Multidimensional identity among the youth Bulgarians in diaspora: Case study of Odessa, Ukraine

Abstract

The aim of the paper is to present the results of research conducted in 2013, on the migration strategies among young Bulgarians from the historical Bulgarian diaspora in South Ukraine. The research is the result of a combined methodology - a survey among university students of Bulgarian origin in the city of Odessa and school graduates from high-schools with a Bulgarian Language education (city of Bolgrad and the village of Chiyshia), as well as individual interviews. The main results show a balanced ratio of those willing to temporarily migrate to the “Historic Motherland” (Bulgaria) for education and work purposes, and those who do not declare any willingness for migration as such. The formation process of a certain malleable identities among the young representatives of the Bulgarian community in the Southwestern Ukraine is clearly evident from the represented results.

Keywords

• migration strategy
• migration willingness
• identity
• diaspora
• Bessarabic Bulgarians
• Ukraine