Discussion “Literary Studies and Linguistics amid the Political Crisis in Belarus and the War in Ukraine”

29 June 2022, 16:00 (Minsk – Vilnius), ZOOM.

Moderators: Andrei Kazakevich, Aliaksei Lastouski,
Participants: Vintsuk Viachorka, Siarhei Kavaliou, Zhanna Nekrashevich-Karotkaya, Alena Rudenka.

The discussion is being held as part of preparations for the jubilee 10th International Congress of Belarusian Studies and is included in a series of discussions on the state of the social sciences and humanities amid the political crisis in Belarus and the war in Ukraine.

Discussions on history, sociology, and international relations have already been organized.

In recent years, Belarus and Central and Eastern Europe have experienced revolutionary changes that have significantly increased interest in Belarusian studies and, at the same time, created new challenges.

Large-scale political protests, repression against activists and civil society, sanctions against Belarus, Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine — the pace of change is astonishing and requires reflection, while also requiring a new level of responsibility.

The discussion proposes to address the following issues:
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine under imperial and militaristic slogans has provoked discussions about the need for an anti-colonial revision and reconsideration of the imperial canon of “high Russian culture.”

This is especially relevant to Ukrainian humanities, but it is also interesting to ask what is happening in Belarusian literary studies and linguistics, and whether there is demand here for an anti-colonial approach.

Reports have begun to appear that Belarusian authors have been removed from Ukrainian school literature curricula.

This is only one signal of a changed attitude toward Belarusian culture.

How, in this difficult situation, can cooperation with Ukrainian colleagues be preserved and the Belarusian language and culture defended?

How destructive have the state’s actions toward scholars been amid the political crisis, and how has this affected the work of the scholarly community in state and non-state institutions?

Can scholarship in exile be effective?

How effective are assistance programs, and how effective are non-state institutions under today’s conditions?

Registration for the discussion (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1oLgahULw0JTkeJhjZJvWPvpayYacyco-TB15HzDLVDQ/edit)