- Trial lecture starts at: 10:00
- Public defence starts at: 12:00
Title of trial lecture: Discuss how the theoretical and methodological concepts of “ethnic placemaking” and “imagined communities” can be used to approach the present-day context of Ukraine and the situation of displaced Ukrainians abroad today
Read the thesis in Nasjonalt Vitenarkiv
Disputation chair: Dean Ingunn Folkestad Breistein
Assessment committee:
- First opponent: Associate professor Per Anders Rudling, University of Lund
- Second opponent: Associate professor Yuliya Yurchuk, University of Sødertorn
- Chair of assessment committee: Associate professor Trond Bjerkås, UiA
Supervisors in the doctoral work:
- Main supervisor: professor Christa Wirth, UiA
- Co-supervisor: postdoctor Diána Vonnák
Summary of thesis
Building Ukraine in the Cold War in Europe and the U.S.: Displaced Persons Camps and Diasporic Communities
Summary
Combining migration history and heritage studies in my dissertation, I analyze the construction of Ukrainian identity among post-World War II displaced persons (DPs) in the U.S., examining how it has been transformed by the Cold War’s geopolitical and ideological circumstances. The corpus of primary sources I work with includes media, memoirs, documents, space-based observations, and interviews conducted in Ukrainian American communities in New York and New Jersey in 2024. I begin my journey in Displaced Persons Camps (DPCs) in the U.S.-occupied zone of Germany. I then trace narratives of identity across media, memoirs, and interviews, viewing heritage sites in urban and suburban areas as spaces for dialogue and the continuation of these identities in the U.S. Drawing on the core concepts of “imagined community” and “ethnic placemaking,” I apply a constructivist perspective in my research.
I argue that Ukrainian identity in the U.S. emerged through three intersecting processes. Firstly, Ukrainian identity crystallized in sites of displacement and segregation – DPCs in post-World War II Germany, and ethnic neighborhoods in the U.S. Ukrainian nationalist elites and émigré organizations promoted identity-building to strengthen the community and win entry to the U.S. The Cold War conditions significantly influenced the emergence of Ukrainian anti-communist identity. Secondly, the construction of a Ukrainian victimhood-centered narrative, emphasizing Soviet oppressions, positioned Ukrainians as victims of communism and participants in the broader U.S. Cold War strategy. Thirdly, the transformation of the U.S. community through class mobility, suburbanization, and the ethnic revival of the 1970s facilitated the accumulation of resources needed to anchor a particular type of Ukrainian heritage in neighborhoods.
Thus, I trace the continuity of identity with an emphasis on spatial dimension. The Ukrainian community in the U.S. fostered a distinct Western Ukrainian identity, excluding competing narratives. Cold War politics led to an unequal distribution of political and financial resources, thereby reinforcing this anti-communist identity. Traumatic experiences of displacement, ideological tensions, and the Cold War shaped Ukrainian identity in the U.S. The diasporic identity, forged in exile, informed Ukraine’s nation-building at home after 1991 and continues to shape official public memory narratives today.
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The disputation is open to the public. To follow the trial lecture and the public defence online, register on Zoom.
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Opponent ex auditorio:
Deadline for the public to pose questions is during the break between the two opponents. Questions ex auditorio can be submitted to disputation chair.
Contact:
- lise.moss@uia.no
- Phone
- +47 38 14 20 58