SUMMARY:

In this essay Ilya Gerasimov introduces the five contributors to the thematic forum “The Belarusian Postcolonial Revolution,” who document and analyze different aspects of the Belarusian civil protest movement that arose in the wake of the rigged presidential election in August 2020. Essentially preliminary field reports, their contributions are valuable for analytical insights and professionally amassed and verified empirical evidence. For many years, Belarus was used by scholars as an example of impotent post-Soviet transition, unable to acquire a new social vision and subjectivity. In his introductory essay, Gerasimov argues that the concept of postcolonial revolution, once formulated on the example of the Ukrainian Euromaidan, is best applicable to the ongoing profound transformation of Belarusian society. This makes the forum materials invaluable as records of participant observations of a postcolonial revolution unfolding in real time.