Hot Books on Borderland Identities in Eastern Europe: Cases of Belarus and Ukraine

Nelly Bekus. Struggle over Identity: The Official and the Alternative "Belarusianness". Budapest and New York: Central European University Press, 2010. 312 pp. ISBN: 978-963-9776-68-5

Rejecting the cliché about “weak identity and underdeveloped nationalism,” Bekus argues for the co-existence of two parallel concepts of Belarusianness—the official and the alternative one—which mirrors the current state of the Belarusian people more accurately and allows for a different interpretation of the interconnection between the democratization and nationalization of Belarusian society.

The book describes how the ethno-symbolic nation of the Belarusian nationalists, based on the cultural capital of the Golden Age of the Belarusian past (17th century) competes with the “nation” institutionalized and reified by the numerous civic rituals and social practices under the auspices of the actual Belarusian state.

Comparing the two concepts not only provides understanding of the logic that dominates Belarusian society’s self-description models, but also enables us to evaluate the chances of alternative Belarusianness to win this unequal struggle over identity.

Contents:
Introduction
Part I. Nation in Theory
1. Nation-Formation Strategies in Contemporary Nation-Studies
2. State and Nation
3. Nationalism, Capitalism, Liberalism: The East European Perspective
4. Nationalism and Socialism: The Soviet Case
Part II. The Rise and Development of the Belarusian National Idea
5. The First Belarusian Nationalist Movement: Between National and Class Interests 6. Byelorussian Republic within the Soviet State
7.Post-Soviet Conditions for Independence Part III. Belarusian Post-Communism
8. The Election of the First Belarusian President as a Mirror of Belarusian Preferences
9. “Labels” of the Belarusian Regime
10. “Triple Transformation” and Belarus
11. Prerequisites of Democratization and Authoritarianism in Belarus
Part IV. Arguments and Paradoxes of Weak Belarusian Identity
12. Belarus as an Example of National and Democratic Failure
13. The Russian Factor in Belarusian Self-Perception
14. The Paradox of “National Pride”
15. Paradoxes of Political and Linguistic Russification
16. Lack of Religious Basis for National Unity
Part V. The Struggle over Identity
17. Two Ideas of “Belarusianness” in Place of “Sole” National Idea
18. Belarusian-Specific Nature of the Public Sphere: Invisible Wall
19. Belarusian Tradition: The Alternative and Official Historical Narrations
20. Political Discourses of Alternative Belarusianness
21. National Ideology of the Belarusian State as a Political Articulation of Official Belarusianness Part VI. Cultural Manifestation versus Social Reification 22. Two Belarusian Approaches to the Politics of Identity
23. “The Belarusian Globe”: An Encyclopedia of What Existed before Communism
24. Belarusian National Movie Misterium Occupation: Distancing Themselves from Soviets and Russians
25. Free Theater: Alternative Belarusianness on the Stage
26. Independent Rock Music: Critical Reflection and Protest
27. Medieval Reenactors: A Manifestation of Belarus’s European History
28. The Official Politics of Identity: Social Reification Strategy
Conclusion
Bibliography

Nelly Bekus is a Belarusian social scientist and publicist, and a member of the European Cultural Parliament. She holds a Ph.D. in Sociology and is Assistant Professor at the East Slavonic European Studies Department, University of Warsaw.

Zhurzhenko, Tatiana. Borderlands into Bordered Lands: Geopolitics of Identity in Post-Soviet Ukraine. Stuttgart: ibidem-Verlag, 2010. ISBN: 978-3-8382-0042-2.

Since 1991, post-Soviet political elites in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus have been engaged in nation- as well as state-building. They have tried to strengthen territorial sovereignty and national security, re-shape collective identities and re-narrate national histories. Former Soviet republics have become new neighbours, partners and competitors searching for geopolitical identity in the ?new Eastern Europe,? i.e. the countries left outside the enlarged EU. Old paradigms such as ?Eurasia? or ?East Slavic civilisation? have been re-invented and politically instrumentalized in the international relations and domestic politics of these countries. At the same time, these old concepts and myths have been contested and challenged by pro-Western elites.

The main subject of this book is the construction of post-Soviet borders and their political, social and cultural implications. It focuses on the exemplary case of the Ukrainian-Russian border, approaching it as a social construct and a discursive phenomenon. The book shows how the symbolic meanings of and narratives on this border contribute to national identity formation and shape the images of the neighbouring countries as ?the Other? thereby shedding new light on the role of border disputes between Ukraine and Russia in bilateral relations, in EU neighbourhood politics and in domestic political conflicts. The study also addresses ?border making? on the regional level, focusing on the cross-border cooperation between Kharkiv and Belgorod and on the dilemmas of a Euroregion ?in absence of Europe.? Finally, it reflects the everyday experiences of the residents of near-border villages and shows how national and local identities are performed at, and transformed by, the new border.

Tatiana Zhurzhenko is Elise Richter Research Fellow at the Department of Political Science of the University of Vienna, and Associate Professor at the Department of Philosophy of the V. Karazin Kharkiv National University, where she studied political economy and social theory. Zhurzhenko is the author of Gendernye rynki Ukrainy (European Humanities University Press 2008). Her articles have appeared in, among other periodicals, Nationalities Papers, Ab Imperio, European Journal of Women?s Studies, Цsterreichische Osthefte, Transit: Europдische Revue, and the internet journal Eurozine.

The author of the foreword:
Dr. Dieter Segert is Professor of Comparative Politics with a focus on Transitions in Central and Eastern Europe, at the University of Vienna.