The phenomenon of women’s singleness in contemporary Belarusian society

Mgr. Stanislava Yevarouskaya

Master's thesis

Abstract:

In the research, I show how young Belarusian women construct their identities through the dichotomy of marriage/singleness. The identity of the modern woman acts as a cultural structure that is constituted by binary relationships of “being single-being married” codes. I argue that Belarusian women possess a familial type of identity that is fixed by traditional collective representations about marriage. I refer to Belarusian intangible heritage to explore how singleness has been polluted through cultural practices within Belarusian traditional society. I demonstrate how singleness was polluted within the cultural script of “old maid.” Also, I depict how formation and acceptance of polluted “single” identity was accomplished within cultural performance of Belarusian folk feast Maslenitsa. I provide an in-depth analysis of interviews with young Belarusian women in which I show how their identity is formed within opposition between purified cultural codes of marriage and polluted codes of singleness. The following research reflects the paradox between traditional collective representations of marriage and modern processes of women emancipation in contemporary Belarusian society.

Keywords

structural hermeneutics, identity, women’s singleness, collective representations.

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 31. 5. 2017

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 21. 6. 2017
• Supervisor: doc. Bernadette Nadya Jaworsky, Ph.D.
• Reader: M.A. Beatrice Elena Chromková Manea, Ph.D.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Social Studies

Master programme / field:
Sociology / Cultural Sociology (Eng.)