H-Russia

An interesting query that I came across in the H-Net blog H-Russia poses the question "Who is/was a Ukrainian?". The author of this discussion thread is a professor of history at Miami University, and in his initial posting he states that there is much confusion today among Ukrainian citizens regarding their true national identity. He states that because of Ukraine's long standing history with Russia many feel a need to either emphasize or downplay their Russian background or loyalties in exchange for Ukrainian loyalties, while some do not feel a connection to either nation and are at a loss for who or what to identify with. The first few responses to this query are from individuals with valuable personal insight on the matter as well as professional historians who specialize in such studies and give their informed opinions on the matter and suggest further reading. However, an interesting response was made by a man who makes a claim about the relationship between a famine that occurred in 1833 and the present day contentions between the Russian and Ukrainian people. This author claims that the famine was created by the Russian regime as a sort of punishment for the Ukrainians. Immediately following, a different man begins to dispute this claim that the famine was created for those reasons, and they continue to argue for roughly five or six more posts. What is interesting about this discussion is that the first man cites a number of primary sources, mostly letters written by Stalin, and quotes specifically from them, giving his interpretation and opinions. However, the second man has a completely different understanding and interpretation of these same documents, and this is a serious point of contention between the two.

This discussion thread in particular seemed historically relevant in the context of this class in that it deals with one of the central concerns in historical study, and that is the analysis and interpretation of primary source documents. These two men have the same document in front of them, yet both come to completely different conclusions about its content and its intent.

One final note on this discussion thread is that one of the men involved in this rather heated discussion signs off on his final posting with the title "Distinguished Professor" in front of his name, somethings he had not included previously....