Abstract
The paper presents opportunities of the phenomenological approach towards the Belarusian‐Polish‐Lithuanian borderlands. Such approach is based upon the principles of understanding of social reality elaborated in phenomenology (E. Husserl, M. Heidegger) and phenomenological sociology (A. Schutz) and presents a different view of the borderlands as compared with the traditional (classical) sociology. The social and cultural space of the borderlands is reflected in the modes of distance (close ‐ distant), temporality (now ‐ then) and the “presence of the Other” (local ‐ stranger), as well as their interrelated modifications. It helps to understand the degree of the acquisition / alienation of various cultural and political phenomena of the historical past and the present‐day life. The historical events and personalities, as well as existing monuments of culture in the borderlands are reflected in “our / alien” dichotomy. This results in the representation of the identities of the borderlands as liquid and plural constructs and the matters of interpretation.
Highlights
In this paper I am going to discuss the phenomenological approach towards the study of the borderlands with the emphasis on its ethnic structure and identity
It is based on the following assumptions: (a) social reality is the product of social construction of two types: scientific “ideal” constructs and constructs of inter-subjective conscious of border people; (b) the social and cultural space of the borderlands is reflected in the modes of distance, temporality ( – ) and the “presence of the Other” and their interrelated modifications; (c) it helps to understand the degree of the acquisition / alienation of various cultural and political phenomena of the historical past and the present-day life and results in the representation of the identities of the borderlands as liquid and plural constructs and the matters of interpretation
We propose the following ideal types of the frontier identity of Belarusians: (a) traditional, based upon primordial attachments; (b) cultural: “Every conscious Belarusian must speak Belarusian language”; (c) symbolic: “We are the Russian-speaking Belarusians, but we have our national language and culture; they are Belarusian and differ us from Russians; (d) religious: “We are the Orthodox, so we are Belarusians, not Poles”; (e) state: “My mother is Belarusian and my father is Pole, and my nationality is Belarusian because I was born in Belarus and it is my native country”; “My mother is Belarusian and my father is Russian
Summary
The paper presents opportunities of the phenomenological approach towards the Belarusian-Polish-Lithuanian borderlands. Such approach is based upon the principles of understanding of social reality elaborated in phenomenology The social and cultural space of the borderlands is reflected in the modes of distance (close – distant), temporality ( – ) and the “presence of the Other” (local – stranger), as well as their interrelated modifications. It helps to understand the degree of the acquisition / alienation of various cultural and political phenomena of the historical past and the present-day life.
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