Institute of Sociology NASU

GENERATION OF INDEPENDENCE IN THE REVOLUTION OF DIGNITY

stmm. 2021 (3): 52-64

DOI https://doi.org/10.15407/sociology2021.03.052

HALYNA BODNAR, Candidate of Sciences in History, Associate Professor at the Mykhailo Hrushevskyi Department of Contemporary History of Ukraine, Faculty of History, Ivan Franko National University of Lviv (1, Universytetska St. , Lviv, 79000)

halyna.bod@gmail.com

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7972-8111

The paper highlights the environment of the generation of independence in the Revolution of Dignity, studies the motivation of participation, moods, ideas and expectations, their transformation with the development of events, experiences and lessons of the Maidan. We have 59 in-depth interviews with natives of all regions of Ukraine and the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, which have become a basis for the research. Regional groundwork allowed us to take a closer look at the activities of local Maidans, when the contrast between the capital and the regions, new experiences and challenges faced by local activists, gender differences, post-Maidan (non)-transformations in the regions were clearly visible. The paper also focuses on the recollections of the events of February 2014 and the image of the Heavenly Hundred. The young people appreciated the «inner world» of the revolution — the unity, mutual understanding, support and help they found among the Maidan residents. They were not ready to face the death on the Maidan. After two or three years, their personal stories and lessons taken of the Revolution of Dignity, visions of their future and the country as a whole are still fresh and allow to reveal the post-Maidan Ukrainian society from the perspective of the generation of independence.

Keywords: generation of independence, Revolution of Dignity, in-depth interviews, motivation, experience

References

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Received 30.06.2021