Folkloryzm w oporze społecznym: studium przypadku Białorusi 2020–2021
Folklorism in Public Resistance: Case Study of Belarus 2020–2021

Summary/Abstract: The article presents an analysis of selected examples of the use of traditions in Belarusian protests of 2020–2021 caused by the presidential election in August 2020. The arrangement of protest messages with elements of folklore and folk culture is a part of the phenomenon of folklorism. Folklorism based on the deliberate use of the content and forms of folklore extracted from the natural environment or folklore documentation and placed in current life situations. Traditional, deeply symbolic content, rooted in the people’s world picture in order to show civic resistance was relocated to the urban ground and actualized according to the current socio-political situation. The use of traditional rituals was changed into the form of performative actions, demonstrating the protest based on traditional symbols. The return to tradition contributed to the unity of protesters. It was affected on the construction of ethno-cultural identity of the protest based on elements of Belarusian folk culture. These elements of the tradition were meant to symbolically resolve national tasks important for the protest.

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