The level of distribution of multiple russian-ukrainian ethnoidentity in the Belgorod region

Author(s):  V.V. Bublikov, candidate of Sciences, associate Professor, Belgorod National Research University, Belgorod, Russia, bublikov@bsu.edu.ru

Issue:  Volume 44, № 4

Rubric:  Sociology and Social Technologies

Annotation:  The departure from the prevailing notions that prevailed in the Soviet period about the possibility of a person having only one ethnical identity makes multiethnic groups a new, “legitimate” object of research. To date, the mechanisms for transforming the identity of the population in the Russian-Ukrainian border region are described in sufficient detail, however, the quantitative parameters of the distribution of the dual Russian-Ukrainian ethnicity remain practically unstudied. The aim of the study is to evaluate and analyze, based on empirical data, the distribution level of multiple Russian-Ukrainian identity among residents of the Belgorod region. The study showed a significant influence of the socio-political situation on the ethnicity declared by the residents of the Belgorod region and neighboring regions. Census statistics make it possible to distinguish two stages of “ethnic revolutions” - the 1930s and 1990s, when the ethnic composition of a number of municipalities of the Belgorod region changed dramatically. We see the reasons for such changes in the transformation in the public consciousness the meaning of the ethnonyms “Russian” and “Ukrainian”, which from purely ethnic categories (ethnonyms) have turned into civilian terms that characterize belonging to the state and therefore loyalty to it. Thus, the ethnic composition of the border municipalities in the Belgorod region over the course of several decades has evolved from a biethnic to a monoethnic one. However, at the same time, the real ethnic identity of the autochthonous population did not change so swiftly and unambiguously. A sociological study of 2018 shows that in the border areas of the Belgorod region, a significant part of the population (23 %) has multiple ethnic identity, referring to both Russians and Ukrainians at the same time, and elements of Ukrainian ethno-culture firmly entered into regional identity of the entire population. The results of the study show the need to improve the methodology for collecting statistical information on the ethnic composition of the country's population. The article may be of interest to ethnosociologists, ethnologists, and employees of the statistical service of the Russian Federation.

Keywords:  multiple ethnic identity, biethnicity, ethnic composition, Belgorod region, Russian-Ukrainian population, Russians, Ukrainians.

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