Ukraine–Ireland: A Comparative Perspective

Vita Yakovlyeva Announcement
Location
Alberta, Canada
Subject Fields
Colonial and Post-Colonial History / Studies, Ethnic History / Studies, Local History, Modern European History / Studies, Political History / Studies

 East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies

Special Issue

 Ukraine–Ireland: A Comparative Perspective

Guest editors: Volodymyr Kravchenko (Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta) and [TBA]

Call for Papers

As a means to overcome the conceptual isolation that area or ethnic studies sometimes have to contend with, this special issue of East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies (EWJUS) aims to look at some exceptional yet not unique issues in both Irish and Ukrainian socio-political history. This issue is a logical follow-up to another special issue of Схід–Захід (East–West), predecessor of EWJUS, volume 4, Rossia et Britannia: Empires and Nations on the Outskirts of Europe (2001). With a focus on Ukraine and Scotland, it examines the relationship between national identities and institutions in the eastern and western peripheries of Europe, reminding the reader that the modern state can both sustain and erode the very distinctiveness of peripheries while dealing with historical legacies and the unprecedented challenges of globalization.

Having experienced centuries of imperial domination, both Ireland and Ukraine have developed ways to co-opt and conceptualize the aftermath of their cultural, economic, and political colonization. The complex histories of both states include shared experiences of famine, political resistance, polyphonic language struggles, post-colonial culture, nation building, and collective identity construction, as well as large global diasporas and ongoing relations with them.

Some of the many questions to be unpacked in this special issue are:

What can be learned from the similarities in the Irish and Ukrainian experience while placing them within the context of European and global events? What experiences are shared by these states as they endeavour to overcome the geopolitical rifts in their collective past? How unique are the singular events in their history and what do they have in common? How have cultural interactions and ethnic migrations shaped the history and politics of these states and their diasporas?

Through comparative and transnational perspectives, we encourage scholars to apply creative approaches to this revisionist exercise, not only to better understand and potentially produce revised Irish and Ukrainian histories but also to address the problems of dealing with post-colonization in a globalizing world.

Ukraine–Ireland: A Comparative Perspective will be divided into four conceptual parts, to include the following respective themes:

  • Nation: Between region and empire (multilingualism, identity, policy, culture, literature, etc.)
  • Famine: Studies and memories (Holodomor and Gorta Mór)
  • Resistance: UPA (Ukraine) and IRA (Ireland)
  • Diaspora: The Canadian framework of the Irish and Ukrainian diasporas

To express your interest, please submit an abstract of no more than 300 words to cusp@ualberta.ca  by 2 April 2018.

The deadline for submission of complete manuscripts (up to 7,500 words, including references) is 10 October 2018. Only authors whose abstract is approved by the editors for publication will be invited to submit a complete manuscript.

For more information on East/West: Journal of Ukrainian Studies, see https://www.ewjus.com/.

For submission guidelines, please refer to https://www.ewjus.com/index.php/ewjus/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions.

 

 

Contact Information

Vita Yakovlyeva, PhD

Research Associate, Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta

Contact Email
cusp@ualberta.ca