Everyday life of the social elite of the Left Bank of Ukraine at the end of the 18th century – the first half of the 19th century: problems and prospects of research
Authors: Malyshko Oleh 
Published: June 2023

Anthropological turn in the historiography of the second half of the 20th – beginning of the 21th century placed man at the center of the historical process, emphasizing on the everyday life of people of different eras, their thoughts, moods, feelings and beliefs. The topic of the article covers the chronological period caused by modernization shifts in the traditional culture of the Left Bank Ukrainians, political and social by the abolition of the autonomy of the Hetmanship.  The purpose of the article is to highlight the specifics of the analysis of the everyday life of the social elite of Left Bank Ukraine at the end of the 18th – in the first half of the 19th century, to determine the characteristics of the main problem-thematic sections of the study and the informative potential of historical sources in the context of everyday history.  The source base of the intelligence was made up of the works of domestic and foreign researchers, a complex of primary sources, representatives of the nobility of Left Bank Ukraine, works of fiction, periodicals, reference, advertising publications of the period under study. Research methods: problem-chronological, comparative-historical, logical, historical-genetic. Main results: The peculiarities of methodological approaches to the study of the everyday space of the social elite of the Left Bank are revealed. Emphasis is placed on the complex nature of the research, which combines macro and micro levels. The necessity of applying the principles of anthropocentrism, maximum detailing and individualization, and multidisciplinary methods for the analysis of everyday practices of the Ukrainian nobles of the Left Bank is proven. It is proposed to carry out the reconstruction of the everyday life of the social elite on the basis of two main problem-thematic segments: material and household and cultural and social spheres. Their comparative characteristics have been carried out. The informative capabilities of the source database are analyzed. Concise conclusions: The study of everyday practices that were formed among the social elite of Left Bank Ukraine at the end of the 18th – in the first half of the 19th century, in the context of everyday history opens up new research perspectives and expands the informative possibilities of the main segments of the source base: ego-documents, works of fiction, periodical materials, reference, advertising publications of the specified period. Practical significance: the main provisions and factual material can serve as a supplement to specific aspects of the history of everyday life in Left Bank Ukraine. Originality is based on a wide range of used sources and their analytical and synthetic processing. Scientific novelty: a modernized information model of the historian's cognitive work in the process of researching the everyday space of the social elite of the Left Bank at the end of the 18th - the first half of the 19th centuries is proposed. Type of article: scientific, theoretical and analytical.