Tado Blindos mitas
The Myth of Tadas Blinda

Summary/Abstract: The article examines the relationship between social banditry and nation building. It explores the ways in which political elites transform social bandits and their popular legends into national myths which are used for constitution of national and social identities. By exploring the emergence and transformation of the myth of the Lithuanian bandit Tadas Blinda (1846–1877), the paper argues that the myth of the heroic bandit played a significant role in nation-making in Lithuania where ethnic conflicts followed social divisions. Examining the plasticity of the heroic bandit myth at different historical periods, the paper suggests that the bandit myth seen as a set of beliefs held by a community about itself, can be a more powerful and fluid form of cultural representation than the various efforts of myth-making agencies to fix it.

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