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The Ethnology Notebooks. 2023. № 2 (170), 448—458

UDK94(477.87+438+437.6=161.2)”19″

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2023.02.448

LEMKIVSTVO UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF «VELVET CHANGES» IN CENTRAL-EASTERN EUROPE

LYUBCHYK Ihor

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4649-5785
  • Doctor of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor, Professor,
  • Ivano-Frankivsk National Medical University,
  • Department of Ukrainian Studies and Philosophy,
  • 2 Halytska St., 76000, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e-mail: lubczyk-79@ukr.net

Abstract. Lemkivstvo is a general category of the community of natives of Lemkivshchyna, representatives of the Lemkos ethnographic group, their heirs, popularizers and connoisseurs of this most picturesque western ethnic group. The territory of Lemkivshchyna generally is part of the Polish-Ukrainian-Slovak borderlands. Lemkivstvo is a rich field for ethnopolitical research, especially such a scientific problem as the influence of official political practices on the identification manifestations of the people of the borderlands and their local and national identities. The article aims to analyse the Lemkos community’s situation under the influence of the «velvet changes» in Eastern Europe as a significant factor in social transformations in the borderlands. The source base of the work consists of rich material collected over a long period. The territory of the study covers the geographic area of the residence of the Lemkos and their descendants in Ukraine, Poland and Slovakia. Source material completely exhausts the object and subject of research. The research methodology is grounded on theoretical analysis, systematization and generalization, the historical review and observations of the author. After systematic analysis, careful research visions, balanced evaluations and generalization, the author concludes that the Lemkivstvo, under the influence of the «velvet changes» in Eastern Europe, have once again found themselves at the epicentre of the political struggle, whose leaders, often ignoring the principles of historical traditions and ethnocultural integration, manipulate national priorities, thus strengthening regional markers of Lemko/Ruthenian identity. The competitive nature of both approaches, strengthened by a structured public initiative well rooted in political and power circles, to overcome based on compromise solutions, seems to be an extremely difficult task today.

Keywords: Lemkivshchyna, Lemkos, Lemkivstvo, Rutheni ans, ethnopolitics, Velvet revolution, Ukraine, Poland, Slovakia.

Received 6.03.2023

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