Searching for the universal symbol of national identity: the image of Cossack Mamay in the Ukrainian cultural memory in the early XXI the century

Abstract

The purpose of the article is to study the representations of Cossack Mamay’s image as universal Ukrainian national and cultural identity in public and artistic discourses. There were used such techniques of scientific methodology

Культура і сучасність

as semiotics analysis, discourse and structural-functional research methods. Scientific novelty consists in the fact that for the first time the image of Cossack Mamay was researched in public and artistic discourses in the early XXIth century. For the first time ever the article studies the attempts of modern Ukrainian artists and cultural personalities to interpret this image as a universal symbol of national identity. Conclusions. Under the conditions of independence, Ukrainian intellectuals and artists have tried to produce a universal symbol, which would be closely connected to Ukrainian national identity and would promote consolidation of the society. They turned to the Cossack Mamay’s image because it had been one of the symbols of Ukrainian identity for more than two centuries positively regarded in all regions of Ukraine. In the early XXIth century, with the help of festivals, different campaigns, art exhibitions and through installing various monuments, the image of Mamay was popularized as the universal symbol of Ukrainian identity. Since 2014, after the time of Russian aggressive behavior, this symbol has become opposed against the images of Russian propaganda in the Eastern part of Ukraine. There are two interpretations of this symbol in public and artistic discourses. The representatives of the first discourse explain the image as the symbol of memory, traditions and conservatism. They also oppose it against other symbols and globalization. The representatives of another discourse interpret this image as a symbol of "hybridism" of Ukrainian culture and identity. They emphasize the interrelation of Ukrainian and global culture, but they do not oppose it against the other images.