(Re-)Inventing Multiculturalism in Ukraine: Models, Practices, and Discourses

It is well known that Ukrainian Canadians played an instrumental role in the development and implementation of the policy of multiculturalism and have significantly benefited from it. However, European experience with multiculturalism seems to be much more complicated.

The Contemporary Ukraine Studies Program (CUSP) of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies (CIUS), University of Alberta, in partnership with the Karazin Kharkiv National University (Ukraine) is taking this opportunity to revisit the idea of multiculturalism in its relation to Ukraine.

Considering multiple meanings of multiculturalism (a signifier of demographic diversity, a political philosophy of equality, a set of policies, or a public discourse), we would like to discuss the achievements and challenges of different models of multiculturalism from a European and global comparative perspective. In particular, we would like to ask:

• Does the idea and practices of multiculturalism compatible with the process of post-Soviet nation-state-building?

• What can be learned from the experience of the Ukrainian immigrant communities in other countries and immigrants inside Ukraine to develop a more efficient policy towards accommodating ethno-racial and religious diversity?
• With a focus on Ukraine today, how such axes of inequalities as gender, race, class, sexuality, among others, can be negotiated within the discussion on diversity and identity?

We are calling an International Symposium to discuss the changing meanings and applications of multiculturalism as a political philosophy, policy, and public discourse from a comparative perspective, with a particular focus on ethno-racial, religious, and cultural diversity of big cities of Ukraine and Europe in the 1990-2020s.

The Symposium is going to take part in Kharkiv, Ukraine in mid-December 2021.

The Symposium will be followed by a peer-reviewed publication in 2022.

The Symposium is a part of a larger academic-artist collaborative project «Cities Cultural Mosaics,” which includes a photo-contest and a subsequent exhibition.

Partners:

• The Contemporary Ukraine Studies Program (CUSP) at the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies, University of Alberta; https://www.ualberta.ca/canadian-institute-of-ukrainian-studies/centres-and-programs/cusp/
• The Kowalsky Program for the Study of Eastern Ukraine https://keui.wordpress.com/about/
• V.N.Karazin Kharkiv National University https://www.univer.kharkov.ua/
• The CityFace Project (Kharkiv), https://cityface.org.ua/
• The Yermilov Center of Contemporary Art (Kharkiv), https://yermilovcentre.org/

A number of travel bursaries (to cover airfare and accommodation) will be made available to the confirmed participants.

In the case of the continued pandemic restrictions, the Symposium will be held online.

Please, send your proposals (abstract 250-300 words, five keywords, affiliation and bio sketch max.200 words) to ciusappl@ualberta.cawith subject line “Multiculturalism” before May 10, 2021

Contacts:Vita Yakovlyeva viktoriy@ualberta.ca; Yevhen Rachkovyevhen.rachkov@karazin.ua