Public discussion “How should we write the history of our country today?” (25 May, 18:30, Crowne Plaza Hotel)

As part of the 6th Minsk Conference of the Political Sphere Institute, titled “Evolution or Devaluation: The Problem of Democratic Order in Eastern Europe” (25-27 May), we invite you to attend the public discussion on 25 May “How should we write the history of our country today?”. The venue is the Crowne Plaza Hotel (13 Kirova Street). The discussion begins at 18:30. Admission is free, and everyone interested is welcome.

 

The problem of representing the past of one’s own community has permeated history from its very beginnings. Even Herodotus, the “father of history,” was accused of describing the history of the Hellenes incorrectly because he showed their misdeeds. Should we turn the past into a basis for national pride? Should we search first of all for heroic deeds, focus on the greatness of ancestors, and build a connection between past generations and the modern nation? Or is it more important to engage in critical reconstruction, to take complexity and contradictions into account, and to focus on different forms of community?

For Belarus, as for most countries of Eastern Europe, history has become almost the main instrument of nation-building. But does this not harm history itself as an academic discipline? Does it not lead to isolation from global scholarship, which is based on a critical approach, and to corresponding scholarly and methodological degradation? Now that anxieties and concerns about the existence of our own statehood have intensified in our region, history is acquiring even greater political significance. Finding a balance between patriotic and critical dimensions is becoming increasingly difficult. But perhaps such a balance is still possible. Distinguished historians from Belarus, Lithuania, Poland and Russia will look for it in a joint discussion.

 

Participants in the discussion:

Łukasz Adamski, Doctor of History, Deputy Director of the Centre for Polish-Russian Dialogue and Understanding (Poland)

Valiantsin Holubeu, Doctor of Historical Sciences, Institute of History of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus (Belarus)

Rustis Kamuntavičius, Doctor of History, Director of the Institute of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vytautas Magnus University (Lithuania)

Ivan Kurilla, Doctor of Historical Sciences, European University at St Petersburg (Russia)

 

The discussion will be moderated by Aliaksei Lastouski, Candidate of Sociological Sciences, researcher at the Political Sphere Institute (Belarus-Lithuania).