Interview with Andrei Kazakevich for the “New Europe” Portal

https://palityka.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/img_1.jpgAndrei Kazakevich: Belarusian scholars need to “play for higher stakes”
This autumn, the Second International Congress of Belarusian Studies will take place.

The organizer of the forum, director of the Political Sphere Institute Andrei Kazakevich, discusses the results of the first congress and the state of humanities scholarship.

This autumn, the Second International Congress of Belarusian Studies will take place.

Editors of “New Europe” Volha Shparaha and Aliaksei Bratochkin speak with the organizer of the forum, director of the Political Sphere Institute Andrei Kazakevich, about the results of the first congress and the state of humanities scholarship.

After the first congress, the main problems of Belarusian science became evident
Volha Shparaha: Last year, the First International Congress of Belarusian Studies was held in Kaunas.

What can be said in general about socio-humanitarian knowledge in Belarus and the main trends in its development?

Andrei Kazakevich: It is probably difficult to speak of a complete picture, although the congress itself revealed quite a few interesting trends and allows us to assess the state of social and humanitarian disciplines in our country.

As for trends, the isolation of the Belarusian academic community is noticeable first of all, as is its rather low level of integration into the international context.

There are many obvious manifestations of this isolation.

For example, poor command of foreign languages.

This was clearly felt during the work of a number of sections at the previous congress.

In addition, there is insufficient understanding of the processes and standards even of neighboring countries: Lithuania and Poland.

And most importantly, there is a lack of understanding, disregard for, or conscious rejection of international standards of academic and research activity.

Obviously, this is a problem that will have to be addressed one way or another.

Aliaksei Bratochkin: But a certain dialogue did take place during the congress between Belarusians and foreign scholars who study Belarus, did it not?

Can we speak of the existence of “Belarusian studies” outside Belarus as well?
A.K.: The dialogue did indeed take place.

Those who work on Belarus abroad are more or less well-known people.

They are interested in publishing in Belarus and maintaining academic contacts.

Their ideas and achievements are generally known to our researchers.

The isolation I mentioned above is not so much an absence of communication as a significant distortion of it.

For example, the problem of statuses and stereotypes remains: the “superiority” of the external and the “inferiority” of the local.

This is a separate and complex topic.

As for the second part of the question, I would generally move away from the concept of “Belarusian studies”.

To a significant extent, it looks outdated and too “ethnocentric”, with all the advantages and disadvantages of such an approach.

It seems to me that Belarus-as-a-research-problem should be increasingly included in a comparative perspective at the regional and international levels.

That is why the name is “Congress of Belarusian Studies”, not “Congress of Belarusianists”.

The concept of Belarusian studies and Belarus-related research requires rethinking in the new conditions.

A.B.: Can the peculiar “isolation” of Belarusian knowledge be overcome?

A.K.: One of the mechanisms for solving the problem, as in other countries, is to change the rules of the game and the distribution of statuses in the academic community, as well as integration into regional and international programs and projects.

This will not be easy.

Opportunities for international cooperation for Belarusian researchers are significantly limited for various reasons.

The relatively low external image of Belarusian social and humanities scholarship, whether justified or not is another matter, the country’s foreign-policy isolation and, as a result, exclusion or limited participation in certain programs, insufficient command of languages, low mobility, an acute shortage of recognized academic “stars” and so on are only some of the most obvious problems.

Belarusian scholars nevertheless need to “play for higher stakes”.

Read in full>>> (http://n-europe.eu/article/2012/06/07/andrei_kazakevich_belaruskim_navukoutsam_treba_gulyats_na_pavyshenne)