I. Regional identities in contemporary Eastern Europe: Belarusian‐polish‐Lithuanian borderlands: Phenomenological analysis

Abstract

The paper presents opportunities of the phenomenological approach towards the Belarusian‐Polish‐Lithuanian borderlands. Such approach is based upon the principles of understanding of social reality elaborated in phenomenology (E. Husserl, M. Heidegger) and phenomenological sociology (A. Schutz) and presents a different view of the borderlands as compared with the traditional (classical) sociology. The social and cultural space of the borderlands is reflected in the modes of distance (close ‐ distant), temporality (now ‐ then) and the “presence of the Other” (local ‐ stranger), as well as their interrelated modifications. It helps to understand the degree of the acquisition / alienation of various cultural and political phenomena of the historical past and the present‐day life. The historical events and personalities, as well as existing monuments of culture in the borderlands are reflected in “our / alien” dichotomy. This results in the representation of the identities of the borderlands as liquid and plural constructs and the matters of interpretation.