Exploring Ukrainian Dance and Identity

Abstract

This presentation concerns a community-based research project, supported by MacEwan’s URDC on the Ukrainian Shumka Dancers in Edmonton, Alberta. The aim of this study is to gain a better understanding of the role of folk dance, and in particular, Ukrainian folk dance in creating meaning and shaping people’s lives. I will explore Ukrainian folk dance by examining various sociological aspects of dance through concepts such as ethnicity, culture, and identity. The principle theoretical approach in framing the research will take a post-modernist and symbolic interactionist perspective. Qualitative analysis of the data will help to further uncover the sociological underpinnings of the impacts of Ukrainian folk dance in the lives of people within the Ukrainian community and Canadian society. The social research methods used for collection and assessment of data will employ a mixed-methods approach by combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches such as surveys, semi-structured interviews, content analysis, and archival analysis of newspapers and periodicals. Much of the research will be conducted using performers and audiences in the Edmonton area, with the expectation that these findings will be relevant in a broader Canadian context. Due to the dynamic nature of dance, it is expected that this research will help provide insight into the changing meanings of Ukrainian folk dance in contemporary society. This research will also offer insights that can be generalized to other ethnic folk-dance groups.

Discipline: Sociology

Faculty Mentor: Dr. Jeffrey Stepnisky