Studia Humanistyczne AGH
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ISSN 2084-3364
e-ISSN: 2300-7109
Issue Date
2013
Volume
T. 12
Number
Nr 1
Description
Journal Volume
Studia Humanistyczne AGH
T. 12 (2013)
Projects
Pages
Articles
Us among them - a study of the contemporary Polish emigration to Norway
(Wydawnictwa AGH, 2013) Sokół-Rudowska, Monika
A significant increase in migration from Poland has been observed since Poland joined the European Union in 2004. It has mainly been labour migration to richer countries of Western Europe. The rate of migration has exceeded the expectations of both politicians and experts. Statistics now show that about 2 million citizens have left Poland since that moment (Główny Urząd Statystyczny 2011). One of the top countries which Poles choose as a target for migration is Norway. Not only do the majority of Polish immigrants lack basic skills in Norwegian, but they also lack basic skills in English. The communication problems with people who don't belong to <i>us</i>. those who use the same language, is one of the most important factors that contributes to the creation of closed Polish ethnic <i>enclaves</i>. These communities try to rebuild their own identity in new countries based on the traditions and cultural codes brought from Poland, and <i>us-them</i> as opposite values. In this case us designates those members of a Polish minority in Norway, who follow norms accepted by the group, while Norwegians here represent <i>them</i>. A confrontation with the antagonists certifies one's own ideas and values. It is worth noticing that not all Polish migrants live within their ethnic groups. Poland is a rather culturally homogeneous country. This is a factor which facilitates finding one's own ethnic group in a foreign land and thereafter establishing one's place in it. Living abroad, however, changes one's identity due to foreign influence. The identity of <i>them</i> changes similarly, depending on the situation. After a preliminary categorization of all the Poles as <i>us</i>, gradual divisions and categorizations take place within the Polish immigrant community. A significant number of Poles, usually less educated, often deliberately choose to isolate themselves from the culture of the host country. They use it as a method of retaining their own culture. Families and friends are brought from Poland in order to reproduce the lost local homeland.
Welfare spaces of (non)ageing - a discourse perspective
(Wydawnictwa AGH, 2013) Wilińska, Monika
The aim of this paper is to articulate an approach for discursive research on welfare cultures of ageing that responds to the challenges facing contemporary research on old age and ageism. It is based on the assumption that to understand conditions under which people are ageing in different countries, various societal levels and actors need to be examined and their roles in setting the old age agenda need to be accounted for. Additionally, this paper reflects upon the welfare spaces of ageing in Poland, spaces where people in Poland grow old and/or are allowed to do so. As a result, this paper indicates the lack of spaces of ageing in the welfare context in Poland. People are expected not to grow old, old age remains a misunderstood phenomenon. Contrary to the excessive knowledge <i>against</i> old age. there is considerable lack of knowledge <i>for</i> old age. Therefore, spaces of non-ageing are invoked in order to elaborate on these processes. Spaces of non-ageing identify various societal domains and show what needs to be done in order not to grow old. Spaces of non-ageing repudiate the idea of old age as something terrifying and, on many occasions, immoral.
Urbanizing sovereignty. State borders and space uses
(Wydawnictwa AGH, 2013) Lûbìmau, Sârgej
In this article I am working on the epistemology of relations between state borders on the one hand and valorizations of space on the other. In this epistemology borders do not divide space, but make space available. The current regime of state sovereignty implies that this availability works as re-bounding. Thus, growing trans-border contacts and projects do not fundamentally weaken state borders, but complicate state sovereignties. Such complication means the acceleration of production of various spatial units - different from nation-states - in the process of communicating sovereignties via state borders. State borders are the meta-process of bounding space, which produces a complete, limited set of sovereign spatial entities. I discuss a project of re-bounding sovereignties performed in the urban milieu of the German-Polish border town Goerlitz-Zgorzelec within its governance's common attempts to valorize this urban milieu in line with the European Union (EU) scalar regime. In the studied case, the program framework for this scalar regime was the joint application of Goerlitz-Zgorzelec for the status European Capital of Culture 2010 (ECC).
Slovak-Polish relationships in 1938-1947 in the context of border disputes
(Wydawnictwa AGH, 2013) Matula, Pavol
After World War I Poland demanded a connection to the northern part of the former Kingdom of Hungary (Spiš, Orava and Kysuce). This area was also claimed by Czechoslovakia. The regions became the subject of the Czechoslovak-Polish territorial dispute. The Supreme Council decided by plebiscite on the regions of Tešin,Orava and Spiš on 28 September 1919. In the end it was not a plebiscite which decided about the controversial territory, but international arbitration. The Conference of Ambassadors decided on dividing Spiš and Orava between Poland and Czechoslovakia on 28 July 1920. Most of the inhabitants disagreed with the decision. Another border dispute occurred in 1938 after the signing of the Munich Agreement, when Poland made a claim not only to other parts of Orava and Spiš but also Kysuce. The Slovak-Polish Delimitation Committee was attacked by inhabitants of disputed territory several times, resulting in the Polish army occupying the area. After the beginning of the Second World War all parts of the regions of Spiš, Orava and Kysuce became part of Slovakia, as Bratislava collaborated with Berlin. At the end of WWII the border was returned to the pre-Munich position but the situation in the disputed territory was unstable for a long time after 1945.
Screening Milosz's philosophy: the multilayered construction of Tadeusz Konwicki's adaptation of The Issa Valley
(Wydawnictwa AGH, 2013) Duda, Paulina
Tadeusz Konwicki's adaptation of Czesław Miłosz's novel <i>The Issa Valley</i> is an adaptation of the latter's philosophy. Through a series of deliberately structured cinematic techniques. Konwicki creates a film that is a platform where two outstanding individuals meet, rather than a battlefield where each tries to surpass the other. By drawing on the paradigmatic structure approach created by Herbert Eagle, I demonstrate that <i>The Issa Valley's</i> meaning is created not on the level of the storyline but rather through the repeated cinematic segments that build a second »narrative« line within the film. Miłosz employs a similar strategy in his novel, which brings together both artistic styles, that of Miłosz and that of Konwicki. Furthermore, the similarities between the artists' biographies (childhood in Lithuania, life as refugees, a shared Romantic tradition) brings an additional layer to the adaptation. As a result, <i>The Issa Valley</i> film is a multilayered work that manifests not only Konwicki's artistic independence but also Miłosz's artistic philosophy and even the afterlife of his art.