Ukraine and Ukrainians Throughout the World

Myroslav Shkandrij is head of the Department of German and Slavic
Studies at the University of Manitoba and editor of The Cultural
Renaissance in Ukraine: Polemical Pamphlets, 1925-1926.

This book gives an overview of the various Ukrainian communities
world-wide, their demographic and social characteristics, cultural and
religious life, educational focus, major concerns, and significant
events of the last few years. It will be a useful resource to those
researching the origins and dispersal patterns of a multifarious ethos,
because it presents a relatively new and stimulating approach to the
study of ethnicity. It will also be useful to those seeking a sense of
“who Ukrainians are and about the nature of the Ukrainian diaspora.”

Notwithstanding the above, the book has weaknesses. Its main focus is
on the European (particularly Western European), North American, and
South American Ukrainian communities, rather than the enormous community
in the former USSR. Many facts, particularly among those in the Ukraine
section, are already badly outdated. The discussion of Ukrainian
cultural history is so curt that it is misleading and at times barely
comprehensible. The key concepts of assimilation, acculturation, and
integration are not analyzed. And finally, the editor’s assumption
appears to be that there is one well-defined, homogeneous cultural and
identity that can either be preserved or lost; there is nothing in
between. Pawliczko’s self-congratulatory emigré perspective comes
through most forcefully when several stunning claims are made for the
diaspora, among them that it can “restore to Ukraine its cherished
culture—literature, music, art, dance, and folk arts—suppressed
until recently in the homeland, but carefully preserved abroad.” One
can only wonder at how intellectuals and cultural figures in Ukraine
would react to this.

Although the collection by 28 authors and contributors is uneven, it
contains a great deal of valuable statistical and historical
documentation.