Introduction: Referring to the knowledge about the number of Ukrainian students in Poland, James Marcia’s theory of identity development and Henri Tajfel’s theory of social identity, the authors examined how the Ukrainian minority studying in Poland describes its ethnic identity.
Method: For this purpose, nine semistructural interviews were conducted, which were then subjected to a semantic narrative analysis.
Results: It turned out that the respondents identify most strongly with the group of international students and students, and with their national identity in the second place. Polish nationality was cited as a group of belonging, spending time, while the Ukrainian nationality
was individual, related to origin. Polish groups were positively evaluated by the respondents. The analysis also distinguished categories of differences between Poland and Ukraine, indicated by the respondents. They were: culture and religion, customs and tradition, decision-making and self-confidence, social issues, as well as mentality and science. The categories of stereotypes that were mentioned in the interviews were also identified: cheating and stealing, complaining and the similarity of nations.
Conclusions: The results showed that the identity of Ukrainians is in a state of moratorium. The respondents define Ukraine as “their” country, while the strongest ones describe themselves as international students.
Theoretical and Methodological Contributions of Narrative Psychology to Ethnic Identity Research
