Constructing the Narratives of Identity and Power

Self-Imagination in a Young Ukrainian Nation

Karina V. Korostelina

Twenty years ago Ukraine gained its independence and started on a path towards a free market economy and democratic governance. After four successive presidents and the Orange Revolution, the question of exactly which national model Ukraine should embrace remains an open question. Constructing the Narratives of Identity and Power provides a comprehensive outlook on Ukraine as it is presented through the views of intellectual and political elites. Based on extensive field work in Ukraine, Karina V. Korostelina describes the complex process of nation building. Despite the prevailing belief in a divide between two parts of Ukraine and an overwhelming variety of incompatible visions, Korostelina reveals seven prevailing conceptual models of Ukraine and five dominant narratives of national identity.
Constructing the Narratives of Identity and Power analyzes the practice of national self-imagination. Karina V. Korostelina puts forward a structural-functional model of national narratives that describes three major components, dualistic order, mythic narratives, and normative order, and two main functions of national narratives, the development of the meaning of national identity and the legitimization of power. Korostelina describes the differences and conflicting elements of the national narratives that constitute the contested arena of nation-building in Ukraine.

Lexington Books

Pages: 266 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-0-7391-8393-9 • Hardback • December 2013 • $133.00 • (£102.00)

978-1-4985-5660-6 • Paperback • March 2017 • $59.99 • (£46.00)

978-0-7391-8394-6 • eBook • December 2013 • $57.00 • (£44.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Ethnic Studies / General, History / Social History, Social Science / Regional Studies, History / Europe / Eastern

Constructing the Narratives of Identity and Power

Self-Imagination in a Young Ukrainian Nation

Hardback

Paperback

eBook

Summary

Twenty years ago Ukraine gained its independence and started on a path towards a free market economy and democratic governance. After four successive presidents and the Orange Revolution, the question of exactly which national model Ukraine should embrace remains an open question. Constructing the Narratives of Identity and Power provides a comprehensive outlook on Ukraine as it is presented through the views of intellectual and political elites. Based on extensive field work in Ukraine, Karina V. Korostelina describes the complex process of nation building. Despite the prevailing belief in a divide between two parts of Ukraine and an overwhelming variety of incompatible visions, Korostelina reveals seven prevailing conceptual models of Ukraine and five dominant narratives of national identity.
Constructing the Narratives of Identity and Power analyzes the practice of national self-imagination. Karina V. Korostelina puts forward a structural-functional model of national narratives that describes three major components, dualistic order, mythic narratives, and normative order, and two main functions of national narratives, the development of the meaning of national identity and the legitimization of power. Korostelina describes the differences and conflicting elements of the national narratives that constitute the contested arena of nation-building in Ukraine.

Details

Lexington Books

Pages: 266 • Trim: 6¼ x 9½

978-0-7391-8393-9 • Hardback • December 2013 • $133.00 • (£102.00)

978-1-4985-5660-6 • Paperback • March 2017 • $59.99 • (£46.00)

978-0-7391-8394-6 • eBook • December 2013 • $57.00 • (£44.00)

Subjects: Social Science / Ethnic Studies / General, History / Social History, Social Science / Regional Studies, History / Europe / Eastern

Author

Karina V. Korostelina is associate professor and director of the Program on History, Memory, and Conflict in the School for Conflict Analysis and Resolution at George Mason University.

Table of Contents

IntroductionChapter 1 Structure and Functions of National Narrative
Chapter 2. The Context of UkraineChapter 3. National Narratives of Ukrainian Elite
Chapter 4. Impact from Outside: Ukraine in Narratives of International Donors and Experts
Chapter 5. The Image of Ukrainian Future
Chapter 6. Conclusion: Production of Meaning in National Narratives in Ukraine
Bibliography