The challenge: not to lose a «spiritual home» – national identity

Ukrainian nowadays brings out the issue of national identity and its existence outside of Ukrainian boundaries. Experience of different people living abroad can enlighten quite contrast results of saving native identity: somebody fully integrates to the new area and loses any contact with the root culture and its reality, while others keep following the native ideas and proudly present their motherland in the foreign region.

There are several factors, different combination of which can cause such results. Relying on my story of living in Austria and keeping being Ukrainian, I can divide here three main factors- «reagents»: native community, foreign community and individual desire.

To start with, the crucial component of any identity is a connection with its members: only real contact provides an actual, not imagined, identity. So, an existence of native communities in your foreign area strongly contributes to the prosperity of your national identity. I’ve met such a Ukrainian community in Austria: it’s a space of people who share with each other all the current hardships and unite in presenting Ukrainian traditions to locals.

Thus, plenty of celebrations of the Ukrainian fests and supplying Ukrainian books for Ukrainian children-refugees were organised with an effort of that community. Another example is a duplex community that includes one part staying in the motherland and another part living abroad. Often it’s a matter of closer groups of people, who keep warm communication despite the distance. Then such a communication serves as a bridge between the foreign and the native sides. Each member of my family has that contact with relatives, friends and colleagues, that provides us with a strong emotional involvement in home-reality and culture.

Another significant role the foreign community plays. It can be too difficult to save your identity, while foreign surrounding occupies your action and mind, demanding entire switching to the new reality. However, there are foreign locals who not only support your integrating to the new area, but also are interested in opening your native culture. I am lucky to find especially that tolerant and enthusiastic community abroad. New Austrian mates of my family actively introduce their local ideas and manners to us, while being interested in opening Ukrainian everyday rules and traditions. We are staying in the Austrian reality, but regularly represent Ukrainian history and nowadays because of the honest interest from the foreign community. We were inspired to respect and follow Austrians, keeping being respected Ukrainians.

Finally, all goes from the mind, so both mentioned «outside» factors cannot operate without an «inside» individual desire. Some people, due to various reasons, can really miss the aspiration of saving contact with native people and culture, moreover, they can have a radical wish to forget everything from the past. Such cases can be caused by deep individual traumas connected with the motherland or a fanatic desire to start with a clean state. While the opposite inclination can open all the needed conditions to save the connection to the native side. Having started the life abroad, my family had no other idea than keeping being Ukrainians in our thoughts and actions. I am convinced, such kind of mood lays as a ground for saving national identity and leads to reaching all the opportunities to take that challenge successfully.

To sum up, my story of living abroad with saving national identity can be a result of living in the tolerant foreign community, active communication with Ukrainians and own root-oriented wish. Of course, such a formula has no stable proportions, and every single case has its unique secret of success. Meanwhile, my story, looking out among hundreds of other stories of unbreakable Ukrainians abroad, can just proof that it’s possible to save your native identity in the not-native area – it’s possible to save your inside «spiritual home» despite the entirely new «material home» outside. 

by Elisaveta Chernova