Informace o publikaci
The Brother of the Other: Towards a Postcolonial Perspective on Migration from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to the Czech Republic?
| Název česky | Bratr toho Druhého: migrace z Běloruska, Ruska a Ukrajiny do České Republiky v postkoloniální perspektivě? |
|---|---|
| Autoři | |
| Rok publikování | 2014 |
| Druh | Další prezentace na konferencích |
| Fakulta / Pracoviště MU | |
| Citace | |
| Popis | The paper seeks to conceptualize an ambiguous position of the migrants from Belarus, Russia and Ukraine in the Czech Republic – that of both the “Brother” and the “Other”. Biographical narratives of these migrants reveal a constant tension between “proximity” and “distance”, “similarity” and “otherness” to the Czech “core group”. The ambiguities of their position can be understood in several ways. One stems from the potential “conceptual” similarity of the migrants and the Czech core group (migrants from CEE to CEE, from one post-socialist country to another) on the one hand and migrants’ experiences of otherness and distance, on the other hand. During the Cold War era, Belarusians, Russians and Ukrainians were the “brotherly nations” of the Czechs and Slovaks as well as other nations of the socialist bloc and after the dissolution of the iron curtain they all became aspirants for inclusion to re-united Europe. At the same time, however, in a struggle for the emancipation and identity of the countries of Central Europe, Russia (a label that eventually covers the whole territory of the former Soviet Union in the popular discourse) figures as their main Other – former colonizer that differs substantially from the almost-Western character of these nations. Moreover, although these migrants experience harsh othering processes, they are not the ultimate Others in the Czech public discourse. They are eventually perceived also as culturally proximate, Slavic relatives. The paper explores these tensions using the framework of postcolonial theory and works from cultural sociology. |