Belarusian Studies

Les Slaves de l'Est (Biélorusses, Russes et Ukrainiens) possèdent une très riche tradition de chants épiques et religieux qui bien souvent renvoient à un fond très archaïque, un fond mythologique qui n'a de chrétien que l'apparence. Ces chants épiques russes (les bylines) et ukrainiens (les dumy), ces formules et incantations biélorusses, ne mentionnent évidemment pas d'antiques divinités slaves, mais ils font appels à des conceptions et des récits qui peuvent remonter à des temps bien antérieurs à la christianisation, et qui de ce fait peuvent être comparés à d'autres mythologies européennes. Textes traduits du russe, du biélorusse et de l'ukrainien.

2e édition.
Extraits: introduction, premier chant, bibliographie et table des matières

Background: This study examined the use of wild plants in the food, medicinal and veterinary areas within a small territory limited to one village council in the Liubań district of Belarus. The objectives of the research were to document the current and past uses of wild plants in this region for food and human/animal medication; to analyse the food, medicinal and veterinary areas in the context of wild plants; and to qualitatively compare the results with relevant publications concerning the wild food plants of Belarus. Methods: Fieldwork was carried out as a practical part of a development cooperation project in May 2016 in 11 villages of the Liubań district. One hundred thirty-four respondents were selected randomly. Information about local uses of wild plants was obtained via semi-structured interviews and the folk-history method. Interview records were digitalized and the data structured in Detailed Use Records (DUR), which were divided into food, medicinal and veterinary areas...

The article describes the archaeological research at the cemetery near the village Dubrovka Gorodok district in 2014. The area of the prospect hole was 16 m2. 15 burials that contained the remains of at least 24 people, including 11 children, 3 men, 7 women and 3 people, whose sex could not be determined, were open. Burials were placed in two layers, suggesting the use of an existing cemetery for repeated burials. The stone structures are well correlated with burials of a lower layer. Taking into account a great number of burials on a small area, placing of graves in two layers, additional burials, the possibility of a wide dating of the identified cross and fasteners, we can assume that the examined fragment of the cemetery was functioning for a long time, during XVII–XVIII centuries. The upper date is confirmed by a coin dated 1776. =
Статья посвящена описанию археологических исследований на могильнике возле д. Дубровка Городокского р-на в 2014 г. Площадь раскопа составила 16 кв. м. Было вскрыто 15 погребений, которые содержали останки не менее чем 24 человек, в т.ч. 11 детей, 3 мужчин, 7 женщин и 3 человек, пол которых установить не удалось. Погребения были размещены в двух горизонтах, что свидетельствует об использовании уже существующего кладбища для повторных захоронений. Каменные конструкции хорошо соотносятся с погребениями нижнего горизонта. Учитывая значительное количество погребений на небольшой площади, размещение захоронений в два горизонта, подзахоронения, возможность широкого датирования выявленных крестика и застежек, можно предположить, что исследованный фрагмент кладбища фунционировал продолжительное время, на протяжении XVII–XVIII вв. Верхняя дата подтверждается монетой 1776 г.

bardzo ważny fragment historii ruchu komunistycznego, działają-cego na obszarze międzywojennego państwa polskiego. Od jesieni 1923 r. organizacja ta stała się formalnie jedyną emanacją owego nurtu politycznego na terenie województw północno-wschodnich II Rzeczypospolitej. Do 1938 r. była rzecz jasna częścią struktur ko-munistycznych organizowanych w Polsce przez władze państwa sowieckiego i bezwzględnie im podporządkowaną. Niemniej jej rozwój na tle "nadrzędnej" Komunistycznej Partii Polski czy "rów-noległej" Komunistycznej Partii Zachodniej Ukrainy odznaczał się zarówno własną dynamiką, jak i specyficznym otoczeniem naro-dowościowym i cywilizacyjnym. Badania nad dziejami KPZB moż-na więc zapewne traktować dziś jako istotne zagadnienie z punktu widzenia historiografii okresu międzywojennego. Szczęśliwą oko-licznością wydaje się to, że można obecnie mówić o zauważalnym wzroście zainteresowania historią tej odmiany aktywności wywro-towej. Dowodzą tego zwłaszcza coraz liczniej publikowane teksty rozproszone, także na łamach "Komunizmu. Systemu-Ludzi-Struktur". Widać jednak wyraźnie, że tematyka KPZB nadal pozo-staje na marginesie badaczy komunistycznych wątków historii politycznej II RP. Biorąc pod uwagę zasygnalizowane wyżej deficyty warto podjąć kwestię działalności KPZB na każdym z poziomów: przyczynków o charakterze studiów przypadków, ujęć regionalnych, zapewne-w przyszłości-generalnego opracowania syntetycznego 1. Oddzielną 1 Z oczywistych względów roli nowoczesnego opracowania nie może spełnić-skądinąd nie pozbawiona pewnej wartości-synteza historii KPZB jaka ukazała się

The article explores the conditions under which incumbent leaders in initially competitive political systems manage to offset democratic resistance and establish an authoritarian regime. Autocratisationthe transition from a competitive political system to a regime dominated by a single political forceis a challenging effort for an incumbent and involves interventions in three 'arenas' to achieve a) public legitimation, b) institutional reforms increasing political repression and c) mass-scale co-optation. Focusing on Slovakia and Belarus in the 1990s, where autocratisation efforts failed and succeeded respectively, the article finds that cooptation plays a catalytic role in helping the incumbent pass institutional reforms and escalate repression without risking de-legitimation. In Belarus, co-optation engulfed society and the economy whereas, in Slovakia, a socioeconomic environment with greater autonomy from government limited the scope for co-optation. The Slovak opposition was able to find the resources and supporters necessary to fight back against the incumbent.

Ukraine is an outsider in terms of political values and standards of governance. Transparency, efficiency and accountability, rubber-stamped in official papers and declarations, are superseded by other standards: informal networks, patronage, and a patron-client system are what truly shape the performance of state institutions, making them serve the interests of the elected rather than the electors. The article traces the rise of Viktor Yanukovych to the Presidential office through extensive use of these informal patterns and formation of a vertikal of his own, laying preconditions for his fall.

Почему белорусский язык – исчезающий язык?: Языковая ситуация в Беларуси из анализа данных переписей населения

В настоящее время, несмотря на то, что белорусский язык является государственным языком в Республике Беларусь, ЮНЕСКО считает белорусский язык исчезающим языком и классифицирует его как «уязвимый язык (vulnerable language)». В данном докладе на основании данных переписей населения 1959г. - 2009г. анализировались состояние и перспективы развития языковой ситуации в Беларуси, и в частности, роль белорусского языка в обществе.
Из анализа выяснились следующие факты: большинство жителей Беларуси используют в повседневной жизни русский язык: постепенно белорусский язык утрачивает функцию символа белорусской национальности, т.е. белорусы не считают его своим «родным языком», чего не было даже во времена Cоветского союза. Из этого следует, что белорусский язык перестаёт быть символом белорусской национальности, не говоря уже о медиуме коммуникации. Кроме того: положение белорусского языка сравнительно устойчиво в сельских регионах страны, но сельское население не составляет большей части населения Беларуси, наоборот, его численность резко уменьшается, и даже в сельской местности в повседневном общении жители постепенно переходят на русский язык. Столичный город Минск − политический и экономический центр Республики Беларусь, в котором сосредоточена 5-ая часть всего населения страны − является с точки зрения языка самым русифицированным местом в Республике Беларусь. Очевидно, что при таких обстоятельствах позиции белорусского языка достаточно слабые.

From 2007 and throughout the 2010s the role of the Belarusian diplomatic service has grown in importance following the adoption of a new foreign policy strategy. The new strategy moved away from focusing solely on Russia and involved engaging with alterative actors such as the EU. While the diversification of Belarusian foreign policy attracted the attention of a number of scholars, little has been written so far about the elites implementing this change. This article analyses the changes in the Belarusian decision-making and implementation process on questions of foreign policy in the 2010s in comparison with the previous decade. The study also compares career trajectories of Belarusian diplomats working on the EU “vector” with another emerging vector called the “far arc”. All these elements, on one hand, reflect the growing diversity of Minsk’s foreign policy, and, on the other, more specifically the oscillations of foreign policy towards the EU.

The Freedom of the Press ranking recently published by Freedom House has found Belarus’ media environment to be Europe’s most restrictive. The ranking placed Belarus as 192nd out of 199 countries and territories within the “worst of the worst” category. These results suggest that media freedom in Belarus has neither been influenced by the country’s recent improvements in its relations with the West nor by the rapid spread of digital technologies. Some of the business community’s representatives have been unsatisfied with the ranking’s results, which call for a deeper reflection on the hidden mechanisms of control that afflict Belarusian media.

государственное учреждение образования «республиканский институт высшей школы» кафедра историко-культурного наследия беларуси studia historica europae orientalis исследования по истории восточной европы научный сборник Основан в 2008 году ВЫПУСК 3 Минск ривш 2010 Мартынюк А. В. АЛЕСЬ БЕЛЫЙ В ПОИСКАХ БЕЛОЙ РУСИ (рецензия на книгу Алеся Белого «Хронiка Белай Русi». Мiнск, Энцыклапедыкс, 2000)

Приватизация в Беларуси за 2011 год: результаты аукционов, ведущие субъекты, социальные последствия Содержание Введение Методология, ограничения исследования, замечания 1. Государственная программа приватизации и приоритеты покупателей -соотношение предложения и спроса. 1.1. Характеристики предприятий, выставленных на продажу (экономические, географические и социально-демографическиепоказатели). 1.2. Характеристики проданных предприятий. 2. Профиль субъектов бизнеса, включившихся в малую и среднюю приватизацию. 2.1. Соотношение белорусских и зарубежных покупателей. 2.2. Направления деятельности компаний-покупателей. 3. «Сверхмалая» приватизация -опыт разгосударствления на локальном уровне. Выводы _____________________________________________________________________________________ Введение 1 http://www.president.gov.by/press129519.html 2 http://www.gki.gov.by/

This article offers a contribution to the comparative democratisation literature by analysing the use of nonviolent methods of resistance in a repressive political regime. It focuses on the role of youth movements in elections in Belarus. Elections present an opportunity for the engagement of youth in politics. The study examines how the youth movements Malady Front, Zubr and Belarusian Patriotic Youth Union sought to mobilise young people during the 2001 election. It analyses movement tactics and state action in response to youth mobilisation.

As protests continue to galvanize Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko is consolidating his grip on power. Volatile domestic dynamics – and Russia’s reactions to them – will shape the discredited regime’s future. This paper outlines four possible scenarios for Belarus up to one year from now. They include options for Russia and the EU, whose strategic objectives differ, but whose short-term interests align: preventing bloodshed, avoiding open geopolitical conflict, and preparing for a post-Lukashenko transition.

On 20 July 2016, the Republic of Belarus adopted its new military doctrine, replacing the old document of 2002. A closer look at the new doctrine reveals that, despite the widespread hopes in many Western capitals about Belarus distancing itself from Russia, in fact the defense policy ties between Minsk and Moscow have become stronger, demonstrating the foreign policy manoeuvring has its limits, when it comes to matters of security and defense.

Published in: Spruds, Andris - Potjomkina, Diana (eds.): Coping with Complexity in the Euro-Atlantic Community and Beyond: Riga Conference Papers 2016. Riga, 2016, Latvian Institute of International Affairs, pp. 230-238.

These voices of utopia, inseparable from the experience of dislocation, are a unique contribution to the literature of testimony. With her cycle Svetlana Alexievich has established herself as the first major postcolonial author of post-Communism: the daughter of a Ukrainian and Belarusian who uses the Russian language – the only language in which she is completely fluent – to collect and present, from her own subaltern perspective, subaltern accounts of the traumas inflicted by empire.

Ostatniego ćwierćwiecza polskich przemian politycznych dotyka i niniejsza publikacja, która jest zbiorem artykułów przygotowanych przez pracowników naukowych i doktorantów z różnych ośrodków w kraju. Prace dotykają zarówno polityki wewnętrznej, jak i zagranicznej państwa, co oznacza, że odnoszą się do stosunkowo dużego obszaru poznawczego. Zdecydowaną przewagę uzyskały w tej tematyce problemy zewnątrzpaństwowe odnoszące się do Unii Europejskiej, polityki zagranicznej, kilku aspektów bezpieczeństwa europejskiego i międzynarodowego, migracji wewnątrzeuropejskich czy Kościoła katolickiego. Wszystkie te kwestie mieszczą się w ogólnych zarysach „wybranych problemów politycznych” państwa polskiego w latach 1989-2014. Zadaniem niniejszej publikacji stało się przybliżenie Czytelnikom takich problemów politycznych Polski z ostatniego ćwierćwiecza, które wymagają dodatkowego komentarza, pogłębionych analiz podmiotowych i przedmiotowych oraz ciągle aktualnego spojrzenia metodologicznego i merytorycznego.

À partir du succès de la Révolution orange en Ukraine et de
l’échec de la Révolution de Jeans en Biélorussie, cet ouvrage
propose une étude rétrospective des transformations politiques et
identitaires dans ces deux États issus de la décomposition de
l’Union soviétique. En analysant les principaux événements
politiques survenus sur une période de vingt ans, l’auteur
montre comment la vie politique ukrainienne et biélorusse
évolue dans le sillage de la chute du système soviétique qui fait
apparaître l’électeur libre, le multipartisme, les manifestations
spontanées, tout en assurant la continuité des élites politiques.
Traversées par les bouleversements politiques, l’Ukraine et la
Biélorussie vivent également des révolutions identitaires qui
interrogent et modifient différemment leurs histoires nationales,
les pratiques linguistiques de leurs habitants et le rapport à
l’Autre que représente la Russie.

Археалагічныя раскопкі дазваляюць атрымаць звесткі аб познесярэдневяковым пахавальным касцюме насельніцтва Беларускага Падзвіння. Пахаванні ХIV–XVIII стст. пераважна безынвентарны, што сведчыць аб незахаванасці тканіны і дэталяў касцюма, зробленых з арганічных матэрыялаў, і ўказвае на мінімальнае выкарыстанне металічных элементаў. Наменклатура выяўленых прадметаў уключае жаночыя галаўныя ўборы, элементы паясоў, засцёжкі, ювелірныя ўпрыгожанні і нацельныя крыжыкі. Большасць знаходак паходзіць з жаночых пахаванняў і датуецца дастаткова шырока, што ўказвае на бОльшую разнастайнасць жаночага касцюма і ўстойлівасць «моды». = Археологические раскопки позволяют получить сведения о позднесредневековом погребальном костюме населения Белорусского Подвинья. Погребения ХIV–ХVIII вв. преимущественно безынвентарны, что свидетельствует о несохранности ткани и деталей костюма из органических материалов и указывает на минимальное использование металлических элементов. Номенклатура выявленныхпредметов включает женские головные уборы, элементы пояса, застёжки, ювелирные украшения и нательные крестики. Большинство находок происходит из женских погребений и датируется достаточно широко, что указывает на бОльшее разнообразие женского костюма и устойчивость «моды».

Temčinas S., Języki kultury ruskiej w Pierwszej Przeczypospolitej, in Kuczyńska M. (ed.), Między Wschodem a Zachodem: Prawosławie i unia, Warszawa, 2017 (Kultura Pierwszej Przeczypospolitej w dialogu z Europą: hermeneutyka wartości, t. 11), s. 81–120.

This monograph analyzed the topic of mass media education in Commonwealth of Independent States. *

The authors address the goals, objectives and concepts of the project on mass media education in Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The purpose of the study: a comparative analysis of the development of media education in the CIS (1992-2020) at each stage (including theoretical concepts, goals and objectives, role, place, functions, organizational forms of media education in the mainstream education). Object of the study is media education in the countries of the CIS. The research's subject is basic stages of development, theoretical and methodological concept of media education in the CIS countries over the past 25 years. Research objectives are to formulate and justify a set of theoretical stances that make up the methodological basis of research into the history of mass media education in the CIS (1992-2020); to analyze theoretical sources and practical experience of the leading figures of media education in the CIS countries, to determine the essential features, qualities and properties of media education in the CIS countries, to investigate the structure, main stages of historical development, directions, theoretical concepts, goals and objectives, contents, media education technologies in the CIS; to carry out a comparative analysis and systematization of the material, to identify the main theoretical and methodological concepts of media education in the CIS countries, which may be a promising basis for further successful development.

For scholars, universities professors and students.

* The reported study was funded by RFBR according to the research project № 18-013-00022 “Mass Media Education in Commonwealth of Independent States – CIS (1992-2020)”.

The aim of the article consists in the research of transformations of ethnic identity in descendants of Belarusian peasantsmigrants
of Siberia and the Far East. The source basis of the research includes field data collected by the author in ethnographic expeditions
on the territory of 12 regions of Siberia and the Far East during the period from 2009 to 2017, the national structure of the
explored regions reflected in population censuses from 1897 to 2010 and also publications about local history of different years. Results
of the research indicate that at the time of mass agrarian migrations of the second half of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th
centuries the ethnic identity of most Belarusians was not created yet. Due to the internal nature of migrations, peasants identified
their homeland with Russia. Their identity had regional rather than ethnic differentiation. In Siberia Belarusian migrants began to live
near the Russian old resident population and received a new social and cultural status which found reflection in the wide use of the
name “samokhod” (lit. “self-movers”). After the establishment of the Soviet power, administrative and political factors initiated the
process of belarusization. Results of the All-Union population census of 1926 showed that most migrants already identified themselves
with Belarusians. In the 1930s–1940s the socio-political and economic factors of collectivization and industrialization as well
as the consequences of World War II led to serious demographic changes in places of compact accommodation of Belarusian peasants-
migrants. As a result of urbanization and modernization of the way of life of the Soviet village in the second half of the 20th
century, most descendants of Belarusian peasants-migrants began to identify themselves with Russians or just did not think about
their ethnic origin. Since the 1990s, the author observes a growth of interest of professional researchers and amateur enthusiasts in
the history and traditional culture of Belarusian peasants-migrants as in historical and cultural heritage. On this background, the Belarusian
ethnic identity begins to develop again among people who are interested in traditions of their ancestors. Today, mediated information
dominates in its formation rather than intergenerational historical memory. The author comes to a conclusion that during
different periods of time a number of demographic, political, social and cultural factors had impact on features of ethnic identity of
descendants of Belarusian peasants-migrants. Therefore, today it is considered more suitable to use the concept “descendants of Belarusian
peasants-migrants” rather than the ethnonym “Belarusian” when referring to offsprings of people who moved from Belarus to
Siberia and the Far East in the second half of the 19th – the beginning of the 20th centuries.

Guest editor of a special issue of the Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society 2(1) (2016), ‘Gender, Nationalism, and Citizenship in Anti-Authoritarian Protests in Belarus, Russia, and Ukraine’.

https://www.ibidem.eu/en/zeitschriften/journal-of-soviet-and-post-soviet-politics-and-society/journal-of-soviet-and-post-soviet-politics-and-society-15134.html?___from_store=en

Belarus, as one of the least reformed post-Soviet countries, needs a large-scale privatization. Two attempts of privatization (1990-1996 and 2007-2013) failed, market reforms were stopped and reversed by Nomenklatura and President Alaksandr Lukashenka. Protracted reforms have led to companies’ inefficiency and long-time economic stagnation. In this paper, I emphasize mistakes and provide some recommendations for what could be done better. It is essential to combine different forms of privatization, including management/employees buyout and sellings to foreign companies through transparent auctions. This would help to destroy existing state monopoly and informal networks, integrate economy of Belarus into the international market, and attract investments for making companies more competitive.

У чарговай публікацыі палявых фальклорна-этнаграфічных матэрыялаў, сабраных у 2007 г. у мястэчку Лаварышкі, вёсках Масцішкі, Няверышкі і Дзеканішкі (Віленскі раён, Літва) , прадстаўлены разнастайныя звесткі па рэгіянальнай ідэнтычнасці, вуснай гісторыі, этнічных стэрэатыпах, міфалагічных уяўленнях і павер’ях, каляндарнай і сямейнай абраднасці, земляробчых і жывёлагадоўчых звычаях і абрадах, традыцыях харчавання, народнай медыцыне, песенным фальклоры гістарычнай Віленшчыны. У час экспедыцыі ў якасці інфармантаў выступілі не толькі карэнныя жыхары, але і мігранты з памежнай тэрыторыі Беларусі, якія ў савецкія часы актыўна перасяляліся ў суседнія раёны Літвы. Запісаныя ад іх дыскурсіўныя і наратыўныя выказванні, звязаныя з разнастайнымі аспектамі ідэнтыфікацыі і самаразумення мясцовага насельніцтва, адлюстроўваюць суб’ектыўную і сітуацыйную прыроду этнічнасці (напрыклад, глядзіце тыповы для беларуска-літоўскага памежжа расказ пра змену міжпакаленнай прыпісной ідэнтычнасці, калі пасля вайны ў “польскіх бацькоў” нараджаліся “беларускія дзеці”). Апрача таго, запісы ад перасяленцаў добра паказваюць якім чынам лакальныя культурныя адрозненні і характарыстыкі, прынесеныя з суседніх тэрыторый Беларусі, у новым сацыяльным асяроддзі могуць уключаюцца ў агульны рэгіянальны кантэкст памежжа або набываць этнічна маркіраваную афарбоўку.

There is a stereotype that such former Soviet republics as Russia, Ukraine and Belarus are totally Orthodox. However, this statement is not entirely correct, as part of the population in these countries belong to many different churches, while a large part have rather eclectic religious and para-religious beliefs. In the case of Belarus, a major part of the population belongs to two Christian confessions, Orthodox and Catholic, while many other confessions and new religious movements also exist. Religious pluralism is a practical reality in Belarus which has the reputation of the most religiously tolerant post-Soviet country. Contemporary laws provide the legal basis for the tolerant relations in the country , and there is a historical tradition of religious tolerance in Belarus. Research data from the EVS studies and national surveys are used.

The language situation in contemporary Belarus is characterized not only by mass Belarusian-Russian bilingualism among the minority Belarusian-speaking segment of the population, but also by a significant division within the Belarusophone community in attitudes toward the literary norm: those whose usage is oriented toward the post-1933 standard (the only form of standard Belarusian officially recognized by the Belarusian government), and those, typically allied with the pro-western anti-Lukashenka opposition, who seek to distance themselves from what they regard as the overly russified language used in the official Belarusian-language media and state educational system.
In this paper I examine the language usage and language attitudes of a numerically small but potentially quite influential segment of contemporary Belarusian society: Belarusophone university students. Employing the “community of practice” model developed by Lave and Wenger (1991) and Wenger (1998), and applied in sociolinguistics by researchers such as Eckert (2000), I show that although there is a considerable range of variation in Belarusophone students’ usage of and attitudes toward the competing variants of standard Belarusian, this variation, when we take into account the students’ participation in specific forms of social engagement, is in many cases entirely predictable and regular. As defined by Wenger (1998), a community of practice is “an aggregate of individuals engaged in negotiating and learning practices that contribute to achieving a common goal.” The community of practice can be defined, and defines itself, with respect to three parameters: 1) what it is “about,” that is, the community's joint enterprise as it is understood and continually renegotiated by its members; 2) how it functions, i.e. the forms of mutual engagement and joint action that bind members together into a cohesive social entity; and 3) the capabilities it has produced, i.e. a shared repertoire of resources (practices, sensibilities, artifacts, vocabulary, discourses, styles, etc.) that members have developed as part of a process of social learning. The concept of “community of practice” provides a more empirically satisfying model of social structure in complex, more mobile modern urban societies than the social network concept employed by sociolinguists such as Milroy (1980), since it focuses more on the content of social interactions, that is, what social networks are “about,” rather than simply keeping track of “who knows whom and in what capacity.”
On the basis of an e-mail survey of 70 Belarusophone students at universities in Belarus conducted in 2004-2005, I sought to test the hypothesis that the most active participants in what I call “oppositional communities of practice” are leading the way in the use of non-codified, innovative forms associated with the independent pro-western Belarusian-language media and younger Belarusophone intelligentsia. The oppositional communities of practice that were the focus of this study included the Association of Belarusian Students (ZBS), Malady Front and similar oppositional organizations, as well as fans of Belarusian-language rock groups (the “Belarusian sound community,” as Survilla (2002) has called them), all groups which define themselves in opposition to the Russocentric and neo-Soviet official Belarusian culture.
The survey included a linguistic questionnaire focusing on variants in the phonological shape of loanwords (e.g. codified standard [plan] ‘plan’ ~ [pl’an]), variants in inflectional and derivational morphology (e.g. hetaha horada ~ hetaha horadu ‘this city (gen. sg.)’, šmat moŭ~ šmat movaŭ ‘many languages’ (gen. pl.), samy tanny bilet ~ najtannejšy bilet ~ najtanny bilet ‘the cheapest ticket’, maladzjožny ~ moladzevy ‘youth’ (adj.) and a number of morphosyntactic and syntactic variables (e.g. kamitet pa spravax moladzi ~ kamitet u spravakh moladzi ‘youth affairs committee’), užyvaemaja zaraz stratehija ~ stratehija, jakaja zaraz užyvaecca ~ užyvanaja zaraz stratehija ‘the strategy currently being employed’, heta novy šljax ~ heta josc' novym šljaxam ‘this is a new way’. Respondents were asked to grade these variants according to the following scale: 1) the variant the respondent uses him or herself and which he/she considers to be correct; 2) an acceptable variant within the standard language; 3) a form that is used by other people, but which the respondent considers to be incorrect; 4) a form that the respondent considers to be impossible in Belarusian.
Respondents were also asked to answer a series of questions concerning their family's language use, language use in different domains, whether or not the respondents’ friendship networks include primarily Belarusian or Russian speakers, degree of exposure to Belarusian-language print and electronic media employing both the official standard and non-codified literary variants associated with the opposition media, degree of participation in Belarusian youth organizations (official vs. oppositional), exposure to Belarusian-language rock music, knowledge of Slavic languages other than Belarusian and Russian, and so on. In addition, I included a series of questions focusing on respondents’ attitudes regarding language and ethnicity and their views as to which nations/ethnic groups are culturally and psychologically closest to the Belarusians (this latter question was included to determine which external reference groups Belarusian students tend to identify with most).
For each informant, I calculated an index based on level of participation in oppositional communities of practice and commitment to the core values of the nationalist opposition (i.e. tendency to consider language an essential marker of national identity, tendency to view Belarusians as more like Central or West Europeans than the Russians). I then divided the responses into three groups: those with the highest scores for participation in oppositional communities of practice and oppositional values, those with average scores, and those with the lowest scores. I then produced aggregate scores for each of the linguistic variables for each of the three groups.
Analysis of the data shows that, as I hypothesized, the students with the highest scores for “oppositionality” show the strongest preference for innovative forms, while those with the lowest scores adhere more closely to the norms of the post-1933 codified standard (forms that are also, for the most part, linguistically closer to Russian). Those with average scores for oppositionality show the highest degree of variation, in some cases preferring the innovative variants, and in other cases remaining more conservative. Another interesting finding is that the individuals occupying the most extreme positions on the continuum of oppositionality show the most extreme evaluations of the competing variants: a higher percentage of those with high oppositionality indices regard the post-1933 standard variants as “incorrect” or “non-Belarusian,” while those with the lowest oppositionality scores show the strongest tendency to characterize the non-codified variants in the same way.
Belarusian language use among Belarusian university students thus represents a continuum, from the “hard core,” consciously Belarusian-dominant speakers, who use the language in all or most social contexts and whose language use is intimately tied to specific oppositional practices and discourses, to the Russian-dominant “casual users,” among whom there is a relatively low level of commitment to the use of Belarusian as an overt political and cultural statement. The “in-betweens,” whose language, though influenced to some extent by the recent innovations in literary usage, reflects the continued influence of the Soviet-era codified standard, show sympathy for oppositional cultural models as reflected in their patterns of media consumption, but are not full participants in the associated communities of practice.
While traditional variationist sociolinguistics tends to disregard speakers’ conscious manipulation of linguistic variables as representing a less authentic, less natural form of language, in studying Belarusophone student subcultures specifically as communities of practice, we must be sensitive to the role the innovative variants play in the affirmation of group membership and status within the group, that is, their function as a form of symbolic capital (Bourdieu 1991). Viewed at the level of individual language use, such variation also plays a key role in the expression of individual positionality, or stancetaking, which has recently emerged as a central concern in research in interactional sociolinguistics (Jaffe 2009). As argued by Coulmas (2005), a focus on speaker agency, as expressed in the socially-motivated choices that speakers make from the linguistic options available to them, helps to shed new light on the problems of language variation and change that are at the heart of the sociolinguistic enterprise.

REFERENCES

Bourdieu, Pierre (1991). Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Bucholtz, Mary (2003). Sociolinguistic nostalgia and the authentication of identity (Dialogue: Sociolinguistics and authenticity: An elephant in the room). Journal of Sociolinguistics 7 (3), 398-416.

Coulmas, Florian (2005). Sociolinguistics: The Study of Speakers' Choices. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Eckert, Penelope (2000). Linguistic Variation as Social Practice: The Linguistic Construction of Identity in Belten High. Oxford: Blackwell.

Jaffe, Alexandra (ed.) (2009). Stance: Sociolinguistic Perspectives. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Judith T. Irvine and Susan Gal (2000). Language Ideology and Linguistic Differentiation. In Paul V. Kroskrity (ed.), Regimes of Language: Ideologies, Polities, and Identities.Santa Fe, New Mexico: School of American Research Press, 35-84.

Labov, William (2001). Principles of Lingu...

Abstract.
This article addresses the ways in which the systemic transformation of the former Soviet republics has been reflected in urban development in two capital cities, Minsk (Belarus) and Astana (Kazakhstan). Changes taking place in these capitals have been analysed through the prism of an ideological recycling of the socialist legacy, a concept that permits exploration of which aspects of the socialist legacy have been jettisoned and which retained, in the process of formation of a capital. The article
explores the nationalizing strategies adopted by Belarus and Kazakhstan and reified by various practices, including those involving the recasting of cities. These strategies, however, are analysed not as inventions of post-Soviet regimes, but as forms of structural continuity.

The article covers the issue of Belarusian social advertising. This media segment is divided into three groups (1) social advertising regulated by the governmental order and public announcement strategy; (2) social advertising that is created within the frameworks of advertising festivals and various competitions and does not always appear on billboards; (3) advertising that is particularly created for cultural and educational events. Social advertising is delivered in two languages: Belarusian and Russian, where the latter predominates. Advertising that is designed in the Belarusian language has gained its popularity and it has been significantly expanding especially during the last five years. The social issues of the advertising in Belarus are focused on creating a positive image of the governmental authorities, environmental concerns, security, as well as language and culture preservation.



Сацыяльная рэклама ў Беларусі
Артыкул прысвечаны беларускай сацыяльнай рэкламе. Гэты сегмент падзяляецца на (1) сацыяльную рэкламу дзяржзамовы; (2) конкурсную сацыяльную рэкламу, якая з’яўляецца ў рамках фестываляў рэкламы і не заўсёды выходзіць на рэкламныя білборды; (3) рэкламу, створаную ў рамках культурных і асветніцкіх акцый. Сацыяльная рэклама Беларусі падзяляецца на беларускамоўную і рускамоўную, апошняя значна пераважае. Беларуска арыентаваная рэклама набірае папулярнасць і колькасна пашыраецца асабліва ў апошнія пяць гадоў. Сацыяльная тэматыка рэкламы арыентавана на стварэнне пазітыўнага іміджа дзяржаўных структур, закранае праблемы экалогіі, бяспекі, захавання мовы і культуры.

...В этом контексте интересна новая книга “Национальность – беларус”, написанная доктором истории из Белостока Олегом Латышонком, одним из лидеров беларусского исторического общества. Автор пытается ответить на вопрос “Откуда пошла беларусская земля?” (C. 9) и для этого прослеживает письменные упоминания названий этого края от языческих времен до начала двадцатого века. Согласно автору, вопреки расхожему мнению, название “Беларусь” и его варианты употреблялись по отношению к беларусским землям задолго до периода модернизации, “европейского” нациостроительства и колонизации в Российской империи...

Отзыв на рецензию: http://palityka.org/2011/07/postkalaniyalnaya-imperyya-ab-imperio-2011-1/