Parallel Nations: Ukrainian, Russian, and Imperial Identity in Right-Bank Little Russia Restricted; Files & ToC

Abstract

Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of neighboring Ukraine was premised on the belief that Russians and Ukrainians are two of three branches (along with Belarusians) that make up one Orthodox East Slavic nation. He based this claim on a belief that Russians and Ukrainians share political and linguistic history dating back to the ninth century Rurikid Dynasty and Church Slavonic, and a shared religious history dating back to the tenth century Orthodox Baptism of Vladimir I. Under his leadership, Putin hopes to see the Orthodox East Slavic world united. His rhetoric is not new. In 1833, under the reign of Tsar Nicholas I, Count Sergei Uvarov theorized Official Nationality. The goal was to create an identity into which all imperial subjects could be integrated under the interlocking concepts of religious orthodoxy, political autocracy, and narodnost (most commonly translated as nationality). In response to the rise of nationalism in Europe, the tsars would attempt to implement Official Nationality until the Empire’s collapse in 1917. Their most extensive attempts took place in the Southwestern borderlands, comprised primarily of the modern Ukrainian lands, then known as Little Russia. Paired with the attempt to implement Official Nationality in these borderlands were efforts to Russianize and Russify the local population. Some Little Russian intellectuals, however, saw their land and history as exceptional. From this view, they began the intellectual development of their own nation, a Ukrainian nation, that was incompatible with Official Nationality. Much like Ukrainians are doing today, these intellectuals eventually asserted that their nation was distinct from Russia and deserved independence. Much like how the tsars responded in the nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries, Putin has denied the historical basis for the existence of a distinct Ukrainian nation. Whether Putin’s Russia shares the fate of tsarist Russia is for time to tell.

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About this Honors Thesis

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School	Emory College
Department	History
Degree	B.A.
Submission	Honors Thesis
Language	English
Research Field	History, European East European Studies History, Russian and Soviet
Mot-clé	Borderlands Little Russia Russian Empire Official Nationality Russophile Russianization National Indifference Empire Tsarist Russia Nationalism Ukrainophile Russification Inorodtsy
Committee Chair / Thesis Advisor	Matthew Payne, Emory University
Committee Members	Ellie Schainker, Emory University Hubert Tworzecki, Emory University

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