Is Kiev/Kyiv the new acid test for Russo-centrism?

[Thomas Anessi]

Dear Seelangers,

I want to second Nadia's concern. As a polonist, I have spent two
years researching early-twentieth century Lemberg/Lwov/Lvov/L'viv.
I find myself using any one of these terms in English based on the
social setting because there really is no standard and my choice
carries a political message. Luckily, in my academic work I can use
'Lemberg' throughout.

I have also tried to hone a certain sensitivity to Ukrainians'
concerns about language because the establishment of a suitable
language policy is one of the most challenging aspects of that
nation's efforts to determine its identity as an independent state.
I do not need to remind anyone on this list that Moskva was the
place from which power shifted to Kyiv/Kiev in 1991? After how many
years?

I find the dismissive tone of these posts to be especially
disturbing because they come from a group of Slavists -- not just
Russianists or post-Sovietists or whatever the you call them in the
twenty-first century ;-), who, I would assume are theorists and/or
students of language.

We all know that choices about our language use carry a political
component. None of the terms 'colored', 'black' and 'African
America' are inherently offensive. Each came into use (as the
previous term fell out) because activists from within the community
concerned pushed for such change. Without going into the particulars
of this process, the coinage of new terms for a well-established
ethnic group provided an opportunity for people, and especially
public figures, to demonstrate an affinity (or lack thereof) with
the projects/groups/politics behind these name changes. In the
early 1990s, President Bush [40] was the first U.S. president to
use 'African American' in public. Few of us would say 'colored'
today.  These are examples of how this process works.

I do not want to take a position here on the subject of what to call
the capital of Ukraine (minus the 'the', please) in English;
however, I do feel this subject deserves a less lighthearted
response. Ukrainians may appear to be hypersensitive about
something as seemingly trivial as using a Russian word for their
capital. Then again, many Ukrainians are not so certain that the
official name will not revert back to Kiev -- for one reason or
another. Given recent political events, I would not say these
concerns are baseless.

Sorry to be a spoilsport about what I know was intended to be a bit
of fun.


Thomas Anessi
graduate student
Dept. of Slavic Languages
Columbia University

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