Between Soviet and Ethnic: Cultural Policies and National Identity Building in Soviet Belarus under Petr Masherau, 1965–80

Abstract

The 2020 mass protests in Belarus have been remarkable for bringing to the fore a shared sense of national community that many scholars and observers thought missing among Belarusians. Belarus has been described as “a denationalized nation” and the most Soviet of the 15 republics, with a weak or indifferent sense of ethnic identity.1 Others, however, observe that the process of Belarusian identity formation is incomplete but ongoing, with several competing national identities, each drawing on different foundation myths.2 The Belarusian process of national renaissance during