44
Grigory Minenkov
covering all social cultural phenomena... Unlike the idea of Belarus expressed in some
sum of absorbed, systematized and statically fixed signs, the discourse of Belarus is not set
beforehand by anything... Belarus as a discourse opposing to the idea of Belarus as such, at
the same time does not deny everything that we embody in this idea, with what we sup-
port it and provide for it. It denies only the concept of the idea itself and the methodology
of its functioning”. In many respects ideas of V. Bulgakov are close to the given conceptual
structure, in particular, when he analyzes the concept
of the national revival
7
.
Following the ideas of Akudovich and Bulgakov it is possible to say that the under-
standing of the Belarusian identity and its borders requires today a new type of thinking.
Certainly, this type of thinking should be included into the context of the European iden-
tity, but the latter should not be viewed as some unchangeable substance which needs
only to be accepted. The European identity is a discourse formation in which various
models of the European discourse exist in the regime of a dialogue. We shall agree with
Bulgakov that in this context it is necessary to leave alone marginality and secondariness
of thinking, inferiority complex, dependence on external sources of the thought. On the
contrary one shall learn to enter into an equal rights dialogue with other types of think-
ing. There should be a very specific and strict analysis of the problem instead of simply
rigid and irresponsible statements about “the death of the people”. At once there appear
questions, e.g., what “people” are we talking about? Is there such “a people”? Or is it only
our construction which turned out to be at odds with reality and shall we start then to
damn reality? Besides, it is important to consider the history of development of this or
that nation.
The role of historical heritage in defining the differences in the ways of development
of Ukraine and Belarus after the disintegration of the USSR is successfully shown in the
work of M. Nordberg and T.Kuzio
8
. Authors see the sources of these distinctions in the
degree of development of national consciousness caused by previous historical develop-
ment of the Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples with this degree being higher in Ukraine
and lower in Belarus. The analysis offered by the authors, in many respects supplements
the approach of Akudovich as it says how to construct a concrete national discourse in-
stead of arguing about some abstract “Belarusian idea”.
Let us emphasize that the center of national imagination like the imagination of any
other identity, is concentrated on the border concept. The border as the confirmation of
the difference between “I” and Another is an identity break, a meeting and a transition
of “I” and Another. Borders are an event
9
. Thus, it is important to always take into ac-
count political and cultural measurements of the border which never manage to coincide
though strive for it. Modernism sets the trend to construct political and cultural borders
in the spirit of their actual concurrence. It resulted in the catastrophe of two world wars,
ethnic purges and other similar events. As experience shows the most dangerous things
begin when some culture, trying to establish its identity, is constantly concentrated on the
setting
of the border and, accordingly, its difference from others.