Talk, book on bilingualism in Ukraine

[Diana Howansky]

TOMORROW, as its last event of the Spring 2006 semester:

The Ukrainian Studies Program at Columbia presents a lecture by Laada 
Bilaniuk, titled:

"LANGUAGE IN THE BALANCE: THE POLITICS OF NON-ACCOMMODATION IN URKAINE"

The language question is a poignant issue in Ukraine, as the legal 
statuses and actual practices of Ukrainian and Russian continue to be 
contested.  In many spheres of interaction, the tensions seem to fade as 
people speak their preferred language, without accommodating to the 
language of others.  But does this practice of "non-reciprocal" or 
"non-accommodating" bilingualism ease the conflict over language choice 
and create equality, or does it continue to propagate tensions and 
inequalities?  In this talk, Laada Bilaniuk explores this issue through 
analysis of bilingual Ukrainian-Russian television programs, internet 
forums, and everyday life interactions.  She examines the politics of 
identity and correctness that are inherent in everyday uses of language.

Laada Bilaniuk, Assistant Professor of Anthropology at the University of
Washington, is the author of Contested Tongues: Language Politics and
Cultural Correction in Ukraine (Cornell University Press, 2005).

WHEN: Thursday, April 27, 2006 at 12:00 noon
WHERE: Room 1219, International Affairs Building, Columbia University, 
420 W. 118th St.

For more information, please contact Diana at 
ukrainianstudies at columbia.edu or (212)854-4697.

*******

Also, below please find additional information about Laada Bilaniuk's 
book, Contested Tongues: Language Politics and Cultural Correction in 
Ukraine:

During the controversial 2004 elections that led to the “Orange 
Revolution” in Ukraine, cultural and linguistic differences threatened 
to break apart the country. Contested Tongues explains the complex 
linguistic and cultural politics in a bilingual country where the two 
main languages are closely related but their statuses are hotly 
contested. Laada Bilaniuk finds that the social divisions in Ukraine are 
historically rooted, ideologically constructed, and inseparable from 
linguistic practice. She does not take the labeled categories as givens 
but questions what “Ukrainian” and “Russian” mean to different people, 
and how the boundaries between these categories may be blurred in 
unstable times.

Bilaniuk’s analysis of the contemporary situation is based on 
ethnographic research in Ukraine and grounded in historical research 
essential to understanding developments since the fall of the Soviet 
Union. “Mixed language” practices (surzhyk) in Ukraine have generally 
been either ignored or reviled, but Bilaniuk traces their history, their 
social implications, and their accompanying ideologies. Through a focus 
on mixed language and purism, the author examines the power dynamics of 
linguistic and cultural correction, through which people seek either to 
confer or to deny others social legitimacy. The author’s examination of 
the rapid transformation of symbolic values in Ukraine challenges 
theories of language and social power that have as a rule been based on 
the experience of relatively stable societies.


“Here in all its immediacy is the changing texture of life in 
post-Soviet Ukraine, portrayed with the nuance and synthetic breadth 
that marks the best language-centered accounts of social change. Whether 
readers come to it with an interest in the shifting grounds of identity 
and political practice or the social shaping of lanuage ideology and 
practice, they will be sure to gain much from this rigorous but 
accessible treatment.” —Joseph Errington, Yale University

“Laada Bilaniuk presents linguistic information in a way that makes it 
accessible to nonspecialists. Contested Tongues will appeal to readers 
interested in post-Soviet politics and culture, anthropology, political 
science, sociology, and history, as well as to those who are interested 
in the processes of language contact, change, politics, and ideology.” 
—Alexandra Jaffe, California State University, Long Beach


For more information on purchasing the book, please contact:
Mail: CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS, P.0. Box 6525, Ithaca, NY 14851-6525
Phone: 607-277-2211 Fax: 1-800-688-2877 (U.S. and Canada only)
Email: orderbook at cupserv.org Web: www.cornellpress.cornell.edu

-- 
Diana Howansky
Staff Associate
Ukrainian Studies Program
Columbia University
Room 1208, MC3345
420 W. 118th Street
New York, NY  10027
(212) 854-4697
ukrainianstudies at columbia.edu
http://www.harrimaninstitute.org/courses/ukrainian_studies_program.html

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