European Influence in Ukrainian Modernist Prose

Abstract

Digital technologies make possible new ways of managing folklore field recordings. Two programmers, a graduate student, and the author developed a database that allows the user to go directly to the point in a sound file where a particular topic is discussed. This is a research tool and the task here was to create a modified site for the general public. The technique used was crowdsourcing, asking the public to transcribe and translate songs, stories, and accounts of belief. The project revealed how heritage issues affect public participation. People who expressed initial enthusiasm were reluctant to participate because they were timid about their language knowledge. Paradoxically, formal instruction leads to the timidity we observed. People who did contribute to our project transcribed and translated songs only. Language is retained in song even as it is lost elsewhere. Songs are also familiar material, associated with the past. Contributions driven by interest in new material directly from Ukraine did not materialize. A romanticized image of the past and suspicions that Ukraine has been Sovietized and Russified encourage preservation of the old and work against interest in the new.