Інстытут палітычных даследаванняў "Палiтычная сфера"
12 May 2016
18:30
Crown Plaza Hotel (Minsk, Kirava str., 13)
“The phenomenon of Belarusian nation: experience of intellectual thought after 2000″ (in memory of Uladzimir Abušenka)”
Discussion in the framework of the 5th Minsk Conference of the Institute “Political Sphere”, organised in cooperation with the Belarusian Collegium.
Until the end of the 1980s the controversies of development of the Belarusian nation rarely appeared in the intellectual debate, in the 1990s these issues became a part of the political clashes, but only in the 2000s conditions for a deeper intellectual understanding of the subject emerged. New explanations for the phenomenon of the Belarusian nation were suggested: some were trying to reconcile the warring parties, others – to update the old scheme, while the remainder noted new elements and tried to describe them with western concepts.
After 2000 Belarus intellectual community produced “creole”, “post-colonial”, “post-national” concepts, radical and moderate constructivism, the project of ideology of Belarusian state saw its rise and fall, the idea of culturally neutral “civic nation” started to trend and a new wave of interest in national culture came.
How important was this intellectual work? What concepts seem most appropriate for modern Belarus? What words and ideas can we employ to describe the phenomenon of the Belarusian nation? These issues will be the focus of the discussion.
Discussion is dedicated to the memory of the famous Belarusian sociologist Uladzimir Abušenka (1957-2015) – one of the active participants of intellectual discussions on Belarusian nation in the 2000s, the author of “creole” concept.
Participants: Valiancin Akudovič (Belarusian Collegium), Ihar Babkoŭ (Institute of Philosophy, National Academy of Sciences), Mikalaj Kacuk (sociologist), other speakers tbc .
Moderator: Andrej Kazakievič (Institute “Political Sphere”).
