Research team (led by dr.Ulrich Schmid and dr.Carmen Scheide) propose to continue the research on regionalism in Ukraine by using the concept of "contact zones" previously established by Mary Louise Pratt. The term refers to social spaces where cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other, often in contexts of highly asymmetrical relations of power. This concept can fruitfully be applied for the analysis of heterogeneous cultural and social phenomena such as Ukrainian regionalism. Ukrainian contact zones are not so much places of arrival and immigration, but rather places that historically were claimed by different nation states and empires. Ukrainian “contact zones” should therefore be described as dynamic cultural spaces. The project seeks to understand the many cultural layers present in individual biographies, educational canons or symbolic interpretations of a given territory.
A number of individual and group projects are conducted within the larger framework of “Ukrainian contact zones”, including: