Burden of Dreams: History and Identity in Post-Soviet Ukraine / Edition 1

by Catherine Wanner

Overview

Ukraine is the largest new state to appear on the map of Europe this century. With a population of more than 50 million people and a territory larger than France, the new Ukrainian state faces many challenges, not least of which is to forge a national identity after years of Soviet rule. Burden of Dreams examines daily life in Soviet and post-Soviet Ukraine, showing why Ukrainian nationalism and its program of "Ukrainianization" have appealed to the largest Russian diaspora and to millions of Russified Ukrainians.

Focusing on schools, festivals, commemorative ceremonies, and monuments, Catherine Wanner shows how Soviet-created narratives have been recast to reflect a post-Soviet Ukrainocentric perspective. In the process, we see how new histories are understood and acted upon. This reveals regional cleavages and the resilience of cultural differences produced by the Soviet regime. For some people, the system they criticized yesterday is the one they long for today.

The struggle to remember or to forget is particularly intense in post-Soviet societies. Burden of Dreams is especially valuable for showing us the monumental task facing a Ukrainian state that is seeking to craft cultural solidarity after years of Soviet rule.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780271017938
Publisher:	Penn State University Press
Publication date:	10/08/1998
Series:	Post-Communist Cultural Studies
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	288
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.75(d)

About the Author

Catherine Wanner is a Lecturer in Anthropology and Political Science at Penn State University.

What People are Saying About This

Jane Dawson

Wanner offers a fascinating look at the realities of life in Soviet and post-Soviet society. Her ambitious synthesis of theory and case study sets the book apart from most of the work being done in this field. Burden of Dreams will be valuable to students and scholars in anthropology, sociology, political science, and post-Communist studies.

Editorial Reviews

A multi-site ethnography of processes--specifically, the processes and dynamics involved in converting a nationalist ideology into an institutionalized national culture and a meaningful national identity in the aftermath of the Soviet socialist experiment. Moves beyond the traditional Max Weber definition of the state as the unit that has a monopoly on the use of violence within a territorially circumscribed space, contending that the nature of state power is changing, relying more upon the ability to craft a nation out of a diverse population and cultivate allegiance. Paper edition (unseen), $18.95. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.

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