“The Village after Empire”: Everyday Life, Memory, and Subjecthood in the Transformational Processes of Post-Soviet Ukraine (1991—2020)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.15407/uhj2025.06.102Keywords:
post-Soviet transformations, village, rural communities, postcolonial optic, everyday life, cultural memory, microhistorical approach, local subjecthood.Abstract
This study aims to show that the Ukrainian village represents a full-fledged actor in postsocialist and postcolonial transformations and merits inclusion in global scholarly discourse. Using a microhistorical analysis of the communities of Holovuriv and Kyiliv (villages in the Kyiv region), the study examines how everyday practices, spatial initiatives, and memory projects shape new models of subjecthood and symbolic detachment from the Soviet order. The methodology of the study is interdisciplinary, combining a microhistorical approach with a postcolonial optic and spatial analysis. The study draws on the concepts of hybridity, mimicry, cultural memory, and everyday resistance as tools for critiquing imperial legacies in the fabric of post-imperial everyday life. Scholarly novelty. The study positions the village as an active subject of post-imperial transformations, proposing the analytical framework of “the village after empire” as an alternative to prevailing models of modernization or decline. This approach interprets rural communities as spaces of everyday subjecthood and social resilience, connecting Ukrainian case studies with postsocialist anthropology and global postcolonial studies. Conclusions. The cases of Holovuriv and Kyiliv demonstrate that rural communities not only respond to external challenges but also develop their own strategies of adaptation and resistance. They emerge as sites of economic ingenuity (commuter migration, small-scale entrepreneurship, informal practices), memory pluralization (local museums, Facebook groups, family archives), and local subjecthood (spatial care, self-representation, horizontal interaction). These processes — local adaptation, spatial hybridization, and re-signification of heritage — demonstrate a capacity for cultural self-assertion under conditions of structural vulnerability. The findings open up the potential for a comparative analysis of the post-Soviet experience within a broader post-imperial context.
References
Lefebvre, H. (1991). The Production of Space (D. Nicholson-Smith, Trans.). Oxford: Blackwell.
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The Forms of Capital. Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociolog y of Education. New York: Greenwood Press. 241—258.
Assmann, A. (2008). Transformations between History and Memory. Social Research. 75 (1): 49-72. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/sor.2008.0038
Bhabha, H.K. (1994). The location of culture. London and New York.
Scott, J.C. (2013). Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance. Yale University Press.
Hann, C. (2015). Backwardness Revisited: Time, Space and Civilization in Eastern European Rurality. Comparative Studies in Society and History. 57 (4): 881-911. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0010417515000389
Weiner, A. (1999). Nature, Nurture, and Memory in a Socialist Utopia: Delineating the Soviet Socio-Ethnic Body in the Age of Socialism. The American Historical Review. 104 (4): 1114-1155. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/2649563
Baranovskyi, M. (2011). Osoblyvosti poliaryzatsii silskoho naselennia Chernihivskoi oblasti: lokalnyi riven. Ekonomichna ta sotsialna heohrafiia. 63: 64-71. [in Ukrainian].
Baranovskyi, M. (2017). Postradianska transformatsiia silskoho prostoru v Ukraini: vid poliaryzatsii do detsentralizatsii. Chasopys sotsialno-ekonomichnoi heohrafii. 23 (2): 23-29. [in Ukrainian].
Bilan, O.V. (2011). Faktory konkurentospromozhnosti ta formy vlasnosti na zemliu, osoblyvosti yikh proiavu v silskomu hospodarstvi. Naukovyi visnyk Poltavskoho universytetu ekonomiky i torhivli. 4 (49): 72-76. [in Ukrainian].
Padalka, S. (2016). Ukrainske selo v umovakh sotsialno-ekonomichnoho tranzytu: transformatsii chy vyzhyvannia? Ukrainskyi istorychnyi zhurnal. 4: 108-122. [in Ukrainian].
Padalka, S. (2018). Kultura yak identyfikuiuchyi ukrainske selo chynnyk: ideolohiia, polityka, tradytsiini zasoby (1960—1980-i rr.). Istoriia nauky i biohrafistyka. 3. [in Ukrainian].
Padalka, S. (2021). Ahrarne pidpryiemnytstvo i pidpryiemtsi: umovy ta problemy stanovlennia v Ukraini (1990—2000-ni rr.). Ukraina XX stolittia: kultura, ideolohiia, polityka. 26: 141-157. [in Ukrainian].
Bondarenko, H. (2024). Sotsiokulturni zminy povsiakdennia silskoi liudnosti Naddniprianshchyny. Narodna tvorchist ta etnolohiia. 2 (402): 27-34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/nte2024.02.027 [in Ukrainian].
Lintsova, N. (2014). Formy trudovoi povedinky selian: rezultaty sotsiolohichnoho doslidzhennia silskoho sposobu zhytti. Hrani. 8: 69-76. [in Ukrainian].
Hodovanska, O. (2021). Radianske povsiakdennia kriz pryzmu lokalnosti. Narodoznavchi zoshyty. 6 (162): 1349-1355. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/nz2021.06.1349 [in Ukrainian].
Khanenko-Frizen, N. (2010). U poshukakh novoho subiekta istorii: proekt “Usna istoriia dekolektyvizatsii v Ukraini 1990-kh rr. — selianskyi dosvid”. Ukrainskyi istorychnyi zhurnal. 5: 179-190. [in Ukrainian].
Lozynska, T.M. (2021). Arkhetypy ta uiava u formuvanni silskykh neospilnot: vysnovky dlia derzhavnoi polityky rozvytku silskykh terytorii. Ukrainskyi sotsium. 1 (76): 69-76. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15407/socium2021.01.069 [in Ukrainian].
Smolnitska, M. & Baryshpolets (Loboda), M. (2025). Znaty selo: povsiakdenna istoriia, pamiat i dzherela piznoradianskoi Ukrainy. Intermarum: istoriia, polityka, kultura. 16: 87-105. DOI: https://doi.org/10.35433/history.112095 [in Ukrainian].
Vermenych, Ya. (2018). Rehionalna analityka v Ukraini: suchasni dyskursy sotsiohumanitarystyky: Analitychna zapyska. Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy NAN Ukrainy. [in Ukrainian].
Korinnyi, M.M. (Comp.). (2012). Administratyvno-terytorialnyi podil Kyivshchyny 1918—2010 rr.: dovidnyk. Bila Tserkva. [in Ukrainian].
Shymko, O.V. (2020). Silske zhytlove budivnytstvo u Donbasi u 1965—1985-kh rr.: khronolohiia problemy ta metody vyrishennia. Istoriia ta heohrafiia. 58: 144-150. [in Ukrainian].
Moroz, V. (1983). Holod 33 roku i ukrainizatsiia: Paraleli i vzaiemozalezhnosti. Suchasnist. 10: 3-16. [in Ukrainian].
Laas, N. (2011). Stanovyshche v silskomu hospodarstvi. Ekonomichna istoriia Ukrainy: Istoryko-ekonomichne doslidzhennia. Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy NAN Ukrainy. 2: 463-471. [in Ukrainian].
Laas, N. (2011). Povsiakdenne zhyttia. Ekonomichna istoriia Ukrainy: Istoryko-ekonomichne doslidzhennia. Kyiv: Instytut istorii Ukrainy NAN Ukrainy. 2: 485-494. [in Ukrainian].
Zyl, A. & Malyshevska, O. (Comps.). (2013). Boryspilshchyna — krai dobra i liubovi. Kyiv. [in Ukrainian].
Bilan, Yu. (2017). Migration of the Ukrainian Population: Economic, Institutional and Sociocultural Factors. Ubiquity Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5334/bbg
Kovalenko, N.M. (2020). Marketynhova stratehiia rozvytku zamiskoho klubu “Selfish Club” u s. Kyiliv Kyivskoi oblasti: vypuskna kvalifikatsiina robota bakalavra. Kyiv: KNEU. URL: http://dp.knute.edu.ua/xmlui/handle/123456789/4530?show=full [in Ukrainian].
Chertova, K.M. (2013). Suspilno-korysna pratsia yak chynnyk sotsialnoho vykhovannia uchnivskoi molodi (50—90-ti XX st.). Visnyk Luhanskoho natsionalnoho universytetu imeni Tarasa Shevchenka: Pedahohichni nauky. 11 (2): 51-62 [in Ukrainian].
Baryshpolets, M.K. & Smolnitska, M.K. (2020). Pamiat pro Druhu svitovu viinu v imenakh i podiiakh: Holovuriv, Kyiliv, Rudiakiv. Boryspil. [in Ukrainian].
Sokol, O. (2011). Sudylos zhyty. Boryspil. [in Ukrainian].
Lytvyn, V. (Comp.). (2018). Skarby Pysarskoi hory. Bila Tserkva. 1. [in Ukrainian].
Baryshpolets (Loboda), M. & Smolnitska, M. (2025). Mizh politykoiu pamiati ta rodynnoiu tradytsiieiu: lokalni stratehii vshanuvannia zhertv Druhoi svitovoi viiny. Mizh naukovym dyskursom i “pobiedobiesiiem”: (Do 80-richchia zavershennia Druhoi svitovoi viiny). Ch. 3: “Nikoly znovu” vs “Mozhem povtoryt!” (“Pobiedobiesiie”): Istorychna polityka ta pamiat pro Druhu svitovu viinu: Kyiv: In-t istorii Ukrainy NAN Ukrainy. 648-666. [in Ukrainian].
Pukivskyi, Yu. (2023). Formuvannia ta perspektyvy onlain-arkhivu usnoistorychnykh i vizualnykh dzherel “Zhyva istoriia”. Arkhivy Ukrainy. 2 (335): 68-77. DOI: https://doi.org/10.47315/archives2023.335.068 [in Ukrainian].
Tsumariev, M.I. (2018). Hromada yak subiekt kultury lokalnoi demokratii. Hrani. 21. 3: 82-89. DOI: https://doi.org/10.15421/10.15421/171842 [in Ukrainian].
