Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-ttngx Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-31T21:16:53.029Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Discursive construction of Lithuania's “others:” the case of Belarus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 November 2018

Eglė Kesylytė-Alliks
Eglė Kesylytė-Alliks*
Affiliation:
Department of Literature, Area Studies and European Languages, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway
*
∗Email: egle.kesylyte-alliks@ilos.uio.no
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This article analyzes discursive representations of Lithuania and of Belarus as Lithuania's “Other” in the context of the recent political crisis in Ukraine. Focusing on the media discourse of Lithuanian intellectuals regarding the historical Grand Duchy of Lithuania (GDL) and its legacy, it examines how Belarus and its role vis-à-vis Lithuania have been depicted. The analysis is informed by the discourse-historical approach within critical discourse analysis, using thematic content and argumentation schemes for studying the images ascribed to the GDL, Belarus, and Lithuania in the selected texts. Focus in the discourse of intellectuals on the GDL as a historical homeland is found to shift from history as a scholarly endeavor to the politics of history and the uses of the past in today's political projects. Belarus and the GDL emerge as topics not only historically and politically salient but also potentially dangerous for Lithuania within the setting of the events in Ukraine.

Keywords

national identitydiscourse analysisLithuaniaBelarusGrand Duchy of LithuaniaUkraine crisis
Type
Articles
Information
Nationalities Papers , Volume 45 , Issue 1 , January 2017 , pp. 80 - 95
Copyright
Copyright © 2017 Association for the Study of Nationalities 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abdelal, Rawi, Herrera, Yoshiko M., Iain Johnston, Alastair, et al. 2009. “Identity as a variable.” In Measuring Identity: A Guide for Social Scientists, edited by Abdelal, Rawi, 17–33. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Anderson, Benedict. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Auyero, Javier, and Joseph, Lauren. 2007. “Introduction: Politics Under the Ethnographic Microscope.” In New Perspectives in Political Ethnography, edited by Joseph, Lauren, Mahler, Matthew, and Auyero, Javier, 1–14. New York: Springer New York.Google Scholar
Barrington, Lowell W. 2006. “Nationalism and Independence.” In After Independence: Making and Protecting the Nation in Postcolonial and Postcommunist States, edited by Barrington, Lowell W., 3–33. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Bekus, Nelly. 2010. Struggle Over Identity: The Official and the Alternative “Belarusianness.” Budapest: Central European University Press.Google Scholar
Bourdieu, Pierre, and Champagne, Patrick. 2014. On the State: Lectures at the Collège de France, 1989–1992. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Brubaker, Rogers. 2006. Nationalist Politics and Everyday Ethnicity in a Transylvanian Town. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Cummings, Sally N. 2009. “Inscapes, Landscapes and Greyscapes: The Politics of Signification in Central Asia.” Europe-Asia Studies 61 (7): 1083–1093.Google Scholar
De Cillia, Rudolf, Reisigl, Martin, and Wodak, Ruth. 1999. “The Discursive Construction of National Identities.” Discourse and Society 10 (2): 149–173.Google Scholar
Defense Ministry, Republic of Lithuania. 2015. Lietuvos Respublikos piliečių rengimo valstybės gynybai strategija (Strategy of the preparation of the citizens of the Republic of Lithuania for the defense of the state). Vilnius.Google Scholar
Donskis, Leonidas. 2002. Identity and Freedom: Mapping Nationalism and Social Criticism in Twentieth-Century Lithuania. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Donskis, Leonidas. 2005. Tapatybė ir Laisvė: Trys Intelektualiniai Portretai. Translated by Laimantas Jonušys. Vilnius: Versus Aureus.Google Scholar
Eastern Partnership Summit, Vilnius. 2013. Joint Declaration of the Eastern Partnership Summit, Vilnius, November 28–29, 2013.Google Scholar
Elgenius, Gabriella. 2011. Symbols of Nations and Nationalism: Celebrating Nationhood. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Eriksen, Thomas Hylland, and Jenkins, Richard, eds. 2007. Flag, Nation and Symbolism in Europe and America. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Foreign Ministry, Republic of Lithuania. 2014. “Užsienio reikalų. ministras Minske aptarė dvišalį bendradarbiavima., Baltarusijos ir ES santykius” (Lithuanian Foreign Minister discusses bilateral cooperation, Belarus-EU relations in Minsk). Press release, July 24.Google Scholar
Foreign Ministry, Republic of Lithuania. 2015. Statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania on Crimea. Vilnius, February 26.Google Scholar
Gedvilas, Vydas. 2013. Speaker of the Seimas. Speech at the solemn sitting to mark the start of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, Vilnius, July 4.Google Scholar
Gellner, Ernest. 1983. Nations and Nationalism. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Grybauskaitė, Dalia. 2014. Speech to the European Parliament, Strasbourg, January 15.Google Scholar
Guibernau, Montserrat. 2007. The Identity of Nations. Cambridge: Polity.Google Scholar
Hart, Christopher, and Piotr, Cap, eds. 2014. Contemporary Critical Discourse Studies. London: Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar
Hobsbawm, Eric John. 1990. Nations and Nationalism since 1780: Programme, Myth, Reality. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Hutchinson, John. 1987. The Dynamics of Cultural Nationalism: The Gaelic Revival and the Creation of the Irish Nation State. London: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Richard. 2008. Social Identity. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Jenkins, Richard. 2011. Being Danish: Paradoxes of Identity in Everyday Life. Copenhagen: Museum Tusculanum Press.Google Scholar
Jokubaitis, Alvydas. 2001. “Stasys Šalkauskis ir Antanas Maceina kaip politikos filosofai.” Politologija 2 (22): 2–24.Google Scholar
Kamuntavičius, Rūstis. 2013. “History of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania: Interpretations of the young Belarusians and Lithuanians.” Darbai ir Dienos 60: 137–160.Google Scholar
Kolst⊘, Pål, ed. 2014. Strategies of Symbolic Nation-Building in South Eastern Europe. Farnham: Ashgate.Google Scholar
Krzyzanowski, Michal. 2010. The Discursive Construction of European Identities: a Multi-Level Approach to Discourse and Identity in the Transforming European Union. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Krzyzanowski, Michal. 2013. “Policy, Policy Communication and Discursive Shifts.” In Analyzing Genres in Political Communication: Theory and Practice, edited by Piotr, Cap, and Okulska, Urszula, 101–134. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Le, Elisabeth. 2006. The Spiral of “Anti-Other Rhetoric”: Discourses of Identity and the International Media Echo. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Mihelj, Sabina. 2011. Media Nations: Communicating Belonging and Exclusion in the Modern World. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Neumann, Iver B. 1996. “Self and other in International Relations.” European Journal of International Relations 2 (2): 139–174.Google Scholar
Neumann, Iver B. 1999. Uses of the Other: “The East” in European Identity Formation. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
President of the Republic of Lithuania. 2014. “Dalia Grybauskaitė spoke on the phone with the President-elect of Ukraine.” Press release, May 26.Google Scholar
Reisigl, Martin. 2014. “Argumentation analysis and the Discourse-Historical Approach: A methodological framework.” In Contemporary Critical Discourse Studies, edited by Hart, Christopher, and Piotr, Cap, 67–96. London: Bloomsbury Academic.Google Scholar
Reisigl, Martin, and Wodak, Ruth. 2001. Discourse and Discrimination: Rhetorics of Racism and Antisemitism. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Rindzevičiūtė, Eglė. 2003. “‘Nation’ and ‘Europe': Re-approaching the Debates about Lithuanian National Identity.” Journal of Baltic Studies 34 (1): 74–91.Google Scholar
Sakwa, Richard. 2015. Frontline Ukraine: Crisis in the Borderlands. London: I. B. Tauris.Google Scholar
Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. 2012. “Nutarimas Nr. XII-51 Dėl Lietuvos Respublikos Vyriausybės programos” (Resolution No. XII-51 on the Government Programme of the Republic of Lithuania). Vilnius, December 13.Google Scholar
Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. 2013a. “Gediminas Kirkilas: Belarusians want more Europe, democracy, and human rights in their country.” Press release, June 27.Google Scholar
Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. 2013b. “Gediminas Kirkilas to the Council of Europe Secretary General: The Eastern Partnership is the top priority for the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU.” Press release, June 6.Google Scholar
Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. 2013c. “Parliaments for Democracy: Towards More Ambitious Global Cooperation. Presidency Conclusions.” Vilnius, November 27–28.Google Scholar
Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. 2014a. “Accord between the Political Parties Represented in the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania on Strategic Guidelines for the Foreign, Security, and Defense Policy of the Republic of Lithuania for 2014–2020.” Vilnius, March 29.Google Scholar
Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania. 2014b. “Resolution on the Threats from the Russian Federation to Security in Ukraine and across Europe.” No XII-780. Vilnius, March 13.Google Scholar
Smith, Anthony D. 1991. National Identity. Reno: University of Nevada Press. Statistics, Lithuania. 2013. “Lietuvos Respublikos 2011 metų visuotinio gyventojų ir būstų, surašymo rezultatai” (2011 general population and housing census results of the Republic of Lithuania). Vilnius.Google Scholar
Taylor, Charles. 1994. “The Politics of Recognition.” In Multiculturalism: Examining the Politics of Recognition, edited by Taylor, Charles, Anthony Appiah, K., and Gutmann, Amy, 25–75. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Thiesse, Anne-Marie. 2001. La Création des Identités Nationales: Europe, XVIIIe–XXe Siècle. Paris: Seuil.Google Scholar
Walton, Douglas N., Macagno, Fabrizio, and Reed, Chris. 2008. Argumentation Schemes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Weymouth, Lally. 2014. “Lithuania's president: ‘Russia is terrorizing its neighbors and using terrorist methods.”’ Interview with Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaitė, The Washington Post, September 24.Google Scholar
Wilson, Andrew. 2014. Ukraine Crisis: What It Means for the West. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth, De Cillia, Rudolf, Reisigl, Martin, and Liebhart, Karin. 2009. The Discursive Construction of National Identity. 2nd ed. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth, and Kovacs, Andras, eds. 2003. NATO, Neutrality and National Identity: The Case of Austria and Hungary. Vienna: Böhlau.Google Scholar
Wodak, Ruth, and Meyer, Michael, eds. 2009. Methods of Critical Discourse Analysis. 2nd ed. Los Angeles, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Wolff, Andrew T. 2015. “The Future of NATO Enlargement after the Ukraine Crisis.” International Affairs 91 (5): 1103–1121.Google Scholar