Building Infrastructures of Care in Belarus from a Museum of Stones

• In Event: Belarusian Culture II: Post-2020 Memory Practices

Abstract

This paper examines how Soviet technical and social legacies intersect with neoliberal post-Soviet Information Technology (IT) cultures in contemporary Belarusian culture and protest. I take as a case study the Museum of Stones editorial collective's (MoSec) strategically limited use of digital technology and simultaneous embrace of nostalgic zine culture. I argue that through their unique use of media and methods, which they refer to as a “cybernetics of the poor,” MoSec provokes readers to imagine “infrastructures of care” and a social foundation for a future Belarus. To understand their approach, I develop Svetlana Boym's idea of "reflective nostalgia," proposing a new term: "reflective utopianism."

Author

• Alana Christine Felton, Pomona College