The Cossack Tribe. How Men's Communities Formed and Changed. Pavlo Salyha

What is the phenomenon of the millennial stability of the Ukrainian nation and its powerful military resistance today? Why are Ukrainians the bearers of the “principle of broad democracy” in contrast to the centralized power of Moscow?
Pavlo Salyha uses the tools of comparative sociocultural anthropology to investigate the origins of the Ukrainian Cossacks. He traces the continuity from the “tribal democracy” of the Slavs and the institute of the veche in Kyivan Rus to the unique structure of the Zaporizhian Sich, modern volunteer battalions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and even football fan movements. Using the approaches of Claude Levi-Strauss, Joseph Campbell, Emile Durkheim, and other famous researchers, the author provides the key to deciphering the archaic logic behind Ukrainian cultural phenomena and myths.
“The Cossack Tribe” offers a fresh look at the foundations of the Ukrainian worldview. The book will interest both professional ethnologists and anthropologists, as well as those neophytes who want to look beyond the historical wall of the Cossacks. Here, rituals and ceremonies are intertwined with the analysis of Ukrainian identity, folklore is placed in a geopolitical context, and for connoisseurs of cultural mysteries and comparisons, there is a wide field for research.