Torsello, Davide - Pappová, Melinda: Social Networks in Movement. Time, interaction and interethnic spaces in Central Eastern Europe - Nostra Tempora 8. (Somorja-Dunaszerdahely, 2003)
Appedixes
Research on the ethnic problematic 285 post-February 1948 political and social changes that negatively influenced the national identity of the Ruthenian/ Ukrainian minority (e.g., collectivisation of agriculture, forced Catholicisation, Ukrainian assimilation and struggles against the so-called Ukrainian bourgeois nationalists). The assimilation process occurred mainly in towns where new work possibilities arose, and in relation to the influence of Slovak and Czech mass media. Other factors played important roles in this process, too: the similarity of the Slavic dialects spoken by Ruthenians/Ukrainians and Slovaks in east Slovakia; similarities of religion (the Greek Catholic faith is equally diffused among Slovaks and among Ruthenians/ Ukrainians); and the increasing number of interethnic marriages in which the Slovak language became the main means of communication. The emergence of self-identification processes among Ruthenians/Ukrainians after 1989 brought about the growth or the re-establishment of some factors that stood for various ethnic orientations (i.e. Ukrainian, Ruthenian and Carpathian- Russian). The post-1989 euphoria was replaced by disputes about ethnic orientation and about the representation of minorities in society (Gajdoš 1989, 1997; Gajdoš and Konečný 1994; Konečný 1994; Gajdoš et al 1999). In October 1995, an international workshop took place in Stará Lesná under the title, “Inter-ethnic relations in Slovakia and Ukraine”. This workshop paved the way for future international comparative studies on this subject. The intergovernmental Slovak-Ukrainian committee for the problems of ethnic minorities and for educational, cultural and research relations initiated a project that our Institute joined: “Ukrainians/Ruthenians in Slovakia and Slovaks in Ukraine." The project enjoyed both ideological and financial support from the Slovak Ministry of Culture. During the preparation stage we also used results from our previous research project, “Ethnic minorities in Slovakia and the migration processes in the years 1945-1960.”15 The research team consisted of historians, social psychologists and sociologists. The aim of the project was to provide insights into the problems of the
