From Inequalities to Partnership: Analyzing a New Paradigm of Europe-Ukraine Relations in Ukrainian History School Textbooks, 2001–2024

Abstract

The idea of Europe as an embodiment of cultural and political aspirations for the people of Ukraine has been a topic since long before Ukrainian independence in 1991. Since then, however, the concept of Europe has become part of national institutions, such as education, and can be analyzed based on the fundamental elements of nation-building and national imagery, such as history textbooks for middle and high school students. Caught between a Soviet past and a European future, Ukraine has had to develop its own educational system and write its own history, including materials for teaching young Ukrainians. Previously, this issue has been studied separately, focusing either on de-Sovietization or taking a synchronic approach to study the meaning of Europe in a certain period. This paper analyzes the de‑Sovietization and Europeanization processes in Ukrainian history textbooks, methodologies, and course structures from the early 2000s to 2024. Unlike previous studies, this article focuses on the transformation itself and the dynamic changes in how the Soviet Ukrainian past and the meaning of Europe are dealt with. It also highlights the increasing tendency to teach Ukrainian history as an integral part of European history. I argue that since the early 2000s, the idea of Ukraine as an integral part of Europe has steadily become one of the cornerstones of history education, replacing Soviet historical narratives. This was followed by a critical reevaluation of European history and Ukrainian agency in the 2020s. Observing this transformation of the representation of Europe in Ukrainian history textbooks since the early 2000s may serve as a significant marker of change and is crucial for understanding both internal societal dynamics and self-imagining, as well as the external political and cultural aspirations of independent Ukraine.