CONFLICTIZATION OF UKRAINIAN ETHNOCULTURAL SPACE AS THE OBJECT OF UKRAINIAN STUDIES

The article deals with the essence of Ukrainian ethnic, national and ethnocultural processes and their influence on the development of the Ukrainian ethnocultural space as an object of Ukrainian studies. Ethnic processes have been found to be sequential changes that have occurred and will occur with the Ukrainian people throughout their development and existence as a self-sufficient ethnic community, and are directly related to the ethnogenesis of Ukrainians. It is proved that nation-building processes are complex transformations that occur both in a regular order (evolutionary) and abrupt (revolutionary) and contribute to the formation of a nation, the highest form of political structuring of the ethnic group and its further development and self-organization, which eventually lead to political emergence. nation, and the creation of Ukrainian civil society. It is shown, that the Ukrainian ethno-cultural processes is a process of a long-term historical development, in which Ukrainians created on the territories of their existence an ethno-cultural space based on the common origin and territories of Ukrainians, the existence of traditional Ukrainian culture, the intriduction of the Christian faith. It was pointed out that the Ukrainian ethnocultural space includes a peculiar and unique complex of material and spiritual culture of the Ukrainian people created during a long time, and acquired originality and perfection. Eight “conflicting points” in Ukrainian ethnocultural development have been determined. The synergistic interaction of ethnic, state-forming, nation-forming and ethno-cultural processes contributed to the long-time consistent development of the Ukrainians from a small ethnic community lived in the Middle Dnieper as their core trerritiry to the modern nation whose representatves are living on different continents.