Transforming culture through “communication” (rituals): The “banality” of public creativity in Belarus

Abstract

ABSTRACT This article investigates how culture is transformed via public creative endeavors in modern-day Belarus. From ethnographic observations and analyses of cultural discourses, it shows how public creative practices facilitate the conditions for social and cultural change – not necessarily change to the political regime – but change that leads to the processes of creation and adaptation, or a “banalization” of recurring daily practices. These practices can facilitate new social and cultural forms that become a part of common, everyday life. To illustrate this process of change, we highlight two instances of public creativity: a hybrid state and a grassroots event called Poetry Yard, and a public meeting at an independent grassroots event, CreativeMornings Minsk. They show how collective unity is constructed via “communication” rituals and how new cultural forms are created, maintained, and routinized.