Information on the thesis

A  thesis  for  the  Doctorate  Degree  in  Philology, Speciality  10.01.07 –  Folklore
Studies. – Lviv Ivan Franko National University, Lviv, 2016.
The thesis is dedicated to poetic works by Ukrainian migrant workers in Italy in
the early 21
st
century. The given poems have been represented as an artifact here for the
first  time  and  their  ontology  is  closely  connected  with  modern  folklore  works.  The
database of poems by contemporary migrant workers reflects people’s perception of the
fourth wave of immigration, which was also called “women’s immigration” and which
turned out to be the biggest wave of immigration in the history of Ukraine. Poetic works
by Ukrainian migrant workers in Italy, which were first published on the pages of the
Christian  journal  Do  Svitla  (To  the  Light)  and  then  in  other  Ukrainian-language
periodicals, were compiled into a unique “folk chronicle” of contemporary immigration.
The  paper  gives  a  folkloristic  vision  of  migrant  workers’  poetry  which  represents
folklore thinking, ethno-cultural memory, self-identification and self-presentation of its
authors. Numerous poems by Ukrainian migrant workers in Italy promoted research into
the  history  of  Ukrainian  community  in  Italy.  This  community  has  generated  poetry
which demonstrated its typological connection with modern folklore from the very start.
Most vividly can this similarity be traced in the plot and motive paradigm of the poems
by migrant workers where all major plots of folk songs on emigration are interpreted, in
particular hard life in the Motherland and the intention to work abroad; the hard and
dangerous way to the foreign country; uncertain life abroad and hard work; separation
of  the  family;  homesickness;  the  way  back  home.  Such  plots  and  motives  are
fundamental  for  the  drama  of  both  these  poems  and  folklore,  though  in  poems  by
contemporary  migrant  workers  they  are  modified  due  to  immigration  reality.  Major
motives in poems can become dominant and pervasive (namely, homesickness/longing
for the family), contaminate with other motives and develop into some new ones (for
instance, motives of the road and uncertain life abroad), demonstrate a certain mimicry
(hard work) or mythologization (the motive of the way back home). Variability of plots
and motives of folk songs in poems by contemporary migrant workers proves how folk
songlike tradition is prolonged in poetic works by the first Ukrainian migrant workers
and reinterprets all plot and motive matrices of folk songs on emigration.
Genre analysis of poetry by contemporary migrant workers illustrates ideological
and conceptual integrity of the artifact. It has allowed us to qualify the wholeness of this
artifact  as  a  cycle  of  the  collective  author,  in  which  the  authors  implement  their
“mission”  of  truly  describing  women’s  immigration.  Genre  paradigm  of  the  poetry
under  analysis  includes  both  literary  (namely,  epistles,  letters,  epigrams,  sonnets, humorous poetry, fables, elegies, odes, etc) and folklore genres (dumy (i.e. a sung epic
poem),  real-life  stories,  songs,  fairy  tales,  kolomyyky  (i.e.  a  Hutsul  dance  and  a
corresponding  folk  song),  lullabies,  Christmas  carols,  etc.).  The  most  popular  genres
included real-life stories, epistles and kolomyyky.
Intertextuality  as  a  pervasive  feature  of  poetry  written  by  Ukrainian  migrant
workers in Italy is represented by the paradigm of titles, correlation between poems and
the usage of Italian vocabulary, i.e. the “foreign” word. All the titles compose a paratext
which demonstrates an additional aspect of migrant workers’ poetry. The paradigm of
titles  can  be  perceived  as  “a  text  in  the  text”,  or  a  roadmap  where  the  problems  of
present-day migrant workers have been marked. As a fundamental intertextual feature,
dialogical  nature  of  the  poetry  under  analysis  is  pervasive.  It  is  most  vividly
demonstrated  in  poems  where  the  authors  address  important  (or  necessary)
“interlocutors” and nominate the addressees. Folk poets had open (i.e. represented in the
text)  or  implied  (implicational)  dialogues  with  fellow-countrymen  who  also  were  in
immigration,  their  relatives,  Ukrainian  authorities,  Ukraine,  Taras  Shevchenko,  the
church, or God which testifies to communicative value of the poetic heritage. Having
examined  the  given  poetic  works  through  the  prism  of  foreign  words  (i.e.  Italian
vocabulary),  we  can  claim  that  these  words  served  a  decorative,  conceptual  and
communicative function, strengthening the emotional colouring of the poems, acted as a
means  of  social  and  ethno-cultural  characteristics  of  heroes,  as  well  as  the  antinomy
between  “one’s  native”  and  “foreign”  worlds.  From  the  viewpoint  of  chronological
dynamics  the  texts  under  analysis  demonstrate  the  tendency  towards  bigger
concentration of Italian vocabulary in the texts. This fact reflects how well Ukrainian
migrant workers have mastered the Italian language and testifies to positive tendencies
in  integrating  the  Ukrainian  community  into  the  socio-cultural  world  of  the  recipient
country.
Research into poetic works by Ukrainian migrant workers in Italy according to
the  suggested  parameters  has  proved  the  unique  nature  of  the  given  phenomenon.  It
reflects ethno-cultural, mental and intellectual world of the Ukrainians. For this reason
the poetic works by present-day community of migrant workers in Italy has to become a
part of the Ukrainian cultural space and definitely deserves further research.
Keywords:  folklore,  traditional  culture,  migrant  workers,  Ukrainian  Greek-
Catholic Church, Italy, Ukrainian folk songs on emigration, plot and motive paradigm,
intertextuality, dialogical nature.