National Identity in the Information Age: Evolution of Views in the Ukrainian Dimension of the Problem

Abstract

The article examines the key directions of modern understanding of the issue of formation, experience and evolution of national identity by Ukrainian researchers and public intellectuals. The dialectical connection of these reflections with the Russian Ukrainian war is emphasized. It is emphasized that it is the aggression and threat to the Ukrainian identity that accelerates and deepens its experiences. At the same time, it is determined that the identity practices of Ukrainians are an important ideological component of resistance. Among such practices, national self-reflections and positioning in the global information space are highlighted. This article aims to identify the main directions and issues for scientific understanding, actualized by the war. Modern theories of glocalization, postcolonialism, and decolonization, as well as the peculiarities of their application to Ukrainian studies, are characterized as the scientific basis for identity reflections. The authors traced the development of the scientific study of the problem of national identity in its evolution, outlined the current directions of research determined by the realities of war and the public demand for worldview opposition to the aggressor. Areas and issues that require further understanding have been identified. As such are defined the formation of the Ukrainian view on the nature of Russian imperialism; study of the impact of the post-truth concept on post-imperial positioning; emphasizing the multiplicity of colonial experiences and methodologies and positioning the Ukrainian experience; Ukrainians’ understanding of the imperial experience as their own, at least partially.

Keywords

• identity, public intellectuals, postcoloniality, decolonization.