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There Is Another Quite Interesting and Well-Reasoned Theory of the Origin Of NATION-BUILDING IN BELARUS A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE GRADUATE SCHOOL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES OF MIDDLE EAST TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY BY MAIYA FAMICH IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE IN THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY FEBRUARY 2012 Approval of the Graduate School of Social Sciences Prof. Meliha Benli Altunışık Director I certify that this thesis satisfies all the requirements as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Prof. Dr. Ayşe Saktanber Head of Department This is to certify that we have read this thesis and that in our opinion it is fully adequate, in scope and quality, as a thesis for the degree of Master of Science. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Aydıngün Supervisor Examining Committee Members Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pınar Akçalı (METU, ADM) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayşegul Aydıngün (METU, SOC) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Erdoğan Yıldırım (METU, SOC) I hereby declare that all information in this document has been obtained and presented in accordance with academic rules and ethical conduct. I also declare that, as required by these rules and conduct, I have fully cited and referenced all material and results that are not original to this work. Name, Last name : Maiya Famich Signature : iii ABSTRACT NATION-BUILDING IN BELARUS Famich, Maiya M. Sc., Department of Sociology Supervisor: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Ayşegül Aydıngün February 2012, 134 pages The purpose of this thesis is to examine the process of nation-building in the Republic of Belarus from 1991 till the present time. The focus is made on two main projects of nation-building presented by the official authorities and the political opposition. The main concern of this thesis is to make a comparative analysis of these two projects of Belarussian national identity. Also, the thesis examines the views of the official authorities and the political opposition on the history of Belarus, which is used as a tool of national identity construction in their projects of nation- building. Concepts of ethnic and civic nationalisms are discussed aiming at understanding the nature of nationalism in Belarus together with different theoretical approaches to ethnicity. Keywords: Belarus, nation-building, nationalism, ethnicity iv ÖZ BELARUS’TA ULUS İNŞASI Famich, Maiya M. Sc., Sosyoloji Bölümü Tez Danışmanı: Doç. Dr. Ayşegül Aydıngün Şubat 2012, 134 sayfa Bu tezin amacı Belarus Cumhuriyeti’nde 1991’den günümüze süregelen ulus inşası sürecini incelemektir. Hükümet ve siyasi muhalefet tarafından ortaya konan iki farklı ulus inşa projesine odaklanılmıştır. Bu tezde söz konusu iki ulusal kimlik inşa projesini karşılaştırılmalı olarak incelenmektedir. Ayrıca tezde, hükümet ve siyasi muhalefet tarafından ulus inşa projelerinin temel bir unsuru olarak kullanılan Belarus tarihi yazımı üzerinde yoğunlaşılmıştır. Etnik ve sivik milliyetcilik kavramları Belarus milliyetciliğinin niteliğini anlamak amacıyla tartışılmış, etnisiteye farklı kuramsal yaklaşımlar da incelenmiştir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Belarus, ulus inşası, milliyetcilik, etnisite v To my parents vi ACKNOWLEGEMENTS Foremost, I wish to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Prof. Ayşegül Aydıngün for her guidance that helped me all the time throughout the research. This thesis would not be possible without her continuous support, patience and motivation. I am grateful to Assoc. Prof. Pınar Akçalı for her stimulating comments and valuable suggestions. I am also grateful to Assoc. Prof. Erdoğan Yıldırım, for his comments and advice. I would also like to express my deepest gratitude and appreciation to the academic staff of the Department of Sociology of Belarussian State University for giving me an indispensable academic background that provided me with the possibility to make this research. I would like to thank to my family, especially my mother and father, for their constant support for my academic success. Also many thanks go to my friends for their encouragement and great support that helped me to overcome the difficulties throughout this research: H. Gökçe, V. Chursinova, A. Gamolko, I. Poddubnaya. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS PLAGIARISM .............................................................................................................iii ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................ iv ÖZ ................................................................................................................................. v DEDICATION ............................................................................................................ vi ACKNOLEGEMENTS .............................................................................................. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS ..........................................................................................viii LIST OF FIGURES ...................................................................................................... x CHAPTER .................................................................................................................... 1 1. INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Introducing the study .................................................................................... 1 1.2 Research problem ....................................................................................... 17 1.3 Methodology .............................................................................................. 17 1.4 Organization of the Chapters ...................................................................... 18 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ....................................................................... 20 2.1 Soviet approach to ethnos and ethnic communities ............................................. 21 2.2. Civic nationalism and ethnic nationalism .................................................. 25 2.3 Modernity and nationalism ................................................................................... 31 2.4 Ethnosymbolism ................................................................................................... 40 2.5. Nationalism in East Europe after the collapse of the USSR ............................... 42 3. OFFICIAL AND ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES TO BELARUSSIAN NATIONAL IDENTITY ............................................................................................ 47 3.1. The official perspective .............................................................................. 48 3.2 The alternative approaches to Belarussian national identity ...................... 59 3.2.1 The approaches of political opposition ............................................................. 60 3.2.1.1 ‘European Belarus’ ......................................................................................... 60 3.2.1.2 ‘Belarus for itself’........................................................................................... 61 3.2.2 The approaches of independent intellectuals ..................................................... 64 viii 3.2.2.1 Post-Freudianism and the historical memory approach to Belarussian national identity ........................................................................................................................ 65 3.2.2.2 Post-colonial approach to Belarussian national identity ................................ 69 3.2.2.3 Belarus as ‘Borderland’ .................................................................................. 72 3.2.2.4 The concept of ‘creolity’ as a characteristic of Belarussian national identity 74 4. RECONSTRUCTION OF THE NATIONAL HISTORY OF BELARUS AS AN IMPORTANT TOOL IN THE NATION-BUILDING PROCESS ............................ 78 4.1 Ethnic origin of Belarussians ............................................................................... 79 4.2 First state on the territory of Belarus .................................................................... 81 4.3 Grand Duchy of Lithuania .................................................................................... 84 4.4 The ‘Polish’ period (1385-1795) .......................................................................... 87 4.5 The ‘Russian’ period ............................................................................................ 97 4.6 Belarus after the collapse of Russian Empire ..................................................... 106 4.7 Belarus in the USSR ........................................................................................... 108 5. CONCLUSION .................................................................................................. 119 REFERENCES ......................................................................................................... 129 APPENDICES……………………………………………………………………..135 A. TEZ FOTOKOPİSİ İZİN FORMU……………………......................................135 ix LIST OF FIGURES FIGURES Figure 4.1 ‘Oppositional’ flag and national emblem ‘ Pagonya ’…………………..116 Figure 4.2 Official flag of the Republic of Belarus………………………………..117 Figure 4.3 Official flag of Belarussian Soviet Socialistic Republic….....................117 x CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION At the very beginning God was distributing the lands of the Earth to the nations. Belarussians came to Him and asked for their piece of land. God liked Belarussians very much and told them: “You are so nice people, so I will give you a beautiful piece of land, with forests full of animals, rivers and lakes full of fish, and a rich soil, which will give you
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