Ukrainization

Not to be confused with Derussification in Ukraine.
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Ukrainization (Ukrainian: Українізація [ʊkɾɐˌjiɲiˈzat͡sijɐ]) or Ukrainisation is a policy or practice of increasing the usage and facilitating the development of the Ukrainian language and promoting other elements of Ukrainian culture in various spheres of public life such as education, publishing, government, and religion. The term is also used to describe a process by which non-Ukrainians or Russian-speaking Ukrainians are assimilated to Ukrainian culture and language, either by individual choices or as a result of social processes or policies.

In Western historiography, the term Ukrainization refers also to a policy and resulting process of forcing ethnic minorities living on Ukrainian territories to abandon their ethnic identity by means of the enforced assimilation of Ukrainian culture and identity. During the aftermath of World War II, in the Ukrainian SSR this process had been preceded by the expulsion of some ethnic minorities[1][2] and appropriation of their cultural heritage.[3][4] "Ukrainization" is also used in the context of these acts.

After the Declaration of Independence of Ukraine in 1991, the government of Ukraine began following a policy of Ukrainization,[5] to increase the use of Ukrainian while discouraging Russian, which has been gradually phased out from the country's education system,[6] government,[7] and national TV, radio programs, and films.[citation needed] Until 2017, the law "On Education" granted Ukrainian families (parents and their children) a right to choose their native language for schools and studies.[8][9] This law was revised to make the Ukrainian language the primary language of education in all schools, except for children of ethnic minorities, who are to be taught in their own language and later on bilingual.[9][10]

  1. ^ Norman Davies, God's Playground, a History of Poland, Columbia University Press, 1982, ISBN 0231053525, p.558
  2. ^ Pavel Polian (2004-01-01). Against Their Will: The History and Geography of Forced Migrations in the USSR. Central European University Press, 2004. ISBN 978-963-9241-68-8.
  3. ^ Tarik Cyril Amar, "A Murder in Lwów. The End of a Multi-Ethnic City, the Making of a Soviet-Ukrainian Lviv, and the Fate of a Model Borderland City", "Nowa Ukraina", vol. 1-2/2007, p. 107-121
  4. ^ Patricia Kennedy Grimsted. Trophies of war and empire: the archival heritage of Ukraine, World War II, and the international politics of restitution. 2001. Harvard Ukrainian Research Institute. p. 163.
  5. ^ "Світова преса про вибори в Україні-2004". Архіви України. Archived from the original on 2009-01-08. Retrieved 2008-01-07.
  6. ^ Volodymyr Malynkovych, Ukrainian perspective, Politicheskiy Klass, January, 2006. "Людей фактически лишают права получать образование и реализовывать свой потенциал на русском языке, родном для каждого третьего украинца, для большинства жителей Левобережья. В Центральной и Западной Украине практически не осталось русских школ. В 16 областях из 13000 школ только 26 русские (0,2%). Даже в Киеве русских школ почти не осталось - 6 из 452. Еще хуже ситуация с вузами - в 19 областях нет ни одного вуза с преподаванием на русском языке. В украинских же школах русская литература включена в курс зарубежной литературы, и Гоголя дети должны читать в переводе на украинский. По сути, только в Донбассе и в Крыму сохраняется полноценное русское образование." [In practice, they deprive people of the right to receive their education and to realize their potential in the Russian language, which is the native tongue of every third Ukrainian, and the native tongue for the majority of the inhabitants of Left-Bank Ukraine. In Central and Western Ukraine practically no Russian schools remain. In 16 oblasts [of the 24 Ukrainian oblasts], out of 13,000 schools only 26 are Russian (0.2%). Even in Kyiv almost no Russian schools remain: 6 out of the 452. The situation with tertiary education is even worse: in 19 oblasts there is not a single tertiary institution with instruction carried out in the Russian language. And in Ukrainian schools Russian literature is included in the syllabus for foreign literature, and children must read Gogol in Ukrainian translation. In fact, only in the Donbas and in the Crimea is a proper Russian education preserved.]
  7. ^ "Constitutional court forbad a socialist to report in foreign language". Korrespondent (in Russian). Retrieved June 7, 2007.
  8. ^ Ukraine/ Compendium of Cultural Policies and Trends in Europe, 10th edition Archived 2017-12-23 at the Wayback Machine, Council of Europe (2009)
  9. ^ a b New education law becomes effective in Ukraine
  10. ^ Beyond the scandal: what is Ukraine’s new education law really about?