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This book is an outcome of an individual journey supported by the many. It was made possible and has benefited greatly from the encouragement, cooperation, wisdom, and generosity of many people—my academic mentors, colleagues, researchers, interviewees, family and friends. To proceed with any kind of a chronological order in expression of gratitude is a challenging task, since the value of every single person walking the path of this research with me is immeasurable.

I will attempt to accomplish it by putting a geographic framework on this statement and thanking Finland for becoming the scientific home of this research. This book was made possible in part by the grants of the CIMO Foundation, the University of Helsinki Research Foundation and the KONE Foundation. Four people in particular gave special feedback and encouragement to this work: Professor Juri Mykkänen, Professor Markku Kangaspuro, Professor Pertti Ahonen and Dr. Emilia Palonen. I am grateful to each of them for their unique contribution, which came of essential support during different stages of the research. I am particularly thankful to Professor Juri Mykkänen for his invaluable collaboration, for pouring his heart and tireless hours to perfect, and for being the foreword author of this book. I am grateful to Professor András László Pap, Professor Don Kalb and Professor Elena Trubina for their feedback and genuine involvement in this research at different stages of its completion.

I am most appreciative for support in many areas from my dear friends Rich Reynolds and Deema Annyk, whose assistance in proofreading and providing technical support turned numerous ideas and sketches into a written text.

Successive versions of the arguments were presented to audiences at the University of Helsinki and the University of Tampere in Finland, Columbia University in the US, the University of Ottawa in Canada, Central European University in Hungary, the University of Tallinn and the University of Tartu in Estonia, the UCL Institute of Education in the UK, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv in Ukraine, and EURAC Research in Italy and Austria. It has been a long, international journey, and I am grateful for all the comments I received on those occasions.

My sincere gratitude goes to my dear friends Lidia Antonova, Ekaterina Netchaeva, Elena Gorskaya, Marina Andretti, Yuriy Shostak, Dmitriy Zamiatin, Dmitriy Kashkan, Natalka Patsuirko, Giorgio Forghieri, Eri Nagai, Anastasia Shmeleva, Iana Kramarovskaia, Sandra Kim, Andrew MacInnis, Guss, and Svetlana Zhikharev. Their support, encouragement and love transcended both time and space, and came as a precious gift of care and lift when needed. The spring of absolute talent and kindness are my deeply loved friends from Estonia and Finland—Kristina Norman, Meelis Muhu, Liisa Kaljula, Natalia Munatajeva, Inga Skucaite, Mark Teramae, Vaslav Skopets, and David Dusseault. I am grateful to these endowed artists, researchers, and foremost, amazing individuals for their love, advice, and sincere compassion for Ukraine.

As I look back at the journey behind this book, I cannot abstain from expressing gratitude to my teachers and mentors who left an immeasurable mark in the formation of my character and my research interests. I record my particular admiration for Professor Peggy Meyer—a person of a tremendous intellectual and human scale, whose knowledge of Eastern Europe, support, and passion for research have always been a beacon. Back in 2002, probably they would not have estimated the importance of their impact on the life of an immigrant arriving in Canada from Ukraine—Ms. Meiyan Yip, Ms. R. Desrochers, Mr. R. Bloudell and Ms. Tatiana Smolina are the teachers who inspired, whose support and care are as unforgettable, as invaluable. I would also like to express deepest gratitude to Dr. Roy Cline and Dr. Donald’s family for their immense, infinite impact on my life. For her thoughtfulness, the ability to listen and hear, for being so open and free, my profound gratitude goes to the Education Planning Officer of the University of Helsinki, my dear friend Marjukka Laakso. Her professionalism, energy and sense of humor added to successful completion of this book in countless ways. For years in a row, Ilari Lahtela shared the path of this research with me offering nothing but support, care and love. I am grateful to him for everything he is, for his courageous feedback, patience, and ongoing presence at all stages of this journey and beyond.

I would like to thank my family—people who make expression of gratitude a challenging process, as there are never enough words. I am grateful to my mother Nataliya Ganytska for the lessons she gave me as a teacher, as a woman of strength and a person of unique character. I am thankful to my sister Ilona Souchotte and my brother-in-law Mark Souchotte for their support, their kindness, understanding, for their acceptance and love. Finally, I am grateful to my best friend and inspiration, my father Volodymyr Kutkin. I bow to the extent of his support of my every endeavour, his delicacy, and his tremendous power of will. His unshakable faith in me and my work made this book possible.

For their time, their openness, sincerity and willingness to share what were often very personal stories, I extend special gratitude to all the research participants in Ukraine. They taught to conquer fear through perseverance and faith. Every chapter of this book carries a print of the Ukrainian’s voice. I am grateful for every single one of them.

I thank God for placing this research in my life and for paving my path to complete it. It was quite a journey.

Anna Kutkina

Vancouver

June 2021