The Frontier Person and the Border: in Search of the Native (Southern Ukraine of the 18th and Early 19th Centuries)

Abstract

The article explores the development of the frontier population’s daily practices along the officially established state borders. The Zaporozhian Cossacks were found amidst the endless Eurasian Steppe and closely interacted with the Turkic community. Since the very beginning, the frontier corporations have built their own lifestyle, which they associate with the freedom of choice and movement not limited either by religion, language, or social identity. The establishment of state borders as lines intended for separation and opposition actually emphasized the frontier population’s desire to look for common ground, to easily change religion, language, citizenship in order to preserve the native, which is associated with free life.