The national self and the 'other'
Identity is what defines us as individuals. It’s how we perceive ourselves in comparison to others and the world. Therefore, national identity is what makes a country-specific and stand out to make them identifiable to other countries. How a nation defines itself can be based on numerous factors such as language, ethnicity, culture, politics, and religion. Belarus is an eastern European country bordered by Russia. It has retained closer political and economic ties to Russia than any other former Soviet republic. Therefore, Belarus’ national identity can be puzzling to pinpoint because they are dependent on their neighboring country, Russia. Russia and Belarus have similar cultural, political, and religious views. However, the main identities attributing to Belarus are language, mythology, and religion, making it semi-distinguishable to other countries. In this blog post, I will be explaining Belarus’ national identity on what it means to be a Belarusian and their association ...