From Ruslana to Gaitana: Performing “Ukrainianness” in the Eurovision Song Contest
This article considers how the Eurovision Song Contest (ESC) has come to be used as a platform for the politicisation of national identity in Ukraine. Ukraine can be described as an amalgam of regions with different ethno-linguistic, economic, cultural and political profiles. The rhetoric concerning some Ukrainian Eurovision entries illuminates these complexities and as such sheds light on the construction of Ukrainian nationhood in a post-Soviet context. In particular this paper uses interviews with key decision makers involved with the Ukrainian selection process in the Eurovision Song Contest and examines the rhetoric surrounding four Ukrainian Eurovision entries which have generated considerable interest and controversy both in the country itself and within the wider context of the European media. Eurovision presents an opportunity for Ukraine to present a unified national identity to a global audience. The question is however, which Ukraine and for what purpose?
2. How contested is Ukrainian national identity?
3. Why was hosting Eurovision afforded significance by the Ukrainian authorities?
4. How does the symbolism of the 2005 Ukrainian entry fit in with the apolitical nature of the contest?
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Subtelny, Orest. 2000. The Ambiguities of National Identity: the Case of Ukraine, in Ukraine: the Search for a National Identity, edited by Wolchik, Sharon L., and Volodymyr Zviglyanich (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield), 1–10.
Paul Jordan
Paul Jordan is an expert and regular media commentator on the Eurovision Song Contest and has attended the event since 2000. He was awarded his PhD from the University of Glasgow in 2011 which examined the role of the Eurovision Song Contest in nation branding of newly independent states. In 2014 he published his book, The Modern Fairy Tale: Nation branding, national identity and the Eurovision Song Contest in Estonia. His other research interests include nationalism and post-Soviet identity politics.