Ukrainophile Activism and Imperial Governance in Russia's Southwestern Borderlands

Abstract

Throughout the 19th century, a "Ukrainian question" haunted the Russian Empire. In the early 1800s, ethnic Ukrainian (or as official circles then called them, Little Russian) nobles came to see themselves as leaders of a historical nation whose origins they traced to Kievan Rus´ and the Cossack hetmanate. 1 By mid-century, Little Russian elites infused this historical sensibility with political content, initiating a Ukrainian "national awakening." In the 1840s, the Cyrillo-Methodian Society, a clandestine organization, called for Little Russians to reclaim the freedoms and equality of their Cossack ancestors by forming a federation of Slavic nations. By the 1860s-70s, populist activists known as khlopomany (roughly, fans of the peasantry) and members of cultural associations called Hromady worked to protect and promote folk traditions and the Ukrainian language. 2 As growing segments of Little Russian society I gratefully acknowledge the support of the International Research and Exchanges Board (IREX) and the Fulbright-Hays Program, which funded the research featured in this article. I would also like to express my appreciation to Laura Engelstein, Paul Bushkovitch, Timothy Snyder, the participants of Russian history reading groups at Columbia and Yale universities, and Kritika's editors and anonymous referees, whose comments and suggestions improved earlier drafts of this article. 1 This historical consciousness was both shaped and reflected by Istoriia rusov, an anonymous tract circulated widely among the Little Russian gentry in the early 19th century.

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