Description
Book SynopsisThis is an award-winning exploration of both the histories and personal stories of fourteen ethnic minority groups living within the boundaries of present-day Ukraine: Czechs and Slovaks, Meskhetian Turks, Swedes, Romanians, Hungarians, Roma, Jews, Liptaks, Gagauzes, Germans, Vlachs, Poles, Crimean Tatars, and Armenians. Based on a combination of academic research, fieldwork, and interviews, Olesya Yaremchuks literary reportages paint realistic, thoughtful, and historically informed depictions of how these various groups arrived in Ukraine and how they have fared within the countrys borders. Accompanied by vivid photographs that bring the reportages to life, Our Others is in some respects a chronicle of the myriad voluntary and forced migrations that have rolled through Ukraine for centuries. Simultaneously, the book offers a tender -- and timely -- study of the little islands of cultural diversity in Ukraine that have survived the Soviet steamroller of planned linguistic, cultural, and religious unification and that deserve acknowledgement in Ukraines broader cultural identity. The volumes contributors are: Marta Barnych (contributing co-author), Anton Semyzhenko (contributing co-author), Ostap Slyvynsky (foreword)
Trade Review"The stories in Our Others are, first and foremost, about rupture and dispersion -- of individual people, families, and entire nations. The author has taken on a great responsibility: of lending a voice to the unheard, to those society prefers to not notice, to those who are permitted to express themselves and become visible only within predefined limits." -- Bohdana Romantsova, PhD, literary critic
Table of ContentsForeword by Ostap Slyvynsky; Apples From a Forgotten Garden; In a Race Against War; The Island of Gammalsvenskby; Teacherss Day; Cleaved; Olha Petrivna, the Baron; Wheres Mama?; Station L; White Sun, Black Wine; The Sway of the Guilder; Music Played on Wooden Spoons; The Polish Experiment; Home; Solitude Amidst Walnut Trees; Acknowledgments.
