The Greeks of Ukraine: History and Present

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

The panel seeks to explore the ethnic diversity of Ukraine, focusing on one of the oldest minorities living on its territory, the Greeks. The panelists discuss the history, culture, language, and current condition of the Greek of Ukraine. Exploring different Ukrainian Greek diasporas, from Lviv’s Greeks to the different groups of the Mariupol Greeks, and the Greeks of Crimea, the panel gives a new understanding of how Ukraine’s Greeks can be located in history and culture in relation both to the culture of Ukraine and the culture of Greece.

The independent democratic Ukraine allowed the Greeks, who had been a persecuted minority in the Soviet Union, to revive their traditions, media, and education. Now, when Russia’s invasion put the culture and very existence of the Mariupol Greeks, the biggest Greek enclave of the country, under the risk of being erased, it is particularly important to retain knowledge about them, and make sure they are not forgotten.

Sub Unit

• Anthropology, Cultural Studies

Chair

• Nataliya Karageorgos, Wesleyan U

Papers

• 'The Forgotten Greeks': Economic and Political Specification of the Greek Diaspora in the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th-17th Centuries - Ihor Lylo, U of Kansas

• Preserving the Legacy of the Mariupol Greeks: A Digital Approach - Tatiana Liubchenko, Union of the Greeks of Ukraine in Greece (Greece)

Discussant

• Nataliya Karageorgos, Wesleyan U