Narrating the Imperial Past: Public Space and the Politics of Memory in Post - Soviet Ukraine

苏联的解体和前加盟共和国的民主化进程引发了对主流叙事的重写，并为一个独立的乌克兰国家塑造了一个特定的民族身份。这包括重新评估作为帝国中心的乌克兰和俄罗斯之间的关系，以及重新评估苏联统治下的乌克兰历史和发展新的国家记忆政治。2004年的橙色革命和尤先科总统领导下的记忆倡议明确驳斥了“兄弟般的”乌克兰和俄罗斯人民之间“永恒友谊”的神话，并谴责了共产主义政权对乌克兰人犯下的罪行。这场革命带来了新的方面，比如乌克兰发展中亲欧和亲俄两派之间的紧张关系。这反映在不同记忆代理的活动中。当总统专注于乌克兰在苏联统治时期的经历时，当地精英们转向了遥远的过去，当时乌克兰的许多领土属于奥匈帝国和俄罗斯帝国（敖德萨的叶卡捷琳娜二世纪念碑和切尔诺夫茨的弗朗茨约瑟夫纪念碑）。​国家记忆学家开始质疑俄罗斯帝国人物在乌克兰历史和文化记忆中有多大的地位。敖德萨的凯瑟琳三世纪念碑备受争议，人们对此给予了特别关注。与乌克兰民族主义者一致，乌克兰国家记忆研究所（UINM）呼吁拆除这座雕像，引发了关于俄罗斯纪念碑命运的辩论，涉及广泛的地方和国家行动者。

The collapse of the USSR and democratization processes in the formerrepublics triggered the rewriting of master narratives and the shaping of a specificnational identityfor an independent Ukrainian state. This involved the reassessment of the relations between Ukraineand Russia as an imperial center, as well as reevaluations of Ukrainian history under Soviet rule andthe development of new national memory politics.The Orange Revolution of 2004 and memory initiatives under President Yushchenkoclearlyarticulated refuted the myth of 'eternal friendship' between the 'brotherly' Ukrainian and Russianpeoples and condemned the crimes of the Communist regime against Ukrainians. The revolution putnew aspects, such as tension between pro-European and pro-Russian vectors of Ukraine'sdevelopment, on the agenda. This was mirrored in the activities of diverse memory agents. While thePresident concentrated on the experiences of Ukraine during Soviet rule, local elites turned to adistant past, when various Ukrainian territories belonged to the Austro-Hungarian and Russianempires (monuments to Catherine II in Odesa and to Franz Joseph in Chernivtsi).Discrepancies between pro-European and pro-Russian orientations became clear during theEuro-Maidanprotests in 2013-2014 and conflict with Russian-backed separatists. State memoryactors began to question to what extent Russian imperial figures have a place in Ukrainian history andcultural memory. Particular attention has been paid to the highly disputed monument to Catherine IIin Odesa. In agreement with Ukrainian nationalists, the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory(UINM) called for the statue's removal, provoking debate about the fate of Russian monumentallegacy, involving a wide range of local and state actors.