| Ukraine
is the largest new state to appear on the map of Europe this century.
With a population of more than 50 million people and a territory larger
than France, the new Ukrainian state faces many challenges, not least
of which is to forge a national identity after years of Soviet rule. Burden of Dreams examines daily life in Soviet and post-Soviet
Ukraine, showing why Ukrainian nationalism and its program of "Ukrainianization"have
appealed to the largest Russian diaspora and to millions of Russified
Ukrainians.
Focusing on schools, festivals, commemorative ceremonies, and monuments,
Catherine Wanner shows how Soviet-created narratives have been recast
to reflect a post-Soviet Ukrainocentric perspective. In the process,
we see how new histories are understood and acted upon. This reveals
regional cleavages and the resilience of cultural differences produced
by the Soviet regime. For some people, the system they criticized
yesterday is the one they long for today.
The struggle to remember or to forget is particularly intense in
post-Soviet societies. Burden of Dreams is especially valuable
for showing us the monumental task facing a Ukrainian state that
is seeking to craft cultural solidarity after years of Soviet rule. |
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