Derussification Strategies in the Management of Public Information: The Case of Latvia and Ukraine

• In Event: Shifting Language Policies and Practices in the Shadow of the War in Ukraine (II)

Abstract

Public discourses about Russia’s war in Ukraine show that culture and language can be used both as a reason for geopolitical ambitions, military attacks, and violence, and as a strong argument for national self-determination, national unity, and military defense. That is why one of the approaches to language policy and practice in Ukraine and the Baltic states is to distance oneself from everything connected with imperialist and modern Putin’s Russia. Derussification as part of decommunization is one way of doing this (Grytsenko 2022).
Our presentation will focus on the comparison of derussification in public information (linguistic landscape and media) in the two countries: Latvia and Ukraine. We are aware that the general situation in both countries is different, the implemented changes at the macro-mesa-micro level are of different scope and intensity, and that the linguistic proximity of the national languages and the Russian language is different. But at the same time, we believe that metalinguistic activities in revising and transforming language policy and management are comparable, learning from good practices and avoiding the other country’s mistakes (if any).

Author

• Solvita Burr, University of Latvia