Central European University

Supported by the generous European Union Studies Grant from the European Studies Council, I spent this summer working on my research project titled Mnemonic Civil War between the Last Citizens of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. This summer funding provided me with a unique opportunity to advance my project both conceptually and methodologically. It enabled me to attend two summer courses at Central European University (CEU) in Budapest, Hungary, and to conduct field research through unstructured interviews with democratic Belarusian political activists, academics, and politicians currently in exile in Vilnius, Lithuania. 

First, I attended two summer courses at the CEU in Budapest from July 8 to 22. The first course, Contestations of Citizenship in Times of Global Democratic Backsliding, focused on the weaponization of citizenship as a legal and civic category to legitimize undemocratic practices and impose restrictive national identities, depriving certain groups of civic rights under the guise of national security. The cross-disciplinary and cross-regional approach of the course allowed me to draw parallels between the ongoing discourse of distrust and vilification regarding the Belarusian diaspora in Lithuania, and similar practices in India, Hungary, Russia, and Myanmar. This comparison helped me better understand the political and strategic reasoning behind such exclusionary measures. The second course, Demographic Imaginaries: Soft Authoritarianism, Majoritarian Identity Politics, and Demographic Anxieties, allowed me to explore the sociological dimensions of “unwanted populations” and how this discourse is constructed and normalized in public and political spheres. Structured as an academic workshop, this course also provided an opportunity to present my research and receive critical feedback. Working with renowned scholars of nationalism like Shalini Randeria and Éva Fodor helped me refine my research questions and encouraged me to delve deeper into the historical research regarding Lithuania’s anxieties about demographic diversity. 

In August, I conducted unstructured interviews with members of the Belarusian diaspora in exile in Lithuania. My aim was to gain first-hand insights into the reasons behind the growing hostility of the Lithuanian government and public toward Belarusians—a community deeply affected by these developments. Collaborating with the office of Belarusian President-in-exile Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the NGO Honest People (Честные люди), and professors from the European Humanities University, a Belarusian university in exile in Vilnius, provided valuable guidance on how to structure my research. Their input helped me to comprehensively address the shifting attitudes of Lithuanians towards Belarusians residing in the country, and the broader implications for support of the democratic Belarusian movement. 

I am deeply grateful to the European Studies Council for enabling me to undertake this ambitious research journey, both inside and outside the classroom. The experience has been instrumental in enhancing and contextualizing my research project, and I am eager to continue developing it further.