Valery Bulhakau

Visiting Scholar at the Ukrainian Research Institute, Harvard University

May 2023 - October 2024
Supported by a Fulbright Visiting Scholar grant

 

HURI Research Project

Russification and De-Russification in Post-Soviet Ukraine and Belarus: Dimensions of Identity Building and Politics of Memory

The political trajectories of Belarus and Ukraine after 1991 are significantly different. If Belarus opted for a further Sovietization and colonization-creolization, then Ukraine tried to make cultural policy which could be interpreted as de-Sovietization, decommunization, or decolonization. However, there is a period of time when the identity and memory politics of official Kyiv and Minsk showed surprising similarities. This is the period of Viktor Yanukovych's presidency (2010-2014), who was overthrown in consequence of the "Revolution of Dignity", and the period of political reaction in Belarus, which began after the 2020 presidential election, and continues to this day. In certain aspects, the identity politics of the entire Lukashenka rule and the relatively short Yanukovych presidency has an affinity. Thematically, the research is focused on episodes in the most recent history of Belarus and Ukraine which are related to Russification and De-Russification processes. The subject is analyzed in a broader context, which includes Colonization/De-Colonization trends. Particularly, Russification of the Sphere of Education in both countries, Instrumentalization of Stalinism and the Soviet paradigm of the "Great Patriotic War", Xenophobia, the construction of the "other", and the "triune Russian nation" will be discussed.

Biography

Dr. Valery Bulhakau is a PhD lecturer at European Humanities University in Vilnius, Lithuania. In 1995, he completed study in Belarusian Philology at Belarusian State University. In 2005, he received doctoral degree in history of philosophy at Hryhori Skovoroda Institute of Philosophy of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. His academic interests include the history of nationalism and colonialism in Eastern Europe, historical politics in the same region, as well as the political developments in Belarus after 1991. His book, Belarus 1994-2004: Expansion of the State and Persecution of the Nation [Беларусь 1994—2004 гг.: разбудова дзяржавы і пераслед нацыі] (Vilnius, 2012), received Belarusian Pen-club Ales Adamovič award in 2012. To date, his other book, A History of Belarusian Nationalism, published both in Russian and Belarusian in 2006, remains a sole academic monograph on the mentioned topic. Dr. Valery Bulhakau gained some public notoriety as a publisher of academic literature in Belarusian. For that, he received the Jerzy Giedroyc award ‘for new ideas in Polish-Belarusian dialogue’ from the Polish Institute in Minsk in 2010 and “The Civil Leader 2012” award from the Assembly of Pro-Democratic Non-Governmental Organizations in Minsk.