Sources on Ukrainian identity and language ideology

Thu Mar 25 20:27:06 UTC 1999

You can check our (Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute) website
(http://www.sabre.org/huri/) for various aids. In the pubs catalog there is
an older book on Uk-Am demographic characteristics based on the '80 census
results (Oleh Wolowyna, Ethnicity and National Identity: Demographic and
Socioeconomic Characteristics of Persons with Ukrainian Mother Tongue in
the U.S.). There are bibliographic resources in the bibliography by Ksenya
Kiebuzinski (pubs site). There are multiple personal contacts in the field
of Ukr. language in the Handbook of Research Opportunities in North
America. You will find much more information on the Canadian side (e.g.,
Manoly Lupul's work on bilingual education and Francis Swyripa's
ethnographic/emigre studies...check the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian
Studies' pubs site at
http://www.utoronto.ca/cius/HTMfiles/Ukrcan/ukrcan.htm). If you are not up
to speed on emigre issues in North America and are not connected to the
emigre community, you might want to try Myron Kuropas' "The Ukrainian
Americans: Roots and Aspirations, 1884-1954" (Univ. of Toronto Press, '91).
It is at times distractingly tendentious, but worth a read. Also available
is Orest Subtelny's "The Ukrainians of North America: An Illustrated
History" (univ. of Toronto Press, '91). Another important resource is the
emigre-based journal Ridna shkola. You should also try to contact Ridna
shkola teachers and administrators--a lot of the information is available
only orally or in emigre publications that are not catalogued in any
university library.

With respect to language issues and Ukraine, Dominique Arel at Brown Univ.
has done the most work (including a dissertation and subsequent
publications). Laada Bilaniuk completed a dissertation on anthropological
issues surrounding surzhyk (I think she can be reached at U of WA).
Language issues are also treated (sometimes only tangentially, other times
more directly) in the works of Roman Szporluk (Harvard, contemp. history),
Alexander Motyl (Rutgers, contemp. history, poly sci), Taras Kuzio (Ukraine
Center, University of North London, contemp. history, poly sci), and Andrew
Wilson (School of Slavonic and East European Studies, University of London,
contemp. history, poly sci, but caveat lector), among others. Demographics
in Ukraine have been treated by Wolowyna (now a private consultant) in
recent work.  The Ukrainian situation is a contentious and complicated
issue. Arel and Bilaniuk are the only ones I'm aware of to concentrate
solely on contemporary language issues in a social context. There is no
one, to my knowledge, with Western training in linguistics who has
published on sociolinguist trends in Ukraine (Arel's training is in
polysci, Bilaniuk's in social anthropology). There are a number of language
and literature people in the U.S. and Canada from whom you can get
anecdotal info. (Again, look at the list at our website.) Two good contacts
at the Institute of Ukrainian Language at the Academy of Sciences in
Ukraine for this sort of thing are Bohdan Azhniuk and Olena Bekh. A few
Ukraine Ukrainians have begun to look at emigre issues here. Bekh will be a
good guide on that. Beware that much of the native Ukraine-generated
socio-political material you find in newspapers is either statistically
worthless or politically motivated. For all of this material I would keep
in mind the fact that Ukraine has remained much more stable socially
(including over the language issue) than most expected.

A final thought--look at the last Ukrainian Weekly issue or the one before
that--Kuropas had an op-ed piece harranguing the Uk-Am community on its
attitudes toward language and the younger generations. Finally, two
listservs to be aware of: announce at infoukes.com--access to many
Ukie-oriented professionals and scholars; and Dominique Arel's Ukraine List
(modeled on Johnson's Russian List). For the former, send a request for
off-list help to that address or else subscribe to it by sending a message
to announce-request at infoukes.com. There are further lists for history,
politics, religion, business, etc. (history-request at infoukes.com,
religion-request at infoukes.com, etc.) It's a good way to connect with Ukie
community types throughout the U.S. and Canada. (Especially if you want to
get some field data from people who went to Ukrainian Catholic school,
Saturday schools, etc...) For Arel's list (which has news, reviews, and
debates, mainly on contemporary issues), send him a note to subscribe at
Dominique.Arel at brown.edu.

Contact me off list for e-mail addresses of any of the above.

Good luck, Robert DeLossa, HURI

p.s. I just checked our site and the link to the publications catalog seems
to be experiencing temporary problems displaying in IE 4.5, but is working
with earlier versions of Netscape. I've alerted our webmaster and apologize
to all those who might experience problems with it.

p.p.s. Ben Rifkin should be mentioned in this regard; he passed some
information to me regarding heritage learners that will be of use to you
(Jen). I'll send a separate note, so as not to overburden this shameless
HURI plug/community service notice that I'm sending to the entire list,
which always needs a little more about Ukraine. (Because, as the French
say, a day without something on Ukraine, is like a day without sunshine. Or
was that a day without cheese?)

>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       "SEELangs: Slavic & E. European Languages & literatures list"
>              <SEELANGS at CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU>
>Poster:       Jen Glass <jen.glass at mail.utexas.edu>
>Subject:      Sources on Ukrainian identity and language ideology
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Dear SEELANGers,
>
>I am looking for assistance in locating useful sources on Ukrainian
>language and identity, language ideology, and language maintenance and
>shift, particularly related to Ukrainian speakers in the U.S. and Canada.
>
>Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
>
>Thanks very much,
>
>Jen Glass
>Linguistics Department
>University of Texas at Austin

____________________________________________________
Robert DeLossa
Director of Publications
Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University
1583 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138
617-496-8768; fax. 617-495-8097
reply to: rdelossa at fas.harvard.edu
http://www.sabre.org/huri/