Ukraine experienced a period of active secularization and aggressive atheistic propaganda under the Soviet regime, and then an intensive religious Renaissance since its independence in 1991. These processes made a unique imprint on Ukraine’s religious landscape. Many researchers agree that Ukraine is the most religiously pluralistic society in Europe.

The History and Identity project as part of the MAPA program aims to contribute to a reconceptualization of regionalism in Ukraine. Mapping data on the region (oblast) level avoids arbitrary scaling into predefined macro-regions, and allows researchers to explore and explain intraregional and cross-regional differences and similarities in the changing social and political context of 2013 and 2015 Ukraine.

This map examines the transfer of Ukrainian Orthodox parishes under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate to the newly created Orthodox Church of Ukraine (OCU). The transition process gained momentum after the official creation of the OCU at the Church Council in Kyiv in December 2018, accelerating upon the receipt of a Tomos, or decree of autocephaly, from the Ecumenical Patriarch.

The language issue in Ukraine has long historical roots, and even after Ukraine’s independence it remained in the center of the nation- and state-building processes. Different political parties often used language tensions for political mobilization or to draw imagined regional divisions. It also served as an important marker in defining cultural and national identities or allegiances. However, after the Euromaidan it took on a new dimension.

The Great Famine Story Map Journal combines narrative text with maps and images. It contains entries and sections that users can scroll through. Each section in the Map Journal has an associated map or an image.