On Symbolic Aspects of the Modern Belarusian Politics of Memory: Nationalism vs Zapadnorusizm

The article analyzes the features of building the politics of memory in modern Belarus on the example of symbolic commemoration practices: the creation of new memorials, monuments and museums. By the example of different cases, the author demonstrates how the diverse nature of these new projects clearly reflects the coexistence of several competing lines of memory policy-Nationalism and Zapadnorusizm (Westrussianism)-in the modern Belarusian public discourse. At present, the elements of these lines in different proportions are also used in the official discourse of the Belarusian politics of memory. At the official level, the Neo-Soviet narrative prevails, which is focused around the representation of the events of the Great Patriotic War as the key moments for the formation of the Belarusian national identity: the specific core of this narrative is, first of all, the themes of the guerrilla movement and the huge number of victims among the population. The project of Belarusian nationalism is built around three main points: the cultivation of the Belarusian language, the fetishization of the Lithuanian period in the history of Belarus and the postulation of different "blood composition" in Belarusians and Russians. In turn, the project of Zapadnorusizm at the present stage seeks to maintain the idea of a common "Russianness" as a system-forming principle and, as a consequence, to erase the differences within the common cultural, socioeconomic and geopolitical space. The article notes that both of these competing narratives - Nationalism and Zapadnorusizm - are presented unevenly in the Belarusian symbolic space. Using examples of symbolic commemoration, the author demonstrates that the project of Belarusian nationalism is now in a more advantageous position, and, in the case of a conflict of interests, the official Belarusian authorities often give priority to nationalist projects of commemoration, which traditionally have an anti-Russian orientation. The search for national identity leads the Belarusian authorities to incorporate elements of local, usually anti-Russian-oriented nationalism into their official discourse. It is concluded that the practices of symbolic commemoration clearly demonstrate the multi-vector nature of the politics of memory in modern Belarus. The coexistence of these competing projects leads to the fragmentation of historical memory and the hybrid stratification of different narratives of national identity.

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