ETHNO-NATIONAL EDUCATION AS THE MAIN COMPONENT FORMATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY

ETHNO-NATIONAL EDUCATION AS THE MAIN COMPONENT FORMATION OF NATIONAL IDENTITY

The article highlights the influence of national culture on the formation of national identity in the period of globalization.
Keywords: folklore, nation, ethnicity, globalization, ethno-national education.

Demydenko N. M.
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Senior Researcher,
Sumy Branch of Kharkiv National University of Internal Affairs, Sumy, Ukraine

10.34142//2708-4809.SIUTY.2022.194

The issue of national identity in difficult, epochal historical periods of the state’s existence is gaining importance for national security. The main components that underlie the formation of national consciousness of each nation are its culture, which creates a certain image that is unique to it. The formation of ethnic culture is influenced by a whole range of different factors: economic, political, social, etc. When characterizing the culture of a particular nation, it is necessary to take into account that the culture was formed over a long historical period, being influenced by the cultures of other nations. The word “people” in Greek means “ethnos”. It means a historical community of people that has developed on a certain territory with its own peculiarities of language, culture, and mentality.

In the nineteenth century, the idea of the German cultural historian and philosopher J. G. Herder that folk traditions and folklore are the basis for the formation of national consciousness became very popular among the leading Ukrainian intelligentsia. Moreover, according to the thinker, it is folk culture that unites a nation, even in conditions of statelessness. J. G. Herder was the first to introduce the term “folk culture” into scientific circulation and became the author of the concept of “cultural nationalism” [3, p. 53]. According to his concept, “folk culture” is the basis and basis for the education of national consciousness. Each ethnic group has its own emotional and imaginative system that is passed down from generation to generation. J. Herder managed to focus on the ethnic culture of the peasantry at a time when foreign languages and foreign customs were fashionable in royal courts and noble salons. He argued that human civilization can exist not in general, but in separate national manifestations. And each manifestation should be special, unique [3, p. 56]. Only when they are so special can representatives of humanity be interesting and useful. Identity is formed on the basis of the past – the collective memory that preserves collective values and determines stable norms of behavior [2, p. 154].

It becomes clear why representatives of the Ukrainian intelligentsia of the nineteenth century were eager to organize expeditions to study folklore, in particular Ukrainian folk songs, which were a specific ethnic “code.” M. Maksymovych, P. Kulish, V. Antonovych, M. Drahomanov, M. Kostomarov, etc. were among the pioneers of the process of research and preservation of the folklore heritage of Ukrainians. [2, с. 156].

Among the prominent researchers of folklore of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, it is necessary to mention Klyment Kvitka, who, unfortunately, is known to the general public mostly only as Lesya Ukrainka’s husband. Klyment Kvitka, together with Lesia Kvitka-Kosach, were selflessly engaged in the study and preservation of the original work of kobzars. One of the participants in the folklore expedition, Filaret Kolesa, published the results of his recordings at the Congress of the Musical Society in Vienna in 1909 and aroused great interest among the world scientific community.

In his scientific works, K. Kvitka managed to substantiate the scientific approach to folk songs as historical documents, and no less important than archaeological finds [1, p. 71]. For the first time, K. Kvitka’s 2-volume scientific edition, which included research on folk songs, was published in the Soviet era, in the 80s of the twentieth century.

Kvitka’s scientific works aroused great interest, despite the fact that in the Soviet era folk songs, as well as folk culture in general, were considered something simplified, even primitive [1, p. 72]. The explanation for the increased interest in Klyment Kvitka’s research was that he managed to prove, based on his own scientific approaches, that folk songs can be used to trace the development of an ethnic group, its assimilation, the spiritual world, and the way of thinking of individual peoples.

The modern era is characterized by increased intercultural interaction between ethnic groups, as the West integrates different cultures into a single civilizational space. It should be noted what we mean by the term “West”. According to modern Ukrainian scholars, the “West” in the broad sense of the word “…is that part of our planet where ancient and Christian culture has been established [4, p. 121]. The main threat posed by globalization is a kind of rigid unification that deprives of originality.

It is necessary to realize that the cultural diversity of the world’s peoples is a basic value and a certain guarantee of security that they have developed over the course of their millennial history. And while earlier the revival of folklore traditions was the result of a defensive reaction to globalization and cultural assimilation, during the period of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation, the revival of folklore became a defense of its own identity.

To summarize, it should be noted that the popularization of folk cultural traditions is the basis for the formation of national identity, the shortest and most tolerant way to awaken everything national. As for cultural globalization, it should be based not on the principle of uniting the culturally diverse world to the “right” standards, but on the principle of preserving various subcultures.

List of references

1. Demydenko N. M. Klyment Kvitka (1883-1953) was an outstanding ethnographer, educator, public figure, and “friend of ideas” of Lesia Ukrainka. History of science and biography  : a collection of scientific articles. 2021. № 3. P. 56-72.
2. Snihiryova L. M. Folklore in the formation of national identity. Science and education. Philology. 2018. № 4. P. 150-158.
3. Yurchenko OV. Peculiarities of the scientific formation of the category “culture” in the creative heritage of I. G. Herder and its comprehension as the basis of national identification. Educational discourse : a collection of scientific articles. 2021. № 34 (6). P. 52-59.
4. Khamitov N. History of Philosophy. The Problem of Man / 5th ed. 396 p.