Off-campus UMass Amherst users: To download campus access dissertations, please use the following link to log into our proxy server with your UMass Amherst user name and password.
Non-UMass Amherst users: Please talk to your librarian about requesting this dissertation through interlibrary loan.
Dissertations that have an embargo placed on them will not be available to anyone until the embargo expires.
Author ORCID Identifier
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8782-834X
AccessType
Open Access Dissertation
Document Type
dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
Degree Program
Communication
Year Degree Awarded
2020
Month Degree Awarded
May
First Advisor
Donal Carbaugh
Second Advisor
Benjamin Bailey
Third Advisor
Jonathan Wynn
Subject Categories
Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics | Art Practice | Civic and Community Engagement | Contemporary Art | Critical and Cultural Studies | Discourse and Text Linguistics | Eastern European Studies | Epistemology | European Languages and Societies | Folklore | Indigenous Studies | International and Intercultural Communication | Language Interpretation and Translation | Linguistic Anthropology | Modern Art and Architecture | Other Arts and Humanities | Other Communication | Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures | Other Linguistics | Other Philosophy | Other Political Science | Other Social and Behavioral Sciences | Other Sociology | Philosophy of Language | Place and Environment | Politics and Social Change | Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies | Race and Ethnicity | Russian Linguistics | Social and Cultural Anthropology | Social Psychology and Interaction | Sociology of Culture | Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies | Speech and Rhetorical Studies | Theory and Criticism | Urban Studies | Urban Studies and Planning
Abstract
The main intellectual problem I address in this study is how everyday communication activates the relationship between creativity, conflict, and change. More specifically, I look at how the communication of creativity becomes a process of transformation, innovation, and change and how people are propelled to create through everyday communication practices in the face of conflict and opposition. To approach this problem, I use the case of communication in modern-day Belarus to show how creativity becomes a vehicle for and a source of new social and cultural routines among the independent grassroots communities and initiatives in Minsk. On one level, I show how local research participants communicate six cultural identities through a cultural discourse when they speak about public creativity in Belarus. Additionally, I show how these categories of identity are structured as oppositional cultural codes, such as “State” vs. “People” or “Indifferent people” vs. “Talented, really creative people,” and how these discursive oppositions reflect a similar dynamic found in Ruthenian/Russian culture where the continuous interplay of opposing values has been a foundation of cultural unity throughout history. On another level, I show how the participants of these grassroots communities problematize the existing ideas and practices of being a Belarusian and of being a citizen in general. The prevailing cultural myth suggests that Belarus, like many post-Soviet spaces, is inferior to the “progressive” “West” and the “USA.” However, this is not the way Belarus is symbolically constructed in the grassroots communities I studied. The Belarus they envision living within is a place of togetherness, of synergetic cooperation, and with the emergence of alternative mythology and everyday routines out of which cultural, business, and social innovations arise. On yet another level, this research suggests that the process of creativity is, in its essence, a process of innovation, transformation, and change. I argue that such creative transformative processes in the society involve conflict, opposition, a struggle with everyday reality, out of which innovations come to life.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7275/xvb4-th95
Recommended Citation
Dinerstein, Anton, "THE PEOPLE WHO “BURN”: “COMMUNICATION,” UNITY, AND CHANGE IN BELARUSIAN DISCOURSE ON PUBLIC CREATIVITY" (2020). Doctoral Dissertations. 1923.
https://doi.org/10.7275/xvb4-th95
https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1923
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Included in
Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons, Art Practice Commons, Civic and Community Engagement Commons, Contemporary Art Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Discourse and Text Linguistics Commons, Eastern European Studies Commons, Epistemology Commons, European Languages and Societies Commons, Folklore Commons, Indigenous Studies Commons, International and Intercultural Communication Commons, Language Interpretation and Translation Commons, Linguistic Anthropology Commons, Modern Art and Architecture Commons, Other Arts and Humanities Commons, Other Communication Commons, Other Languages, Societies, and Cultures Commons, Other Linguistics Commons, Other Philosophy Commons, Other Political Science Commons, Other Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons, Other Sociology Commons, Philosophy of Language Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Quantitative, Qualitative, Comparative, and Historical Methodologies Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Russian Linguistics Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Social Psychology and Interaction Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, Soviet and Post-Soviet Studies Commons, Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons, Theory and Criticism Commons, Urban Studies Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons