Culture, Nation and Identity: The Ukrainian-Russian Encounter, 1600-1945 by A. s> Kappeler Z. E. Kohut F. E. Sysyn , M. von Hagen (review)

354 SEER, 82, 2, 2004 of such fine quality dedicated to the history of a European people that even until now largelyremainsan 'unexpected nation' to the West. LucyCavendish College L. V. CHARIPOVA University ofCambridge Kappeler, A., Kohut, Z. E., Sysyn, F. E. and von Hagen, M. (eds). Culture, NationandIdentity: The Ukrainian-Russian Encounter, I600-I945. Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Press, Edmonton and Toronto, 2003. xiv + 382 pp. Notes. $24.95 (paperback). THE above volume collects together the papers from three conferences organizedin New Yorkand Cologne in 1994-95. Most show evidence of more recent revision and readerscan be assuredof a high qualitythroughout. The vast majorityof contributorsalso stickclosely to the general theme. There are sixteen contributions in all. In the first section ('The Early Modern Period'),Viktor Zhivov, David Frick,Zenon Kohut, Hans-Joachim Torke and Frank Sysyn address the complicated interaction of Ruthenian, East Slavic and 'Commonwealth' identities in the two centurieseither side of I654. All provide a rich discussion of rapidly changing identities, pronouns and place names; and are appropriatelycounterfactual rather than teleological . The readeris not subjectedto the assumptionof an existing or eventual Ukrainian identity as manifest destiny. Most also feed off David Frick'sapt comment that 'at least for some of the Ruthenian elite, mental geographies changed more slowly than, and at times in directions somewhat different from, political realities'(p. 20). In parttwo ('The ImperialPeriod'),Olga Andriewsky'sessayon the 'Failure of the "Little Russian Solution"' provides an intriguing foretaste of her forthcoming book. Andreas Kappeler discussesethnic hierarchies;Christine Worobec looks at the Russian and Ukrainian peasantries. Serhy Yekelchyk provides another of his stimulating essays in cultural studies by looking at school history texts in the nineteenth century. Paul Bushkovitchwidens the context: answeringthe question 'Whatis Russia?'by arguingthat the empire's state-centredidentitypolitics meant that even the East Slavic 'ethnic' identity was relatively underdeveloped. George Grabowicz argues that the Kotliarevshchyna embodied more than the burlesque. Its characteristicUkrainian strategycombining subtle imperial subversionand Aesopic self-assertioncan also be found in writersas seemingly 'imperial'(i.e. Soviet)as PavloTychyna. In the third section ('The Twentieth Century'), Oleh Ilnytzkyj gives a provocative analysis of the crucial contest between Russian and Ukrainian 'high cultures'at the turn of the century, and assertsthat 'among Ukrainians, the death of the all-Russian idea, as an idea, occurred long before i99I' (p. 304) as early as the I9IOS in fact. Although Ilnytzkyj cites many Ukrainian Modernists writing convincingly to this effect, this remains an untested proposition at the level of mass social consciousness. Yuri Shapoval writes on 'The GPU-NKVD as an Instrument of Counter-Ukrainization in the I920S and I930s': that is, on the institutionalpluralismwhich allowed one section of the Bolshevik elite to oppose the Ukrainization policy from its REVIEWS 355 inception. Shapoval's Ukrainian colleague StanislavKulchytskydiscussesthe debates surrounding the establishment of the Ukrainian SSR. Dieter Pohl discussesthe differentialimpact German occupation had on Ukrainians and Russians in I941-43; and Mark von Hagen argues the case that the First WorldWardecisivelyaccelerated the maturationof the ethnic question in the Romanov empire. How well does all of this fit together? The declared general theme of the volume is the study of 'the construction, destruction, and reformulation of identities among Russians and Ukrainians of all social origins'; not just as 'Ukrainians'and 'Russians',but as actual or potential bearersof other selves, including past '"all-Russian"and East Slavic identities' (p. ix). A related aim is therefore to demonstrate how the Ukrainian idea has shaped Russian identityjust as much as that of its own targetaudience. As such, the collection succeeds admirably. This is an unusually coherent and always interesting volume, of greatvalue to historiansand studentsof national identityalike. School ofSlavonic andEastEuropean Studies ANDREW WILSON University College London Kokkonen, Jukka. Rajaseutu liikkeessd. Kainuun ja PielisenKadalanasukkaiden kontaktit, Venajan Kagalaan kreivin ajasta sarkasotaan (I650-I7 I2). Bibliotheca Historica, 79. SuomalaisenKirjallisuudenSeura,Helsinki, 2002. 439 pp. Maps. Illustrations. Tables. Notes. Appendices. Bibliography. Index. Priceunknown. THE bordercountrybetween Sweden-Finlandand Russiain the earlymodern period was a thinly populated area, only loosely supervised by central governments on both sides. There were sporadic border markers but the actual frontierwas vague and virtuallyuncontrolled.People and goods moved freelyin both directions,sometimeslegally, sometimesnot, and a considerable trade built up, especially since...

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