Articulating and Maintaining Identity Through Turbulent Times
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Remembering Polishness: Articulating and maintaining identity through turbulent times Danielle Drozdzewski BEnvSc (Hons) /BA A thesis presented to the University of New South Wales in fulfilment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Geography Sydney, Australia 2008 i ABSTRACT This thesis details the maintenance of Polish identities through acts of memory: the (re)production, transmission and reception of Polish cultural practices. The (re)productions and transmissions of Polish identity formations, and the acts of remembrance, are multifarious by nature, and I have examined them in two distinctly different settings – in public spheres in Poland, and in the private realms of Australian Polish diaspora. In this thesis, these research settings have been conceptualised as the conduits through which Polish identities are maintained. Polish identity is theorised using a constructivist approach; Polish identities are therefore positioned historically and geographically. Their performances are fluid: they move through time and across spaces. The active maintenance of Polish identity developed as a result of foreign occupations. The partitioning of Poland by the Austro-Hungarian, Prussian and Russian Empires lasted 123 years. From 1795 to 1918 the Polish nation was expunged. Following a brief period of independence between World War I (WWI) and World War II (WWII), Poland was again occupied by Nazi and Soviet regimes during WWII (1939-1945). The Soviet occupation continued after WWII with the Soviet-supported Polish government that lasted until 1989. Under occupation – particularly during WWII – Poland suffered events that have been indelibly imprinted within Polish cultural memory. The macabre nature of this era included the incursion of hegemonic regimes on political and everyday social life, as well as the atrocities for which it is well known. An important outcome of these occupations has been the division of discourses of Polishness, and their remembrances, into distinctly public and private spheres. These periods of foreign occupation brought various attempts to suppress and eliminate Polishness: the cultures and identifications of Polish people. Suppression particularly occurred in public spheres through the prohibition of the Polish language, and by investing the public memory landscape with ideologies that represented the new regimes. By repressing public commemorations of Polish cultural narratives, a new history was written at the expense of the Polish experience. There have been two primary responses to these repressions of Polishness. These responses initially developed during the partitioned ii period to ensure that Polish language and cultural practices were maintained. First, a narrative and tradition of resistance emerged in reaction to the Russian, Prussian and Austrian partitions. It was enacted through military participation in insurrections and through the production of patriotic Romantic Era cultural artefacts, both of which strengthened linkages to the Polish Catholic faith. Second, Polish cultural practices and language were safeguarded in the private spheres of home. It was in private settings, in Poland and within the diaspora in Australia, that memories and experiences of occupation were passed on and through generations. In Poland, such narratives were often maintained in resistance to those imposed by foreign occupiers and because of the inability to commemorate events of Poland’s macabre past in public. In Australia, identity maintenance has occurred to resist the dissolution of Polishness in a diasporic and multicultural environment. This thesis demonstrates the utility of studying cultural memories as a means of understanding how identity maintenance can occur in the face of adversities, such as the multiple foreign occupations that occurred in Poland, and in diaspora. Moreover, it exemplifies the diverse paths of identity maintenance in different contexts. This thesis shows that despite the distinctive character of both Polish public and private spheres, Polish identities have been informed, shaped and maintained through culturally-enacted memory (re)production. This process is exhibited in the present – in Poland and through the diaspora – and it occurred despite the repressive aims of various foreign occupiers. iii ORIGINALITY STATEMENT I hereby declare that this submission is my own work and to the best of my knowledge it contains no materials previously published or written by another person, or substantial proportions of material which have been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma at the University of New South Wales or any other educational institution, except where due acknowledgement is made in the thesis. Any contribution made to the research by others, with whom I have worked at University of New South Wales or elsewhere, is explicitly acknowledged in the thesis. I also declare that the intellectual content of this thesis is the product of my own work, except to the extent that assistance from others in the project’s design and conception or in style, presentation and linguistic expression is acknowledged. Signed ……………………………………………........................... Date ……………………………………………........................... iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS There have been numerous people who have helped, inspired and encouraged me throughout this thesis. My supervisors Dr Wendy Shaw and Prof. Ian Burnley have provided continual support and insights. I would like to thank them for their constant encouragement and belief in this research. Ian, the breadth of your historical and migration knowledge leaves me in constant awe. Wendy, thank you for always inspiring me to expand the analyses. I would also like to thank A/Prof. Chris Gibson and A/Prof. Kevin Dunn for their earlier guidance in this thesis. These academics and friends have been invaluable mentors. This research would not have been possible without the help of the interview participants and research informants, in Australia and Poland. I feel privileged to have heard their memories and experiences and to have learnt more about my family’s heritage from these first hand accounts. Several other people helped me develop this research. In Poland, Dr Annamaria Orla-Bukowska and Dr Alison Stenning gave their time freely and helped me position the research aims in the Polish landscape. Thank you to my Polish language teachers, and my flatmates in Poland, Ulrike and Adrian, who supported and advised me. In Australia, the staffs of many Polish cultural institutions, especially the Holy Family Retirement Village in Marayong and the Randwick Polish Language School, were all always forthcoming with information and helpful in introducing potential research contacts. To my family and friends who have been there for me throughout the duration, thank you. I would like to especially thank a group of friends and PhD colleagues, Ed, Daniel, Natascha, Karin and Therese, thanks for making this a memorable journey. To Mum, who was always encouraged me to explore my heritage, thank you for always being there to check my translations, provide support and an insider’s view. This thesis would not have been possible without the support, love and understanding of my husband William. I am looking forward to fulfilling the wistful plans we made for our post-PhD life. v TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLE PAGE i ABSTRACT ii ORIGINALITY STATEMENT iv ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v LIST OF FIGURES xi LIST OF TABLES xiii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS xiv CHAPTER 1 – A JOURNEY OF REMEMBERING POLISHNESS 1 1.1 Situating cultural memory within identity discourse 4 1.2 Encounters with Polishness 7 1.3 Thesis outline 8 CHAPTER 2 – REMEMBRANCES OF IDENTITY: CONTEXTS AND ARTICULATIONS 12 2.1 Theoretical frameworks of cultural memory 13 2.2 Locating identity in memory discourse 17 2.3 Conceptual settings of cultural memory 18 2.4 Public sphere articulations of cultural memory 21 2.4.1 Symbols of national identity 22 2.4.2 Public remembrances 25 2.4.3 Uneven articulations of power at sites of memory 26 2.4.4 Forgetting and Resistance 28 2.5 Diasporic Settings 30 2.5.1 Remembrances and (re)creations of home 32 2.5.2 Polonia 33 vi 2.5.2.1 The Polish diaspora in Australia 34 2.6 Towards a geography of cultural memory 37 CHAPTER 3 – METHODOLOGY 39 3.1 Introduction 39 3.2 My Polishness – a continuum of experiences 39 3.2.1 Learning Polish 41 3.2.2 Reflexivity: listening to stories and positioning my Polishness 42 3.3 Selecting field locations 44 3.4 Data Methods 45 3.4.1 Capturing memorialisation in the landscape 46 3.4.2 Visual methodologies: photographic images and historical maps 47 3.4.3 Participant Observation 48 3.4.4 Interviewing 50 3.4.4.1 Interviewing in Poland: Public Memory Institutes 50 3.4.4.2 Interviewing in Australia: narrating experiences and memories 51 3.5 Data generation in the two field settings 52 3.5.1 In the field in Kraków, Poland 52 3.5.1.1 Planty 53 3.5.1.2 Katy Cross 54 3.5.1.3 Paszów 57 3.5.2 In the field and interviewing in Sydney, Australia 58 3.5.2.1 A snapshot of Polish diaspora in Australia 58 3.5.2.2 Participant recruitment 64 3.5.2.3 Negotiating ethics and cultural sensitivity in the interview process 68 3.5.2.4 The interview process: the interview schedule and themes 68 3.5.2.5 The interview process: location and duration 69 3.5.2.6 The interview process: encountering trauma 70 3.6 Data Analysis 71 3.7 Conclusion 73 vii CHAPTER 4 – CHARTING THE (RE)CONSTRUCTION OF POLISH CULTURAL IDENTITY THROUGH TURBULENT TIMES 75 4.1 Pre-partitioned Poland 76 4.1.1 Polish