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Books by Alena Minchenia
Е. Минченя, О. Сасункевич (ред.) Гендерный ликбез: брошюра. -Вильнюс: Белорусский дом прав челове... more Е. Минченя, О. Сасункевич (ред.) Гендерный ликбез: брошюра. -Вильнюс: Белорусский дом прав человека, 2013. -224 с.
Papers by Alena Minchenia
Zeitgeschichte Online, 2020
Open Democracy, 2020
In the wake of Belarus' presidential election on 9 August, international media, commentators and ... more In the wake of Belarus' presidential election on 9 August, international media, commentators and analysts have turned their gaze on the country in awe and surprisefollowing the unfolding events and trying to grasp what is happening. As we write, the people of Belarus have persevered peacefully (as in non-violently) for more than three months, taking to the streets day after day, forging, developing and sustaining strong networks of support and solidarity across lines of class, gender, age and place of residence. These diversified and multiple forms of protests remain unified by key demands: new and fair elections, freedom to all political prisoners and accountability of the state actors who have perpetrated violence against peaceful citizens.
Conflict and Society: Advances in Research, 6, 2020
This article analyzes divisions within Belarusian protest communities by focusing on a particular... more This article analyzes divisions within Belarusian protest communities by focusing on a particular group: the professional protesters. In Belarus, this group occupies a crucial position in between the international structures of democracy promotion and the internal attempts of political mobilization against the politics of President Aliaksandr Lukashenka. Performativity as an analytical perspective is employed to define positionality of professional protesters in relation to other political subjects and within the system of democracy promotion. The article shows implications of neoliberal rationality for social and political changes for protest communities in Belarus. It argues that the financial assistance obtained by protest professionals, as well as non-democratic leader ship style of the oppositional leaders, fills the Belarusian protest field with suspicions and accusations, add to a hierarchical and exclusionary way of participation in decision-making, and alienate activists from protest politics.
A New Land Rediscovering Agency in Belarusian History, Politics, and Society. In Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics, 2017
This article looks at the politics of shame in relation to the suppressed protests of December 20... more This article looks at the politics of shame in relation to the suppressed protests of December 2010 that challenged the re-election of Aliaksandr Lukashenka as president of Belarus (1994–present). My empirical data consist of independent media publications, blog posts, and interviews that speak of “shame” as an emotional response to the protest, its aftermath, and its general context. The article investigates what lines of social differentiation are animated in the circulation of shame discourse, how ashamed subjects are constructed and positioned in this process, and what shame does in relation to protest and its community. Theoretically it engages with discussions on the ambivalence of shame in constructing national narratives and in social movement struggles. The findings suggest that shame, employed as a marker of a patriot of a “non-existent Belarusian nation” and “failed democracy,” creates multiple divisions along the lines of class, civic engagement, and political views. This in turn curtails social mobilization, and ultimately contributes to making social change unimaginable in the present.
A B S T R A C T Drawing upon the perspective of the cultural studies of emotions , this article e... more A B S T R A C T Drawing upon the perspective of the cultural studies of emotions , this article examines the reception of political satire and the re-contextualization of humour. More precisely, it investigates the multiplicity of tensions that come into play in the production, erasure, rediscovery, and reception in Belarusian Internet media of politically oriented Russian television humour mocking the Belarusian president Alyaksandr Luka-shenka. The very phenomenon of comical representation aims at triggering a particular type of viewer response: laughter. But what if there is no laughter? To study this phenomenon, the concept of unlaughter, coined by Michael Billig, is drawn upon. Resonating with Sara Ahmed's term killjoy, it helps to uncover inequalities reproduced in the circulation of humour. Who laughs and who is laughed at? The article looks at the construction of subjects and objects of laughter, as well as the emotions helping to shape the two. The extent to which the particular case discussed in this article might be illustrative of a broader function of political humour and unlaughter in creating and challenging power differentials is considered.
This paper looks at discourses on oriental dance in Belarus in order to show how oriental dance i... more This paper looks at discourses on oriental dance in Belarus in order to show how oriental dance is appropriated by the contemporary popular culture. I examine tensions between the oriental origin of this phenomenon and the European context. I use the notion of orientalism developed by Edward Said in order to analyze representations of belly dance as a part of the particular perception of the Eastern culture (Said 1979). Moreover, I look at representations of "the East" as instructive of the construction of "the West". In other words, discourses on oriental dance implicitly create the image of the European culture itself. At the same time, considered exclusively as a woman's practice, belly dance is involved in the patriarchal control over the female body and sexuality. Based on the Foucauldian concepts of modern power, discipline and body, I analyze what features of female body and what kinds of female concerns related to the body are normalized in discourses about oriental dance.
Когда мы узнали о выходе нового социально-критического и позиционирующего себя как марксистский ж... more Когда мы узнали о выходе нового социально-критического и позиционирующего себя как марксистский журнала «Прасвет», идея написать данный текст возникла сразу же. Хотя о феминизме в Беларуси и на постсоветском пространстве говорят в последнее время довольно много, некоторые вопросы все еще требуют дальнейшего осмысления именно с позиций постмарксистской философии и критической теории. В этом смысле мы могли бы сказать, что то, как поднимаются феминистские проблемы в белорусском публичном дискурсе,это зачастую преимущественно либеральный подход к феминизму, основанный на стремлении к равенству прав и возможностей между мужчинами и женщинами. Однако «мужчины» и «женщины» в этом дискурсе, как правило, представлены как две гомогенные группы, внутри которых как будто бы нет никаких противоречий и борьбы. В этом смысле сам белорусский феминизм является хорошим примером того, что сама по себе феминистская идея как идея борьбы за эмансипацию женщин оказывается недостаточным основанием для объединения между собой людей, которые в этой эмансипации заинтересованы. Поэтому в рамках данной статьи мы бы хотели ответить на два важных вопроса: во-первых, как может быть представлен белорусский феминизм с точки зрения его классовой и политической структур; вовторых, возможна ли солидарность на основании феминизма в Беларуси и какие вопросы должны быть осмыслены для осуществления солидарного действия?
Interviews by Alena Minchenia
Edited Volumes by Alena Minchenia
Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society 3 / 1, 2017
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliograf... more Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.
Е. Минченя, О. Сасункевич (ред.) Гендерный ликбез: брошюра. -Вильнюс: Белорусский дом прав челове... more Е. Минченя, О. Сасункевич (ред.) Гендерный ликбез: брошюра. -Вильнюс: Белорусский дом прав человека, 2013. -224 с.
Zeitgeschichte Online, 2020
Open Democracy, 2020
In the wake of Belarus' presidential election on 9 August, international media, commentators and ... more In the wake of Belarus' presidential election on 9 August, international media, commentators and analysts have turned their gaze on the country in awe and surprisefollowing the unfolding events and trying to grasp what is happening. As we write, the people of Belarus have persevered peacefully (as in non-violently) for more than three months, taking to the streets day after day, forging, developing and sustaining strong networks of support and solidarity across lines of class, gender, age and place of residence. These diversified and multiple forms of protests remain unified by key demands: new and fair elections, freedom to all political prisoners and accountability of the state actors who have perpetrated violence against peaceful citizens.
Conflict and Society: Advances in Research, 6, 2020
This article analyzes divisions within Belarusian protest communities by focusing on a particular... more This article analyzes divisions within Belarusian protest communities by focusing on a particular group: the professional protesters. In Belarus, this group occupies a crucial position in between the international structures of democracy promotion and the internal attempts of political mobilization against the politics of President Aliaksandr Lukashenka. Performativity as an analytical perspective is employed to define positionality of professional protesters in relation to other political subjects and within the system of democracy promotion. The article shows implications of neoliberal rationality for social and political changes for protest communities in Belarus. It argues that the financial assistance obtained by protest professionals, as well as non-democratic leader ship style of the oppositional leaders, fills the Belarusian protest field with suspicions and accusations, add to a hierarchical and exclusionary way of participation in decision-making, and alienate activists from protest politics.
A New Land Rediscovering Agency in Belarusian History, Politics, and Society. In Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics, 2017
This article looks at the politics of shame in relation to the suppressed protests of December 20... more This article looks at the politics of shame in relation to the suppressed protests of December 2010 that challenged the re-election of Aliaksandr Lukashenka as president of Belarus (1994–present). My empirical data consist of independent media publications, blog posts, and interviews that speak of “shame” as an emotional response to the protest, its aftermath, and its general context. The article investigates what lines of social differentiation are animated in the circulation of shame discourse, how ashamed subjects are constructed and positioned in this process, and what shame does in relation to protest and its community. Theoretically it engages with discussions on the ambivalence of shame in constructing national narratives and in social movement struggles. The findings suggest that shame, employed as a marker of a patriot of a “non-existent Belarusian nation” and “failed democracy,” creates multiple divisions along the lines of class, civic engagement, and political views. This in turn curtails social mobilization, and ultimately contributes to making social change unimaginable in the present.
A B S T R A C T Drawing upon the perspective of the cultural studies of emotions , this article e... more A B S T R A C T Drawing upon the perspective of the cultural studies of emotions , this article examines the reception of political satire and the re-contextualization of humour. More precisely, it investigates the multiplicity of tensions that come into play in the production, erasure, rediscovery, and reception in Belarusian Internet media of politically oriented Russian television humour mocking the Belarusian president Alyaksandr Luka-shenka. The very phenomenon of comical representation aims at triggering a particular type of viewer response: laughter. But what if there is no laughter? To study this phenomenon, the concept of unlaughter, coined by Michael Billig, is drawn upon. Resonating with Sara Ahmed's term killjoy, it helps to uncover inequalities reproduced in the circulation of humour. Who laughs and who is laughed at? The article looks at the construction of subjects and objects of laughter, as well as the emotions helping to shape the two. The extent to which the particular case discussed in this article might be illustrative of a broader function of political humour and unlaughter in creating and challenging power differentials is considered.
This paper looks at discourses on oriental dance in Belarus in order to show how oriental dance i... more This paper looks at discourses on oriental dance in Belarus in order to show how oriental dance is appropriated by the contemporary popular culture. I examine tensions between the oriental origin of this phenomenon and the European context. I use the notion of orientalism developed by Edward Said in order to analyze representations of belly dance as a part of the particular perception of the Eastern culture (Said 1979). Moreover, I look at representations of "the East" as instructive of the construction of "the West". In other words, discourses on oriental dance implicitly create the image of the European culture itself. At the same time, considered exclusively as a woman's practice, belly dance is involved in the patriarchal control over the female body and sexuality. Based on the Foucauldian concepts of modern power, discipline and body, I analyze what features of female body and what kinds of female concerns related to the body are normalized in discourses about oriental dance.
Когда мы узнали о выходе нового социально-критического и позиционирующего себя как марксистский ж... more Когда мы узнали о выходе нового социально-критического и позиционирующего себя как марксистский журнала «Прасвет», идея написать данный текст возникла сразу же. Хотя о феминизме в Беларуси и на постсоветском пространстве говорят в последнее время довольно много, некоторые вопросы все еще требуют дальнейшего осмысления именно с позиций постмарксистской философии и критической теории. В этом смысле мы могли бы сказать, что то, как поднимаются феминистские проблемы в белорусском публичном дискурсе,это зачастую преимущественно либеральный подход к феминизму, основанный на стремлении к равенству прав и возможностей между мужчинами и женщинами. Однако «мужчины» и «женщины» в этом дискурсе, как правило, представлены как две гомогенные группы, внутри которых как будто бы нет никаких противоречий и борьбы. В этом смысле сам белорусский феминизм является хорошим примером того, что сама по себе феминистская идея как идея борьбы за эмансипацию женщин оказывается недостаточным основанием для объединения между собой людей, которые в этой эмансипации заинтересованы. Поэтому в рамках данной статьи мы бы хотели ответить на два важных вопроса: во-первых, как может быть представлен белорусский феминизм с точки зрения его классовой и политической структур; вовторых, возможна ли солидарность на основании феминизма в Беларуси и какие вопросы должны быть осмыслены для осуществления солидарного действия?
Journal of Soviet and Post-Soviet Politics and Society 3 / 1, 2017
Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliograf... more Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet über http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.