Living the Independence Dream: Ukraine and Ukrainians in the Contemporary Socio-Political Context

For many Ukrainians, 1991 was a crucial point when their long-held dream of independence came true. The book project Living the Independence Dream takes a multi-dimensional look at the period of regained independence as a time of advancement towards the realization of collective dreams shaping the post-Soviet nation, even through everyday disappointments, anxiety, and uncertainty. The collection features personal accounts of several generations of Ukrainians who found themselves displaced by political upheavals in foreign lands, as well as the voices of recently displaced people who left the Donbas or other regions of Ukraine following the outbreak of the Russian aggression. It revisits the legacy of Soviet dissidents, and explores the ideologies of Ukrainian language revival and the ways that memory and language construct Ukrainian identity and generate vital energy amidst war.
The collection Living the Independence Dream aims to analyze the agency of contemporary Ukrainian people, and the role of media, literature, and digital folklore in creating new messages, meanings, and values formed during the Post-Independence decades.
The book will be published in 2023 by Vernon Press.
Editor:
Lada Kolomiyets
Harris Visiting Distinguished Professor at Dartmouth College
Contributors:
Martha Bohachevska-Chomiak
Historian, researcher, and civic activist
Bohdan Futey
Senior Judge of the United States Court of Federal Claims
Antonina Berezovenko
Senior Visiting Fellow, IERES, Elliott School, George Washington University
Olha Homilko
Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine