Dr. Natalya Chernyshova is author of the book Soviet consumer culture in the Brezhnev era, and the upcoming The most Soviet republic: Belarus in the long 1970s. She is a historian of the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, and Senior Lecturer in Modern European History, Queen Mary University of London.
In this podcast we discuss:
A brief history of Belarus and its quarrelsome but dependent relationship with Russia
Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko’s populist appeal as an outsider and anti-corruption fighter, and his rise to power
Belarusian national identity; Soviet identity, nostalgia, and legacies
The 2020 protests, sometimes called the Anti-Cockroach Revolution, triggered by the government’s COVID-19 response, the contested 2020 elections, and pent up dissatisfaction with Lukashenko’s rule
Jews in Belarus
Memories, censorship, and internet controls
Stuck between Russia, Poland, Ukraine, Latvia, and Lithuania
Media and opposition in exile
The Rhyming Chaos podcast is produced by Jeremy Goldkorn and Maria Repnikova, and edited by Cadre Scripts. The theme music is Paper Boy, composed and performed on the guzheng by Wu Fei. Our closing music is Erik Satie’s Gymnopédie No. 1, arranged and performed by Wu Fei. Our cover art is by Li Yunfei.
Please subscribe wherever you get your podcasts, leave us a review, and if you like what we’re doing, please take out a paid subscription at rhymingchaos.com.
