Ukrainian Revival or Imposition: Language Politics in Transition-Era Dnipropetrovsk, 1989-1997

• In Event: Language Dynamics in Transition: Case Studies from Ukraine, North America, and Estonia

Abstract

This paper examines activists’ perceptions of and responses to the rise of Ukrainian as the sole
state language of the UkrSSR and then independent Ukraine through the example of
Russophone Dnipropetrovsk. The two groups of activists under consideration—liberal
opponents of the CPU before 1991 and communist opponents of President Kuchma after
1994—regarded the Law of the Languages (1989) and its enforcement as consequential in
shaping Dnipropetrovsk’s identity. The liberals argued that Dnipropetrovsk was inherently
Ukrainophone and called for Kyiv's help to break local elites' opposition to the law; in contrast,
the communists presented the city as inherently Russophone and demanded that Kyiv respect
the region's linguistic particularities. Both groups presented Dnipropetrovsk as a decisive
battleground in the fate of the central state’s language policy. This analysis demonstrates the
activists' shared civic engagement with the new political center Kyiv across political views and linguistic preferences. Through print media from Dnipropetrovsk, I provide a local snapshot of
a greater language debate during a critical transition period in Ukraine’s history.

Author

• Shawn Conroy, Ohio State U