Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This research examines the narrativization of Ukrainian identity in Timothy Snyder's historical work "The Reconstruction of Nations: Poland, Ukraine, Lithuania, Belarus, 1569-1999" through the lens of postcolonial criticism and cognitive linguistic analysis.The study addresses the complex positioning of Central and Eastern Europe as an intermediate region with a contradictory identity, particularly focusing on Ukraine's agency and subjectivity within broader European imperial contexts.The research employs frame analysis using S. Zhabotynska's cognitive domains (subject, actional, possessive, identification, and comparative) to analyse how Ukrainian identity is constructed and represented in Snyder's narrative.The methodology incorporates corpus linguistic analysis using BootCat, TagAnt, and AntConc programs to identify linguistic markers and collocational patterns associated with Ukrainian identity discourse.The theoretical framework draws upon postcolonial theory, particularly Edward Said's concept of colonial discourse persistence beyond imperial dissolution, and applies it to the postcommunist context of Central and Eastern Europe.The study distinguishes between two scholarly approaches to postcommunist societies: ontological claims to postcoloniality, emphasising historical lack of subjectivity, and analysis of colonial forces' balance across different historical moments.Results demonstrate that T. Snyder's work presents Ukraine as a modern nation with distinct agency, challenging colonial narratives that position Ukraine as merely peripheral to metropolitan centres.The frame analysis reveals predominant use of subject and actional domains, with Ukraine conceptualised as an active entity capable of independent action rather than the passive object of imperial manipulation.Corpus analysis identifies key collocations emphasising political agency (activists, state, independence, nationalism) and social stratification (peasants, gentry, elites, patriots).The research reveals T.Snyder's deployment of conceptual metaphors, personification, evaluative vocabulary, and action verbs to construct the Ukrainian identity narrative.These linguistic strategies serve to establish Ukrainian historical subjectivity and counter persistent colonial frames that marginalise Ukrainian agency.The study concludes that frame analysis using cognitive domains effectively reveals Ukrainian identity narrativization patterns in historical discourse.The postcolonial critical perspective successfully demonstrates Ukraine's agency within Central and Eastern European historical contexts, challenging destructive propaganda narratives through rigorous linguistic and conceptual analysis of scholarly historical texts.
Source: Lviv Philological Journal
Authors: N. V. Glinka, I. P. Voloshchuk
Language: English
Subfield: Linguistics and Language
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4412923865