Ukrainian Studies Cosmopolitan Spaces in Odessa

This interdisciplinary study of cosmopolitan spaces in Odesa explores topical issues in cultural diversity, ethnicity, literature, and socio-economic history. The book brings together leading scholars in a ground-breaking discussion of relations between Russians, Jews, and Ukrainians in one of the most fascinating multiethnic cities in eastern Europe. Cosmopolitan Spaces in Odesa: A Case Study of an Urban Context is the first book to explore Odesa’s cosmopolitan spaces in an urban context from the nineteenth to twenty-first centuries. Leading scholars shed new light on encounters between Jewish, Ukrainian, and Russian cultures. They debate different understandings of cosmopolitanism as they are reflected in Odesa’s rich multilingual culture, ranging from intellectual history and education to music, opera, and literature. The issues of language and interethnic tensions, imperialist repression, and language choice are still with us today. Moreover, the book affords a historical view of what lay behind the Odesa myth, as well as insights into the Jewish and Ukrainian cultural revivals of the early twentieth century.