[...]... maintained over time, the irony in the case of Ukrainians (and perhaps for other ethnic groups as well) is that their consciousness of themselves as Ukrainian did not develop until they were in the diaspora and was not part of the baggage that they brought to the diaspora In other words, many first-wave migrants became Ukrainian in the diaspora As is consistent with the literature on the social construction... genocide and penal servitude’ The Congress also wanted the Forum to ask the Ukrainian government to proclaim a Ukrainian Day of Sorrow and Memory for all Ukrainians who died in their fight for the survival of the Ukrainian nation (Ukrainian World Congress, 1997) In that same vein, the Ukrainian Canadian Civil Liberties Association (UCCLA), which was formed, in part, to lobby the Canadian government to... in the Kuban region of Russia alone there are estimated to be 4.2 million Ukrainians, but for political reasons Ukrainians were not allowed to identify themselves as ‘Ukrainians’ in the 1989 Soviet census (Pawliczko, 1994: 10) In other countries, there are less pernicious reasons for the varying estimates of the numbers of Ukrainians Some countries do not specifically measure the ethnic make-up of their... conditions, but at the same time many were also part of larger Russian plans for the colonization of the north and far east I also suggest, however, that many of the people who left Ukrainian territory at the turn of the century did not have a clear sense of themselves as Ukrainians when they arrived in the diaspora While one of the criteria of diaspora noted in the previous chapter is the existence of... of the same ways as Ukrainians For example, The Vanishing American Jew, by Alan Dershowitz (1997), has both comforted and alarmed some Ukrainians in the diaspora Some find solace in the fact that ‘even the Jews’ are being assimilated and are seeing the fortunes of their organizations decline; others suggest that if the Jews cannot withstand the forces of assimilation and survive as a diaspora, then there... percent of what they produced on their own land as a form of tribute or taxation The peasant-serfs were essentially the property of the landlord and therefore were subject to a variety of restrictions on their personal freedom, including their choice of a husband or wife, where they sold their surplus, and where they lived and worked Since the prosperity of the landlords depended on their ability to... Ukrainian case and that of other east central European groups Though this idea is still speculative and needs further research, the Ukrainian diaspora seems to have been less successful in becoming involved in the politics of the homeland than other diasporas The Ukrainian diaspora’s involvement in the politics of the homeland also seems to be less welcome in the homeland While there are political parties... some resonance for the analysis of the Ukrainian diaspora Though more research is needed on this issue, the differences 16 UKRAINIANS AND THE CONCEPT OF DIASPORA between the political cultures of Canada and the United States seem to have an important influence on the ways that the two diaspora communities understand themselves and relate to their respective ‘host’ societies and to the newly independent... women, the traditional female roles of mothering and homemaking ‘became magnified and carried special Ukrainian nuances’ Much of the community work of Ukrainian- Canadian women was organized by a larger commitment to the cause of an independent Ukraine and to the cultural survival of Ukrainians in the diaspora She also argues that ‘“being Ukrainian meant the obligation to follow in the footsteps of the. .. be revised, expanded and modified in the light of the Ukrainian experience 7 1 UKRAINIANS AND THE CONCEPT OF DIASPORA In the years immediately following World War II, the term ‘diaspora’ was not used by Ukrainians living outside of Ukraine Instead, it was much more common for them to think of themselves either as being ‘in the emigration’ or as ‘an immigration’ The diaspora label tended to be used . further research, the Ukrainian diaspora seems to have been less successful in becoming involved in the politics of the homeland than other diasporas. The Ukrainian diaspora s involvement in the. state of Israel even though they have their own reservations about some of the government’s policies. Furthermore, Ukrainians have pointed out that UKRAINIANS AND THE CONCEPT OF DIASPORA 10 Jews. a good number of the survivors, veterans of the SS Galicia Division, did return for a reunion laid on by the Lvov City Council — Ukrainian SS veterans now living in Canada, the United States