Leskinen, Maria Voittovna. Ethnic stereotypes of the Ukrainians (Little Russians) and Belarusians (Belorussians) in the visual texts in Russian culture in the second half of the 19th century: Issues of interpretations

Leskinen, Maria Voittovna – Dr. Sc. in History, Leading Researcher, Institute of Slavic Studies, Russian Academy of Sсiences, Moscow, Russia, Orc ID 0000-0002-7638-507X, Scopus ID 57213197708, Researcher ID C-1075-2018; e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The article analyzes a number of visual representations of «Little Russians» / «Malorusy» (Ukrainians) and Belarusians («Belorussians» / «White Russians»), which were addressed to a wide range of Russian society in the 1860s – 1900s and which were formed under the influence of literature, scientific and popular ethnographies descriptions and text-books. These visual texts were creating the stereotypical images of peoples / nations (so as of the Russian people) in mass consciousness the Russian Empire. The works that are accessible primarily by the mass audience (genre canvases, book illustrations, magazine lithographs, advertisements, posters, postcards etc) are analyzed in context of ethnic stereotypes (of «Little Russians» / «Malorusy» (Ukrainians) and of «Belorussians» / «White Russians» (Belarusians)) reflections. The author is considered some methodological problems deals with stereotypes’ researching in the field of the identification of «the Russian people» as the unity of Great Russians, Little Russians and White Russians during imperial nation-building. Complications of interpreting visual ethnic images are also due to the differences of discourse of the Ukrainian and Belarusian identities history and national movements in the Russian Empire of the 19^th century. In particular, Ukrainian Soviet and modern historiography considers many artists to the pantheon of national culture. But if we accept such attributions, it turns out that stereotypes of the «others» (the heterostereotypes of Little Russians / Ukrainians) turns out to be their auto stereotypes. If we proceed from the assumptions that the creators of the images belonged to the Russian («all-Russian») culture, the questions arise did they interpret them as specifically ethnic, or as the embodiment of regional / gender or only the social (the peasant) variations?

Gayda, Fedor Aleksandrovich. «Ukraincy»: Istorija proishozhdenija i upotreblenija poniatija [The «Ukrainians»: the concept’s origin and history of using], in Gayda, Fedor Aleksandrovich. Grani i rubezhy: Poniatiya «Ukraina» i «Ukraincy» w ih istoricheskom razvitii [Facets and frontiers: the concepts of «Ukraine» and «Ukrainians» in their historical development]. Moscow: Modest Kolerov Publ., 2019. Pp. 9–100. (in Russian).

Kappeler, Andreas. Mazepincy, malorossy, hohly: Ukraincy v etnicheskoy ierarhii Rossiyskoy imperii [Mazepians, Malorossians, khokhlies: Ukrainians in the Russian Empire’s ethnic hierarchy], in Rossiya – Ukraina: Istoriya vzaimootnosheniy [Russia – Ukraine: history of relations]. Ed. by A. I. Miller, etc. Moscow: Shkola «Jazyki russkoy kul’tury» Publ., 1997. Pp. 125–144. (in Russian).

Kiselev, Vitaliy Sergeevich; Vasilyeva, Tatyana Aleksandrovna. «Strannoe politicheskoe sonmishhe» ili «narod, poyushhiy i plyashushchiy»: Konstruirovaniye obraza Ukrainy v russkoy slovesnosti kontca XVIII – nachala XIX v. [«A strange political crowd» or «the people singing and dancing»: Constructing of the image of Ukraine in Russian literature of the late XVIII – early XIX cent.], in Tam, vnutri: Praktiki vnutrenney kolonizatsii v kul’turnoy istorii Rossii [The practice of internal colonization in the cultural history of Russia]. Ed. by A. Etkind, D. Uffelmann, I. Kukulin. Moscow: NLO Publ., 2012. Pp. 478–517. (in Russian).

Kotenko, Anton Leonidovich; Martynyuk, Ol’ga Vladimirovna; Miller, Aleksey Ilyich. Maloross [Maloross / Little Russian], in «Ponyatiya o Rossii»: K istoricheskoy semantike imperskogo perioda [«Notions about Russia»: Towards the historical semantics and political ideas in the Imperial period]. Ed. by A. Miller, D. Sdvizhkov, I. Shirle: Vol. I–II. Moscow: NLO Publ., 2012. Vol. II. Pp. 392–443. (in Russian).

Leskinen, Marija Vojttovna. «Malorosssiyskaya narodnost’» v rossiyskoy nauke vtoroy poloviny XIX v. Problemy etnograficheskogo opisaniya, in [«Little Russian’s Nationality» in Russian science of the second half of the XIX century. Questions of ethnographic description], in Russkie ob Ukraine i ukraincah [The Russians about Ukraine and Ukrainians]. Ed. by E. Ju. Borisenok. Sankt-Peterburg: Aleteya Publ., 2012. Pp. 244–283 (in Russian).

Leskinen, Marija Vojttovna. Ponjatie «nrav naroda» v rossiyskoy etnografii vtoroy poloviny XIX v. Opisanie malorossa v nauchno-populyarnoy literature i problema stereotipa [The concept of «the national temper» in Russian ethnography of the second half of the XIX century: Description of Little Russian in popular litera­ture and the problem of stereotype], in Ukraina i ukraincy: Obrazy, predstavleniya, stereotypy: Russkiye i ukraincy vo vzaimnom obshhenii i vospriyatii [The Ukraine and the Ukrainians: Images, representations, stereotypes. Russians and Ukrainians in mutual communication and perception]. Ed. by E. Ju. Borisenok, S. S. Lukashova. Moscow: Institute of Slavic Studies Russian Academy of Sciences Press, 2008. Pp. 67–94. (in Russian).

Leskinen, Mariyja Voyttovna. «Juzhnorussy», «malorossiyane», «malorossy», «ukraincy» v rossiyskom etnogeograficheskom diskurse XIX veka [«South Russians», «Little Russians», «Ukrainians» in the Russian ethnogeographic discourse of the XIX century], in Imya naroda: Ukraina i ee naseleniye v oficial’nyh i nauchnyh terminah, v publicistike i literature [The Name of the people: The Ukraine and its population in official and scientific terms, in journalism and fine literature]. Ed. by E. Ju. Borisenok, M. E. Klopova, M. V. Leskinen. Moscow; St Petersburg: Institute of Slavic Studies of Russian Academy of Science Press; Nestor-Istoriya Publ., 2016. Pp. 77–192 (in Russian).

Levkievskaya, Elena Evgenyevna. Stereotip ukrainca v russkom soznanii [The stereotype of a Ukrainian in the Russian mind], in Ukraina i ukraincy: Obrazy, predstavleniya, stereotipy. Russkiye i ukraincy vo vzaimnom obshchenii i vospriyatii [The Ukraine and the Ukrainians: Images, representations, stereotypes. Russians and Ukrainians in mutual communication and perception]. Ed. by E. Ju. Borisenok, S. S. Lukashova. Moscow: Institute of Slavic Studies RAS Press, 2008. Pp. 154–176. (in Russian).

Masliychuk, Volodimir. «Vid Ukrainy do Malorosii». Regional’ni nazvi i nacional’’na istoriya [«From Ukraine to Malorussia». The regional titles and national history], in Ukraina: Protsesi natciotvorennya [Ukraine: Nation-Building Processes]. Ed. by A. Kappeler. Kiev: K.I.S. Publ., 2011. Pp. 229–245. (in Ukrainian).

Masnenko, Vitaliy Vasilyevich. Mifologema «bratskih narodov» kak ideal’naya model’ russko-ukrainskih otnosheniy v sovetskoy / rossiyskoy istoriografii [The mythologeme of «fraternal peoples» as an ideal model of Russian-Ukrainian relations in Soviet / Russian Historiography], in Studia Historica Gedanensia. 2018. T. IX. Pp. 183–207. (in Russian).

Mihaylova, Natalya. Etnograficheskie syuzhety v proizvedeniyah pechatnoy grafiki na rubezhe XIX–XX vekov: Ot «vysokoy» kul’tury k «populyarnomu narodovedeniyu» [The ethnographic subjects in the printed graphics’ works at the turn of the XIX–XX cent.: From «high» culture to «popular folk studies»], in Novoye litera­turnoye obozreniye. 2019. № 2 (156). Pp. 107–124. (in Russian).

Ryabchuk, Mykola. Russkiy Robinzon i ukrainskiy Pyatnica: Osobennosti «asimmetrichnyh otnosheniy» [Russian Robinson and Ukrainian Friday: Features of «asymmetric relations»], in Tam, vnutri. Praktiki vnutrenney kolonizatcii v kul’turnoy istorii Rossii [The practice of internal colonization in the cultural history of Russia]. Ed by A. Etkind, D. Uffelmann, I. Kukulin. Moscow: NLO Publ, 2012. Pp. 447–478. (in Russian).

Tolochko, Aleksey Petrovich. Rossіya «otkrywajet» Ukrainu [The Russia «discovering» Ukraine], in Tolochko, A. P. Kiyevskaya Rus’ i Malorossiya v XIX veke [Kievan Rus’ and Malorussia in XIX cent.]. Kiev: Laurus Publ., 2012. Pp. 47–134. (in Russian).

Vasilyeva, Tatyana Aleksandrovna. U istokov ukrainofil’stva: Obraz Ukrainy v rossiyskoy slovesnosti kontsa XVIII – pervoy chetverti XIX veka [At the origins of Ukrainophilia: The image of Ukraine in Russian litera­ture of the late XVIII – first quarter of the XIX century]: PhD in Philology. Tomsk, 2014. 232 p. (in Russian).

Vishlenkova, Elena Anatolyevna. Vizual’noe narodovedeniye imperii, ili «Uvidet’ russkogo dano ne kazhdomu» [Visual Etnology of the Russian Empire or «Not everyone is able to see the Russian»]. Moscow: NLO Publ., 2011. 384 p. (in Russian).

Yekelchyk, Serhy. Chelovecheskoye telo i nacional’naya mifologija: Nekotorye motivy ukrainskogo natsional’nogo vozrozhdeniya XIX veka [The semiotics of the body and the national mythology in the Ukrainian National Revival], in Izobreteniye imperii: Yazyki i praktiki [The Invention of Empire: Languages and Practices]. Moscow: NLO Publ., 2011. Pp. 119–151. (in Russian).