Dr. Kachuyevski Receives Fulbright to Study Ukrainian National Identity

By Caitlin Burns | September 19, 2017

Dr. Angela Kachuyevski, associate professor of Historical and Political Studies, is the recipient of a J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship award to Ukraine– the third faculty member and fifth University member to earn a Fulbright award in the past two years.  

Beginning in February 2018, Dr. Kachuyevski will research how Russian-speaking Ukrainians perceive their place within post-Maidan Ukraine. Through interviews and focus groups in the cities of Odessa, Kharkiv, and Dnipropetrovsk, Dr. Kachuyevski hopes to gather qualitative research on how the national identity of Russian-speaking Ukrainians has been impacted by the conflict with Russia and the ongoing de-communization efforts.

“A lot of people have been displaced by the war,” said Dr. Kachuyevski. “Ukrainian national identity is being redefined. Russian-speaking Ukrainians in particular are asking themselves, ‘What do I think of the (re)definition of the nation, and how do I fit in?’”

While conducting research, Dr. Kachuyevski will also teach a graduate-level course on conflict resolution in divided societies in the Political Science Department at V.N. Karazin Kharkiv National University’s School of Philosophy.

When she returns to the United States, Dr. Kachuyevski hopes to finish her book about Russia’s policies toward neighboring states following the breakup of the USSR, as well as write about her findings in Ukraine.

In February 2017, Arcadia was ranked by the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs as a top producer of 2016-17 Fulbright U.S. Scholars in the Bachelor’s Institution category. In 2016, Dr. Kalenda Eaton, associate professor of English, and Dr. Jennifer Riggan, associate professor of Historical and Political Studies, both advanced their research through Fulbright awards. Then in 2017, Zahra Ahmadi ’17 and Cliff Long ’17 were the first students in Arcadia’s history to receive the Fulbright U.S. Student Award.