Within the modern age, ethnic minorities have struggled to maintain their distinct culture, tradition, and religion in the face of challenges related to politics, economics, and other aspects of civilized life. The issues that the Rusyn community throughout the world have faced politically has been well researched and written upon. This is especially true since after the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990s. With this being said, one neglected topic by the Rusyn community that has been analyzed to a far lesser extent is the present and growing threat posed by globalization in the 21st century. Arguably, the negative effects associated with globalization as it has manifested itself thus far in the 21st century is the greatest threat to the Rusyn people. The problem of globalization has already severally affected our community in the present day, and no concrete solutions have been proposed to lessen the effects of globalization, which are predicted to only increase in the coming years. This paper will identify and analyze the problems that globalization has caused for the Rusyn community both in the homeland and in the diaspora.
It is vital to understand the problems associated with globalization in general before focusing on how it has negatively impacted Rusyns. Globalization, as it has manifested itself in the 21st century, is primarily a push for a secularized, individualistic view of the world. It is driven by the economic and industrial powers of the world such as the United States, European Union (EU), and China. According to Trasek (2010), “globalization is defined as a social process in which geographic obstacles to social and cultural arrangements lose importance and where people are becoming increasingly aware that they lose importance.” These geographical obstacles within the information and technology age of the present era have become lesser than ever before, which has helped to promulgate globalization into every Rusyn household throughout the world. The main goal of all this is the creation of a “global culture,” which Rusyns increasingly are members of through the loss of their distinct culture. Now that globalization has been defined, it is important to define culture as the main negative effect of globalization upon the Rusyn community is in relation to Rusyn culture.
Like globalization, there are multiple definitions for culture, and what exactly constitutes culture has been a source of debate within multiple scholarly fields like ethnography. According to Razak (2011), “culture is defined as encompassing the values, traditions, customs, and way of life which distinguish one group of people from another”. This differed from McGrew (2003), “who identified values, language, customs, technology, social institutions, education, religion, and aesthetics as the main eight (8) elements that are commonly included in the perception of culture.” There is no consensus on what precisely constitutes culture, but with these definitions in mind, it is possible to now move onto the negative effects that this system has had upon Rusyn culture in the modern age.
One of the primary problems that have affected Rusyns within the homeland has been the phenomena of urbanization. This has manifested itself in the internal immigration of Rusyns outside of the homeland and into economically more prosperous areas of Europe. In the case of Slovakia, this has manifested itself with a massive internal migration of Rusyns from Eastern Slovakia to the urban centers located in Western Slovakia, especially in the capital city of Bratislava. This has been motivated primarily by the higher salary, employment opportunities, and benefits that Rusyn-Slovak citizens can have in this part of the nation when compared to Eastern Slovakia. For Rusyns who immigrate to these urban centers, it is common for them to become part of the dominant national culture and ultimately the global culture previously mentioned.
Similar patterns of internal migration have occurred for other Rusyns who are ethnic minorities in multiple EU nations. External migration to wealthy Western European nations has also dramatically increased since the fall of the Soviet Union, and a large number of Rusyns have immigrated permanently to wealthy EU nations like Germany. The de-population of the Rusyn countryside and the exodus of Rusyns from the traditional homeland of the Carpathians due to the effects of globalization will continue in the 21st century to be one of the chief negative effects associated with globalization. Rusyn culture was born and has thrived in the countryside as urban environments have been historically alien to the majority of Rusyns when compared to other ethnicities such as Jews and Armenians. The next negative associated with globalization that has impacted the Rusyn people, which will be analyzed, is that of secularization.
Rusyn culture from the time of its recorded history has been intertwined with its Eastern Slavic Christian faith. It has served as one of the primary ways of carrying the beliefs, values, ideas, and customs of the Rusyn people. According to Hunter (2005), “Religion is not only related to worship, but beliefs and moral conduct are considered main components of the religion; the believer might believe in God, but his/her attitude, own lifestyle and interaction with others might differ greatly from that of others, even if they share the same faith.”
One of the primary ways that historically and currently that Rusyn culture has been destroyed is through a process of de-Rusynization in the form of secularization in addition to the removing of the Rusyn people from their traditional Eastern Slavic Christian traditions (Latinization). With secularization, the beliefs, values, ideas, traditions, ceremonies, and customs integral to Rusyn culture lose their mystical, otherworldly symbolic value and instead are relegated to being superficial at best. For example, the decorated eggs (pysanka) associated with Pascha (Easter) lose their symbolic religious values of life, prosperity, protection from various catastrophes (fires, floods, lightning), and lastly, Christ’s Resurrection from the tomb. Instead, with secularization, this sacramental Paschal pysanka is reduced to mere pretty folk art, which is pleasant to look at and perhaps can be collected as a nice ornament within one’s home.
This concludes the first part of a two-part article series on the problems that globalization poses to the Rusyn people by Kyrylo M’yazha. Look out for part 2 coming next week as well as a followup post in the coming months on how to utilize the vast opportunities available to the Rusyn community through globalism.
References
Abdul Razak, M. (2011). Globalization and its Impact on Education and Culture. World
Journal of Islamic History and Civilization, 1 (1): 59–69.
Held, D & McGrew, A. (2003). The Global Transformations Reader: An Introduction to the
Globalization Debate. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Trasek, B. (2010). Globalization and Families. NYC: Springer.