Authors

Discussion

While a great deal of literature has been written on Ukrainian nationalism, especially in recent years, the majority of such work has been framed around an East-West geographic divide within Ukraine or centred on citizens in capital cities and central areas. In doing so, these prior works have often overlooked the other ways space, place, and territory influence understandings of nationhood in the country, particularly how individuals’ locations and proximity to, or distance from, the state’s borders have shaped (and continue to shape) their national identifications and worldviews. Age and time spent living in the former USSR and independent Ukraine are also important considerations which implicate how individuals realise their national identities and citizenships, and their relationship with their nation and state more generally. The perspectives of young people are thence particularly interesting as they, while understudied, have been exposed to new and different information and travel opportunities than older generations as a result of globalisation. By empirically drawing on cartographic materials from individuals aged 18-29 years living in the peripheral regions of Zakarpattia and Chernihiv and in the central region of Kirovohrad, then, this paper explores young Ukrainians’ political attitudes and understandings of citizenship and nationalism.