Ronan Hervouet
Université de Bordeaux, Centre Emile Durkheim, Faculty Member
- Université de Bordeaux, Faculté de sociologie, Faculty Memberadd
Avant et pendant la guerre en Ukraine, la révolte d'un pays-clé du conflit, aujourd'hui base arrière de Poutine.
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How do authoritarian regimes remain in power? Focusing on the case of Belarus where he lived for more than five years, the author highlights several mechanisms of assent to tyranny, beyond the regime’s ability to control and repress,... more
How do authoritarian regimes remain in power? Focusing on the case of Belarus where he lived for more than five years, the author highlights several mechanisms of assent to tyranny, beyond the regime’s ability to control and repress, which should not be underestimated. The book immerses the reader in the depths of the Belarusian countryside, at the heart of this authoritarian regime. The analysis describes sometimes epic characters, their family history, their sufferings and their joys, their secrets and their hopes. It sheds light on the reasons why part of the population supports Lukashenko, and takes a fresh look at the functioning of the last dictatorship in Europe.
Research Interests: Belarusian Studies, Post-Soviet Politics, Political ethnography (Research Methodology), Post-Soviet Studies, Politics of Belarus, and 10 morePolitical Ethnography, Authoritarianism, Authoritarian regimes, Belarusian Politics, Belarus, Lukashenka, Kolkhoz, Alexander Lukashenko, Biélorussie, and kolkhoz system
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Les citoyens mobilisés dans l'exceptionnel mouvement de contestation de masse que la Biélorussie a connu en 2020 ont largement fait apparaître la bannière blanc rouge blanc dans l'espace public. Drapeau de l'éphémère République populaire... more
Les citoyens mobilisés dans l'exceptionnel mouvement de contestation de masse que la Biélorussie a connu en 2020 ont largement fait apparaître la bannière blanc rouge blanc dans l'espace public. Drapeau de l'éphémère République populaire de Biélorussie en 1918, il est le drapeau officiel de la Biélorussie indépendante de 1991 à 1995. Après la première élection de Loukachenko, il est remplacé par le drapeau aux couleurs rouge et vert inspiré du passé soviétique. Les auteurs analysent leurs multiples usages dans le soulèvement citoyen de 2020
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The protest movement in Belarus has been presented by some of its protagonists and analysts as a struggle for dignity, implying a contradiction between dignity and authoritarian rule. However, the author’s ethnographic work carried out... more
The protest movement in Belarus has been presented by some of its
protagonists and analysts as a struggle for dignity, implying
a contradiction between dignity and authoritarian rule. However,
the author’s ethnographic work carried out between 1999 and
2013, which focused on the dachas of city dwellers on one hand
and on everyday life in the kolkhozes and villages on the other,
revealed examples of the attainment of dignity within the repressive
system itself. Although the system is based on violence and
arbitrary rule, it simultaneously generates means of establishing
forms of dignity. Dachas enable the affirmation of an enhanced
representation of oneself. In the collectivized countryside, certain
moral qualities – endurance, resourcefulness, and self-reliance – can
be manifested in daily activities and provide access to a sense of
self-worth. Since 9 August 2020, these forms of dignity have been
polarized into a form of defensive dignity, in which arbitrary rule
and recognition are not antinomic and which is expressed as loyalty
to the incumbent regime, and an offensive dignity, for which personal
dignity can be complete only if the demonstrators’ demands
for collective dignity are met.
protagonists and analysts as a struggle for dignity, implying
a contradiction between dignity and authoritarian rule. However,
the author’s ethnographic work carried out between 1999 and
2013, which focused on the dachas of city dwellers on one hand
and on everyday life in the kolkhozes and villages on the other,
revealed examples of the attainment of dignity within the repressive
system itself. Although the system is based on violence and
arbitrary rule, it simultaneously generates means of establishing
forms of dignity. Dachas enable the affirmation of an enhanced
representation of oneself. In the collectivized countryside, certain
moral qualities – endurance, resourcefulness, and self-reliance – can
be manifested in daily activities and provide access to a sense of
self-worth. Since 9 August 2020, these forms of dignity have been
polarized into a form of defensive dignity, in which arbitrary rule
and recognition are not antinomic and which is expressed as loyalty
to the incumbent regime, and an offensive dignity, for which personal
dignity can be complete only if the demonstrators’ demands
for collective dignity are met.
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Cet article explicite d’abord les conditions d’une enquête d’ethnographie politique menée dans les campagnes de Biélorussie entre 2006 et 2013. Une triple difficulté a émergé: enquêter principalement auprès des classes populaires;... more
Cet article explicite d’abord les conditions d’une enquête d’ethnographie politique menée dans les campagnes de Biélorussie entre 2006 et 2013. Une triple difficulté a émergé: enquêter principalement auprès des classes populaires; effectuer cette ethnographie dans un milieu, le monde rural, où l’État, par ses structures économiques et administratives, est omniprésent, et où le contrôle sur les personnes est particulièrement marqué; travailler sur le politique dans un régime autoritaire hérité de l’Union soviétique qui n’admet pas de mise en cause et de débat critique. L’article caractérise ensuite les modalités de mise en œuvre d’une “ethnographie en pointillés”, qui s’est avérée fructueuse pour recueillir du matériau, et reposant essentiellement sur trois techniques: la “décérémonialisation” de la situation d’enquête, la familiarisation avec les enquêtés et la symétrisation des relations par l’exposition de soi.
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This article firstly explains the conditions for a political ethnography survey conducted in rural Belarus between 2006 and 2013. Three difficulties became apparent: conducting a survey primarily among the lower classes; carrying out this... more
This article firstly explains the conditions for a political ethnography survey conducted in rural Belarus between 2006 and 2013. Three difficulties became apparent: conducting a survey primarily among the lower classes; carrying out this ethnographic study in an environment – the rural world – in which the State, via its economic and administrative structures, is omnipresent, and in which there is particularly strong control over the people; and studying politics in an authoritarian regime inherited from the
Soviet Union, which does not tolerate challenges to its authority or critical debate. The article then characterizes the implementation procedures for a “discrete ethnography”, which proved to be a fruitful approach for the collection of material, based primarily on three techniques: the “deceremonialization” of the survey situation, familiarization with the subjects of the survey and the symmetrization of relationships by self-exposition. It is worth noting that this article is the translated version of an article called “Enquêter en Biélorussie. Une ethnographie politique des mondes ruraux en régime autoritaire”. The original version is openly available on the BMS website as a complementary document to this article.
Soviet Union, which does not tolerate challenges to its authority or critical debate. The article then characterizes the implementation procedures for a “discrete ethnography”, which proved to be a fruitful approach for the collection of material, based primarily on three techniques: the “deceremonialization” of the survey situation, familiarization with the subjects of the survey and the symmetrization of relationships by self-exposition. It is worth noting that this article is the translated version of an article called “Enquêter en Biélorussie. Une ethnographie politique des mondes ruraux en régime autoritaire”. The original version is openly available on the BMS website as a complementary document to this article.
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L’article porte sur les parcours de femmes originaires de Russie, de Biélorussie et d’Ukraine, arrivées en France après 1991 et vivant ou ayant vécu en couple avec des hommes français. Basée sur des entretiens biographiques réalisés... more
L’article porte sur les parcours de femmes originaires de Russie, de Biélorussie et d’Ukraine, arrivées en France après 1991 et vivant ou ayant vécu en couple avec des hommes français. Basée sur des entretiens biographiques réalisés depuis janvier 2015, à Paris et dans différentes régions de France, notre étude s’intéresse à l’expérience des inégalités au sein du couple en prenant en compte l’articulation entre les trajectoires professionnelles et conjugales de ces femmes. Notre enquête montre que leurs parcours sont différenciés, ne se réduisant pas à des situations monolithiques de dépendance et de domination. Les formes d’accomplissement personnel et conjugal sont relatées selon cinq modes, traduisant des configurations variées d’accommodement aux rapports sociaux de genre plus ou moins asymétriques au sein des couples : la normalisation, l’émancipation, l’ascension, l’autonomisation et le ressentiment.
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This chapter is the unintended effect of a long chain of relations that started when its authors met in Belarus in the late 1990s. They were working on very different sociological topics. Ronan Hervouet was doing his “exotic” and... more
This chapter is the unintended effect of a long chain of relations that started when its authors met in Belarus in the late 1990s. They were working on very different sociological topics. Ronan Hervouet was doing his “exotic” and ethnographic doctorate research on ordinary life in dachas1 under the strong Belarusian dictatorship (Hervouet 2009), whereas Francois Depelteau was searching for different ontological views and principles in sociological theory in reference to social determinism and codeterminism (Depelteau 2008). The former never used Norbert Elias’s approach to do his doctorate research. He started to read this sociologist later. The latter met the texts of Norbert Elias by accident. He was looking for a good textbook on sociology and the title What Is Sociology? caught his attention. He found much more than a textbook.
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Cet article analyse les ressorts du « socialisme de marché » dans la Biélorussie de Loukachenko, qu’il présente comme un « modèle » pour les pays post-soviétiques. Ce modèle repose sur une intervention très forte de l’Etat dans les... more
Cet article analyse les ressorts du « socialisme de marché » dans la Biélorussie de Loukachenko, qu’il présente comme un « modèle » pour les pays post-soviétiques. Ce modèle repose sur une intervention très forte de l’Etat dans les mécanismes de marché, notamment dans la redistribution des richesses produites dans le pays, afin de maintenir une société égalitaire et d’assurer le développement économique du pays. Or, d’une part, la promotion du « socialisme de marché » n’empêche pas l’existence de pratiques néopatrimoniales en Biélorussie, comme dans d’autres pays de l’ex-URSS, même si l’on peut davantage parler de néopatrimonialisme dans l’Etat que de néopatrimonialisme d’Etat. D’autre part, le « socialisme de marché » repose davantage sur la dépendance très forte envers la Russie, que sur des fondamentaux économiques solides. Ces modalités de fonctionnement autorisent certains analystes à qualifier le « modèle biélorusse » de « mythe ».
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This paper endeavours to understand how in the Soviet and Post-Soviet world, dachas and kitchen gardens are places where memories can be passed down. The singular narrative of Tatar patriarch Pavel Ivanovitch exemplifies how this garden,... more
This paper endeavours to understand how in the Soviet and Post-Soviet world, dachas and kitchen gardens are places where memories can be passed down. The singular narrative of Tatar patriarch Pavel Ivanovitch exemplifies how this garden, as the memory
of a nourishing land, enabled his family to survive collectivisation and the Great Patriot War. Although belittled by Bolshevik authorities, this family was able to keep up to its social status. By contrast, dacha transmission and its accompanying memory are not
easy since some members of the kindred refuse it, thus threatening the group cohesion. It even happens that inheritance is totally turned down, or the dacˇnik, rejecting a maimed and shameful self-image – in relation to a collapsing world – might forego his passion’s
transmission of the dacha.
of a nourishing land, enabled his family to survive collectivisation and the Great Patriot War. Although belittled by Bolshevik authorities, this family was able to keep up to its social status. By contrast, dacha transmission and its accompanying memory are not
easy since some members of the kindred refuse it, thus threatening the group cohesion. It even happens that inheritance is totally turned down, or the dacˇnik, rejecting a maimed and shameful self-image – in relation to a collapsing world – might forego his passion’s
transmission of the dacha.
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Two models of keeping a vegetable garden, a widespreadactivity among city-dwellers in the post-Soviet world,can be discerned. Characterized by a low (or negative)return on investment, the “counterhandicap” model is un-derlaid by a... more
Two models of keeping a vegetable garden, a widespreadactivity among city-dwellers in the post-Soviet world,can be discerned. Characterized by a low (or negative)return on investment, the “counterhandicap” model is un-derlaid by a rationale of improving the quality of the foodconsumed, whereas the “entrepreneurial” model makesit possible to earn a real income. Fieldwork and statisticsserve to place gardening in the perspective of householdeconomics and to qualify its contribution to “survival”.
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The scientific workshop “War in Ukraine and exile” will bring together European researchers to present the preliminary results of their interviews and observations conducted after 24 February 2022 among exiles from three countries:... more
The scientific workshop “War in Ukraine and exile” will bring together European researchers to present the preliminary results of their interviews and observations conducted after 24 February 2022 among exiles from three countries: Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia. The presentations of papers will address the following themes: trajectories of exiles (mobilised networks, successive displacements), exile experiences (emotions, intimacy), forms of politicisation (ordinary and institutional), interactions between different exiled communities, relations between exiles and host societies/states, relations with relatives left at home, representations and imaginaries associated with the war and its consequences.
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The unprecedented protest movement against the Lukashenko regime was followed by an unprecedented repression. In the months following the 9 August 2020 presidential elections, more than 200,000 Belarusians are reported to have left the... more
The unprecedented protest movement against the Lukashenko regime was followed by an unprecedented repression. In the months following the 9 August 2020 presidential elections, more than 200,000 Belarusians are reported to have left the country. The most important destinations are Lithuania and Poland, but also the Czech Republic, Georgia, Ukraine and Germany. This emigration concerns various social groups: workers, doctors, academics, IT sector employees, students, etc. Indeed, it differs from the exile of political activists forced to leave after previous presidential elections.
This workshop aims to analyze different dimensions of this European exile. It will examine the experiences of exiles, the reasons for their emigration, the conditions of reception in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the forms of solidarity that are deployed towards these populations and within these communities.
This workshop will bring together researchers from the academic world, but also members of NGOs and solidarity networks.
This workshop aims to analyze different dimensions of this European exile. It will examine the experiences of exiles, the reasons for their emigration, the conditions of reception in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the forms of solidarity that are deployed towards these populations and within these communities.
This workshop will bring together researchers from the academic world, but also members of NGOs and solidarity networks.