The Role of Popular Music Forms in the Construction of Cultural Identities in Post-Soviet Belarus: Discourses and Practices of Young Belarusians Approved dissertation submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Dr. phil.) at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, School of Linguistics and Cultural Studies, Institute of Music by Anastasia Wakengut, M.A. born on 15 November 1981 in Jezkazgan Primary supervisor: Prof. Dr. Susanne Binas-Preisendörfer Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg Co-supervisor: Prof. Dr. Michael Huber University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna Date of disputation: 25 January 2019 Acknowledgements The process which resulted in this thesis involved a lot of people, who contributed to it in various ways. First of all, I would like to thank all my interviewees as well as the focus group respondents who shared their experiences and their stories, and who thus became the protagonists of this work. I would like to express my gratitude to my academic advisor Prof. Dr. Susanne Binas- Preisendörfer, who always emphasized the relevance of this study and was very encouraging from inception to completion of the thesis. Also, I would like to thank Prof. Dr. Michael Huber for his expert advice in the statistical part of the dissertation. The opportunity to conduct this study was provided by the post-graduate studies programme “The Construction of Identities of Young Adults in a Post-Socialist Society in Transformation: The Case of Belarus” (Helene-Lange-Kolleg). I would like to thank all its members for the constructive co-work, and especially the programme coordinator, Prof. Dr. Gun-Britt Kohler, for the opportunity to visit Belarus and do longer-term field work in Minsk. These visits were decisive for my research, and overall very enriching. Further, I would like to thank the members of the Center of Social and Political Investigations of the Belarusian State University of Minsk for the cooperative development of the survey and for conducting it in Belarus. I must also thank the CSPI for the organization of focus groups and interviews, and especially Natalya Veremeyeva for her active support. For their different kinds of help during the process, I heartily thank Neil Paterson, Agnes Rathberger-Reiter, Andreas Rathberger-Reiter, Olga Karpovich. My husband Michael deserves especial thanks for his enduring support throughout the work on this dissertation and, in conclusion, I would like to express my gratitude to my family and my friends for encouraging me in the moments of doubt and for sharing with me the moments of joy. I dedicate this work to my father. Contents 1. Introduction and Research Contexts 6 1.1. Introduction 6 1.2. Thesis Structure 7 1.3. Research Goals and State of Research 9 1.4. National Identities and Historiographies of Belarus 11 2. Constructions of Cultural Identities: Theoretical Framework 15 2.1. Popular Music as a Signifying Practice 16 2.2. Culture 17 2.3. Discourse and Articulation 18 2.4. Identity 20 2.5. Music and Identity 24 2.6. National Identity and Nationalism 27 2.7. Transculturality and Globalization 29 3. Research Methods 31 3.1. Statistical Data and the Development of the Survey 32 3.2. Interviews 37 3.3. Focus Groups 40 3.4. Reflections on Research Contexts and Positioning of the Researcher 43 4. Contexts of Popular Music in Belarus 51 4.1. Popular Music in the USSR 51 4.1.1. Rock Culture in the USSR 51 4.1.2. Estrada in the USSR 55 4.2. Popular Music in Post-Soviet Belarus 58 4.2.1. Popsa in the Post-Soviet Space 58 4.2.2. Belarusian Rock 60 4.2.3. Musical Landscapes of Belarus 62 5. Music Preferences of Young Belarusians: Statistical Analysis 66 5.1. Music Styles 67 5.2. Languages in Music and the Countries of Music’s Origin 87 5.3. Sources, Spaces and Places of Music Consumption 94 5.4. Functions of Music 101 5.5. Cultural Identifications and Music Preferences 103 5.6. Summary 111 6. Popular Music and Identity Constructions: Discourses and Practices 114 6.1. Discourses around Belarusian Culture and Music 114 6.1.1. Cultural Identifications and the Concepts of “Belarusian Culture” 114 6.1.2. Discourse on Belarusian music: Authenticity and Language 135 6.2. The Construction of Meanings through Music 142 6.2.1. The Articulation of Meaning 142 6.2.2. “Underground” and “Mainstream” 149 6.2.3. Perceptions of “Good Music” and “Bad Music” 162 6.2.4. “Popsa” as Anti-Identification 166 6.3. Identity-Building Practices 179 6.3.1. Russian Rock 179 6.3.2. Belarusian Rock, Folk, Bard 182 6.3.3. Punk and Skinhead 188 6.3.4. Hip-Hop 197 6.3.5. Reggae 201 6.4. Different Musics, Shifting Boundaries, and Eclectic Identities 206 6.5. Summary and Discussion 214 7. Conclusions 218 7.1. Quantitative Research Results and Data Discrepancies 219 7.2. Discourses and Practices of Qualitative Research Participants 222 7.3. Perspectives for Future Research 231 Works Cited 233 List of Figures 239 List of Tables 239 Appendix 6 | Chapter 1 Introduction and Research Contexts 1. Introduction and Research Contexts 1.1. Introduction In the middle of the 20th century, Western popular music became a phenomenon that played a central role in the emergence of a distinct youth culture. Popular music, particularly rock ’n’ roll, became directly associated with the youth, who used music to create a common culture and to construct difference from the world of the parent generation. Popular music continues to play a great part in the lives of young people around the world, serving in the construction of cultural boundaries and producing various elements of youth culture. It goes beyond the sphere of aesthetics, offering a sense of identity for the young and representing a key factor in the formation of worldviews and lifestyles. In Belarus, a newly independent post-Soviet state, popular music has circulated throughout the culture in various ways over different periods of time. During the Cold War, which had a great impact on Soviet and Belarusian culture, Western (rock) music found its way through the Iron Curtain, producing youth cultures in creative ways. After the fall of the Soviet Union, the increased flow of Western and global music drastically transformed the cultural landscape of Belarus. Belarusian, Russian and Western music have formed a complex cultural phenomenon used by people – and especially by the youth – in the construction of identities. The purpose of this empirical study is to analyze the relationships between popular music and identity constructions of young adults in post-Soviet Belarus. Popular music is understood as a discursive practice that acquires meaning in specific contexts. The focus of this study is on Belarusian cultural, historical, social and political contexts, in which various popular music forms are negotiated, (re)interpreted and attributed with ideas, symbols and meanings. The purpose of the study is to identify discourses and practices related to popular music, and to analyze the ways in which young people in post-socialist Belarus articulate meanings and construct identities. This study was conducted at the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg in the framework of the interdisciplinary post-graduate studies programme “The Construction of Identities of Young Adults in a Post-Socialist Society in Transformation: The Case of Belarus.” The programme comprised five projects dealing with young 7 | Chapter 1 Introduction and Research Contexts Belarusians’ values, language practices, attitudes to literature (Institute of Slavic Studies), music preferences (Institute of Music), and clothing choices (Institute of Material Culture). In the framework of the programme, the institutes of the Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg cooperated with the Department of Economic Sociology of the University of Vienna and the Center of Social and Political Investigations of the Belarusian State University of Minsk.1 1.2. Thesis Structure In the further course of this chapter, research questions are described in detail, along with the state of research on popular music in Belarus and issues of identity in the newly independent state. In Chapter 2, the theoretical framework of the research is outlined and key terms of the study are defined. The study focuses on the concepts of popular music, culture, discourse, articulation, and identity, whereas the concepts of nation, transculturality and globalization form the theoretical background of the study. In Chapter 3, the methods applied are described in detail. A nation-wide survey, based on structured interviews and conducted in 2013, was followed by in-depth interviews and focus groups conducted in Minsk in 2014. Throughout the research process, a combination of approaches was applied, including ethnographic methods, “case studies,” participant observation at concerts, observations of musicians’ activities in social media, online communication, and conversations with young people living in Minsk. In this chapter, the advantages and shortcomings of the applied methods are discussed, along with reflection on my own positioning as a researcher. Chapter 4 provides historical and social contexts of popular music in Belarus, starting with the period of a mass spread of music across the Soviet Union in the 1950s, when Western culture contributed in the emergence of a Soviet youth culture produced by rock ’n’ roll. This underground youth culture developed alongside the official cultural forms, such as estrada. The chapter continues with a description of post-Soviet music cultures, such as the so-called “popsa,” Belarusian rock as well as other music genres (from various regions) within the media landscape of Belarus. 1 Description of the programme: https://uol.de/hlk-belarus/ 8 | Chapter 1 Introduction and Research Contexts Chapter 5 consists of descriptive statistical data derived from the survey.