POLISH BELARUSIAN STUDIES: HISTORY, CURRENT STATE AND PROSPECTS FOR DEVELOPMENT

This article traces the history of Polish research on the language, literature, culture and history of the Belarusians. It also looks at the activities of the most important university centres where, since 1956, Belarusian studies have been conducted: the Department of Belarusian Studies at the University of Warsaw, the Department of Belarusian Philology and the Department of Belarusian Culture at the University of Bialystok, the Faculty of Belarusian Studies at the Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, as well as the Institute of Slavic Philology at the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin. This work not only depicts the most significant areas of current research, but also presents the prospects of the development of academic Belarusian linguistics and literary reflection. Particular attention is paid to those monographs and documentary publications led by Polish researchers which have had the most influence on the development and progress of contemporary Belarusian studies in Poland.