

2. Ukraine as Part of the Soviet Union and the Struggle for Independence

Chernobyl and environmental history—a historiographical Discourse. When Russian forces occupied Zaporizhzhia in early 2022, the world held its breath, expecting another environmental disaster, this time at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. If this happens, it will be even worse than the Chernobyl disaster, which I studied in depth in the renowned environmental history program at the Ludwig Maximilian University in Munich. Environmental history is the youngest academic discipline at the interface of history and ecology. I chose the Chernobyl disaster of 1986 and its representation in historiography as the subject of my research. The Chernobyl disaster is a “black page” in the history of Ukraine and the world. But such negative events “enrich” the young discipline of environmental history, even though it recognizes the horror of what happened. It fulfills one of its functions—we must learn from history. In this work I have highlighted this discrepancy between the perspective of environmental history and that of other disciplines. This section includes a distinguished research paper, presentation, and handout.

Pavlo Skoropadskyi in Exile. I wrote this article and presented it at a conference in Munich. The article was published by the German-Ukrainian Scientific Society. The article analyzes the contemporary reflection on Hetman Pavlo Skoropadskyi, his role in Ukrainian exile and various interpretations of his activities in the interwar period. The research is based on studies by Ukrainian, German and American scholars. 

Pavlo Skoropadskyi in the Interwar Period. This paper is devoted to the emigration activities of Pavlo Skoropadskyi. The aim of the work is to answer the following questions: What is the image of Pavlo Skoropadskyi in contemporary international research? What role did he play in the German emigration of the interwar period? What interpretations can be derived from contemporary research on Pavlo Skoropadskyi’s activities in exile?

The Myth of Stepan Bandera. Stepan Bandera is a political figure in Ukrainian history about whom it is impossible to speak neutrally: He is either revered, as by Ukrainians in western Ukraine, or hated, as by Poles and Russians. In Ukrainian history, he stands alongside Ivan Mazepa and Symon Petliura and has become a symbol of the Ukrainian national liberation struggle. There is no doubt that Bandera was a charismatic personality, but his life was targeted by the leading secret services (German, French, Polish, Soviet), and the facts were distorted and twisted to their own advantage. As a historian, I show in this work how difficult it is to get to the bottom of the historical truth. This section contains a presentation and a handout.

3. Ukraine as Part of the Russian Empire

Governors and vice-governors in the southwest of the Russian Empire 1853–1905. I wrote my master’s thesis as part of the German–Swiss project “Empire and Autobiographies.” The work was presented at an international conference in Fribourg, Switzerland. In my master’s thesis, I examine the autobiographical texts of several people who served as governors and vice-governors in the provinces of Ekaterinoslav, Kharkiv, Kyiv, Novorossiysk, Odessa and Volyn between the Peasants’ Liberation in 1861 and the Revolution of 1905/1906.

Empire and Autobiography: Self-Testimonies of M.T. Loris-Melikov. Mikhail Tarielovich Loris-Melikov was an imperial military officer, governor-general (mainly of Kharkiv) and chairman of the Supreme Executive Commission in the Russian Empire under Alexander II. In my master’s thesis, I used primary sources to answer the following questions:

• How does the author reflect his own subject status in his self-testimonies? 

• What role do the different addressees of the letters play?

• How did he perceive the empire as a space? 

My work is intended to contribute to closing the research gap on the self-perception of the imperial elite in the Russian Empire in the second half of the 19th century. 

The study of the imperial elite is more relevant today than ever, as all imperial concepts are being revived in putin’s russia. The vast territory of Russia is turning into a rapacious, insatiable beast that seeks to devour neighboring independent states, including Ukraine. How might the modern Russian elite feel about this? Reading the primary sources of the 19th century imperial elite, one finds surprising parallels with the 21st century.

The collection is addressed to students of Ukrainian history, professional researchers and historians. It is also intended for those who wish to rethink history by reading scholarly, lively, and relevant material in which Ukraine gradually emerges from a series of minor roles and begins the thorny path to independence, identity, and self-determination.