Lecture by Dr Michael Gera: Ukraine, Malta, and the Power of Vernacular Identity

A lecture entitled “Ukraine, Malta, and the Power of Vernacular Identity” will be delivered by Dr Michael Gera (Birbeck College, London) on Tuesday 28 October 2025, at 11:00 in Room 105 Old Humanities Building (OH105), University of Malta Msida Campus.

Why did Russia’s 250-year attempt to erase Ukrainian identity through language suppression ultimately fail, while Britain’s linguistic strategy in Malta succeed? This talk explores how two empires recognised that vernacular languages become powerful weapons once they transition from speech to writing — but chose radically different approaches to harness this power.

Through examining imperial language policies from 1850 onwards, we see how Russia’s confrontational suppression of Ukrainian literacy inadvertently strengthened Ukrainian nationalism, while Britain’s embrace of written Maltese helped secure its strategically vital naval base in the central Mediterranean. By elevating Maltese from vernacular to national language, Britain ensured that the island would not be drawn towards union with the emerging Kingdom of Italy. Both empires understood that controlling vernacular identity was key to their strategic objectives, yet their contrasting methods produced opposite outcomes.

As someone researching Ukrainian national identity, but a relative outsider to the Maltese equivalent, I was struck by how Malta’s experience offers a counter-example to Russia’s imperial language policy. It appears that Britain’s “going with the grain” approach in Malta reveals possibilities that Russia’s repressive policies in Ukraine consistently missed. The current war in Ukraine — which I argue represents the continuation of Tsarist and Soviet policy — has now produced a dramatic linguistic shift that may have finally resolved what Russian policy never fully succeeded in doing.