Issues of national identity in the journalistic writings of Vaclau Lastouski

Abstract

The article presents the views of Vaclau Lastouski, a leading ideologist of the Belarusian Renaissance of the early decades of the 20th century, on the issues of national identity of the Belarusians. An important basic assumption for V. Lastouski was that of a borderland location of Belarus and its consequences. Historical determinants play a key role in V. Lastouski’s journalistic writings. The article treats his nationality idea as a social, religious and cultural phenomenon and presents the mechanisms and consequences of colonisation.