Our Geographic Truth: Making Lemkovyna and Carpathian Rus’ in Dymytrii Vyslotskii’s Texts and Maps

Abstract

OUR GEOGRAPHIC TRUTH: MAKING LEMKOVYNA AND CARPATHIAN RUS’ IN DYMYTRII VYSLOTSKII’S TEXTS AND MAPS

This article analyzes the process of shaping the Lemko and Carpatho-Rusyn national space in the first half of the 20th century. It focuses on the political and journalistic activities of Dymytrii Vyslotskii and the Lemko Association of the USA and Canada. The study explores how visual elements in maps, as well as geographic and ethnographic arguments in press publications, were used to construct the image of Lemkovyna and Carpathian Rus’ as cohesive and distinct territorial units. The article also examines the evolution of the Lemko Association’s views on their homeland from a local idea of Lemko unity to a broader national project aligned with the Soviet Union. The analysis demonstrates that the spatial imaginations and political strategies of the Lemkos adapted to shifting geopolitical and social contexts. Although modern Carpatho-Rusyns no longer share the Russophile ideological framework of that era, the idea of a shared Carpatho-Rusyn identity articulated by Vyslotskii remains an important element of their historical and cultural narrative.