Kharkiv’s Local and Global Conversations: Mythologies and Identities of a Borderland City

Session Submission Type: Panel

Brief Description

Kharkiv is a classic borderland city. Constant changes in Eastern Europe’s political and cultural space, the emergence of new borders and the transparency of former ones, and the specific features of modernization and national processes, all contributed to the formation of Kharkiv’s dynamic identity and diverse realities. This panel traces some of the conversations about Kharkiv’s Ukrainian and Jewish myths and identities, Kharkiv’s languages and cultural life, and the image of Kharkiv as a “capital” and its representation in the Russian, Ukrainian, and Soviet national narratives.

Sub Unit

• Arts: Art History, Architecture, Dance, Museum, Music, Photography, Theatre

Chair

• Nadieszda Kizenko, SUNY Albany

Papers

• Native Language Obligation and the Challenge of Self-identification: Myth, Ethnography and Nationalism." - Svitlana V. Malykhina, Boston U

• Kharkiv in Linguistic Thought and Language Practice - Antonina Vitaliivna Berezovenko, National Technical U of Ukraine "KPI" (Ukraine)

• The Phenomenon of Kharkov Jewry: Prosperity during Imperial Discrimination, Zionism and Communism, 1900-1925 - Shimon Briman, Ukrainian Jewish Encounter

Discussant

• Volodymyr Kravchenko, U of Alberta (Canada)