The Goal of this Project:
True experiences of community building cannot be summarized into a short paragraph in a Ukrainian history textbook or on a plaque in a museum, instead the stories of older generations who had endured the various struggles to preserve their Ukrainian identity at home and abroad need to be preserved.
This project has been inspired by NPR’s (National Public Radio’s) podcast “StoryCorps” which consists of the interviews between students and the adults who inspire them in their life in order to preserve the stories of American voices both in the podcast and have those recordings be archived in the Library of Congress. Thanks to these constantly emerging technological innovations such as iPhones and computers which allow people to record videos and conversations, it is easier to preserve the cultural perspectives and experiences of every individual within a nation and a certain generation. Because so many stories can be preserved by simply recording a conversation between members of an older and a younger generation of Ukrainians, it can allow historians to dig deeper into Ukrainian culture at home and abroad without over-generalizing the experiences of its people, allowing for a richer story that helps us see the different ways that each individual contributed to preserving their evolving culture no matter where they lived or what kind of life that they had lived.
The only way for us, as a Ukrainian community, to understand how we can continue being strong and united is if we understand how each of our family members took the first steps into holding onto our language, culture, and history while dealing with dangerous challenges of foreign occupation at home and with the challenges of preserving one’s history abroad during a time when Ukraine was not acknowledged as its own sovereign independent country by the rest of the world causing it to lack a strong academic presence in higher education institutions to this day. Yet, our culture has still been preserved abroad by those who chose to build Ukrainian churches, schools, and businesses as a community and by those at home who still chose to hold onto their faith and language at home even when it was forbidden to do so. Our sense of identity has been passed on through the stories our grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles told us, so we must document their lessons and memories in order to build a stronger Ukrainian legacy for future generations to come. How else are we to learn to be truly resilient Ukrainians now if we forget about the resilient Ukrainians who came before us?