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The Ethnology Notebooks. 2026. № 3 (189), 781—790

UDK94+39+91](=161.2)(438+437.6+477.8)

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/

LEMKIVSHCHYNA, LEMKI AND LEMKIVSTVO: CHALENGES OF THE MODERN AGE

LYUBCHYK Ihor

  • ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000­0003­4649­5785
  • Doctor of Historical Sciences,
  • Head of the Department,
  • Ivano­Frankivsk National Medical University,
  • Department of Ukrainian Studies and Philosophy,
  • 2, Halytska Str., 76000, Ivano­Frankivsk, Ukraine,
  • Contacts: e­-mail: lubczyk­79@ukr.net

Abstract. In this article, the author focuses on one of the western most Ukrainian historical and ethnographic regions — Lemkivshchyna — which today lies beyond the administrative borders of Ukraine.

 The aim of this paper is to analyze the specific ethnopolitical challenges faced by the Lemkos in the modern era and to highlight the issues of preserving and consolidating the contemporary Lemko community as a powerful civic and cultural movement.

The source base of the study consists of representative material collected over an extended period.

The research area encompasses the geographical distribution of the Lemkos and their descendants in Ukraine, Poland, and Slovakia.

 The research methodology is based on theoretical analysis, systematization and generalization, historical review, and the author’s observations. Following a systemic analysis, research perspectives, balanced assessments, and generalizations, the author concludes that Lemkivshchyna as a region, the Lemkos as an ethnic group, and the contemporary Lemko community in the modern era have been at the epicenter of distinct political challenges.

These ranged from the imposition of civic initiatives and the implementation of state assimilation policies to forced deportations, all of which aimed to destroy the region and erase the traces of the Lemkos’ national memory.

Keywords: Lemkivshchyna, ethnopolitics, Lemko­Rusyns, deportation, Lemkos identity.

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