On 17 January 2017 Rory Finnin (Director, 海角社区 Ukrainian Studies; University Senior Lecturer in Ukrainian Studies) joined Ukrainian intellectual Mykola Riabchuk听at the Ukraine Forum at Chatham House for a discussion about 'Ukrainian Identity after Euromaidan: Drivers of Change and Impact on Reforms'.
'What is our scholarly basis for determining whether a national sense of self is strong or weak?' Finnin asked听during his presentation.听'Our metric tends to be contingent on perceptions of sameness or unanimity. That is, strong national identities are typically considered those whose boundaries are sharp and whose content is more or less homogenous. Their constituents hold to the same story about themselves. By contrast, weak national identities are considered those whose boundaries are fluid and whose content is heterogeneous. Their constituents may have multiple stories about themselves.'
He continued: 'This strength-weakness, sameness-difference axis is reductive and, in my view, increasingly useless as an analytical instrument.听In effect, we听have been studying national identity with algebra when we need calculus, a means of studying relationships with an unwavering view to change, tension and variability rather than stasis, harmony and homogeneity.' 听
A summary of the event, produced by Chatham House, can be read . An excerpt听from an听interview Rory Finnin on Ukraine's ongoing campaign of reforms is given below.
