Wywiad z profesorem Wereniczem
27th June 1997: Reflections on Belarusian nation: its history, language and religion. An interview with professor Wiaczesław Werenicz

Summary/Abstract: The text is a transcript of a conversation with an ethnolinguist Wiaczesław Werenicz, a professor in the Department of Linguistics of Belarusian Academy of Sciences, the initiator of a research on borderland Polish dialects in Lithuania and Belarus. Recorded on 27th June 1997, it was carried out in Polish with some interference in Russian and Belarusian. The text was organized language wise without changing the meaning of the statement. It was not authorized due to professor’s death in 1999. The main subject of the interview was Belarus and Belarusians – their history, culture and language. The crucial question was whether Belarusians are a nation or not. Werenicz mentioned numerous historical facts, both from Belarusian and universal history, as well as contemporary facts and people e.g. politicians. Werenicz analyzed current political situation critically, bringing up good and bad points. He did not forejudge it though. He pointed out the changeable nature of the process of identity building in Belarus. Expressing his own point of view Werenicz let the interviewer – and now a reader – draw his/her own conclusions. The interview includes some facts from professor’s personal life which can serve as telling examples of the social and political complexity of contemporary Belarus.

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