ABSTRACT
Few people foresaw the speed with which social and political changes would occur in the Soviet bloc after Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. Indeed, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the emergence of independent states in eastern Europe in the early 1990s caught most people by surprise. Neither Ukrainian dissidents nor members of the organized diaspora who longed for Ukraine’s freedom were prepared to see their dreams realized in their lifetimes (Wilson, 2000: 152). When an overwhelming majority of Ukrainians voted in favor of independence in a national referendum held on December 1, 1991, a wave of collective euphoria swept through the diaspora. Ukraine was free and the mission was accomplished. Missions accomplished, however, often have unintended consequences. Sometimes they lead to new missions. At other times, though, they lead to a sense of loss, anomie and crisis. While Ukrainian independence has opened new opportunities for members of the diaspora to develop transnational ties with their ancestral homeland, independence has also raised questions about what it means to be a diaspora now that the country is free.
