POLESIE ETHNOCULTURAL MOVEMENT IN SOVIET BELARUS DURING THE YEARS OF «PERESTROIKA» (BASED ON MATERIALS FROM THE NEWSPAPER «BALESY POLISYA»)

The article is devoted to considering the phenomenon of the Polesie ethnocultural movement in Belarus in the late Soviet period. The paper analyzes the materials of the newspaper «Balesy Polisya» (Minsk, 1989) – the publication of the social and cultural association «Polisse.» The publications of the authors of the «Balesy Polisya» newspaper allow forming an idea of the main mechanisms of Polesie (Yatvyazh) identity construction. It means developing a language standard that is as distant as possible from the Ukrainian and Belarusian languages; the formation of the Polesie (Yatvyazh) historical narrative; articulation of political demands for autonomy, etc.). The work is interdisciplinary, written at the intersection of history and political science (studying the problems of memory politics). The author relies on the methodology of recognized authorities in these branches of science (E. Gellner, E. Hobsbaum, K. Shevchenko, O. Malinova, A. Miller, G. Kasyanov, P. Tereshkovich, A. Smolenchuk, etc.). The Polesie ethnocultural movement is viewed through the prism of a constructivist approach to understanding national processes. The author of the article comes to the fundamental conclusion that the Polesie ethnocultural movement should be considered as a response to the erosion of the foundations of Soviet ideology during the late «perestroika.» Moreover, the gradual expansion of the sphere of using the Belarusian language, which had a weak influence in the region, was based on regional characteristics to construct an alternative ethnic identity that is adequate for cultural self-expression. This article can be helpful for specialists in the field of history and political science, students, all interested in the problems of national relations in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe of the XX–XXI centuries. Prospects for further research in this area are seen in the comparative analysis of the Polesie ethnocultural movement and similar processes among the «small» peoples of Central and Eastern Europe.