NASZA I (NIE)WASZA SPRAWA O ZIEMIAŃSKICH I CHŁOPSKICH NARRACJACH O REFORMIE ROLNEJ
Journal Title: Kultura i Społeczeństwo - Year 2018, Vol 62, Issue 1
Abstract
OUR AFFAIR AND (NOT) YOURS: ON GENTRY AND PEASANT NARRATIVES OF AGRICULTURAL REFORM This text contains a comparative analysis of gentry and peasant narratives about the agricultural reform conducted in Poland on the basis of the Polish Committee of National Liberation’s decree of September 6, 1944. The author sought these narratives in personal documents such as diaries, memoirs, works sent to memoir competitions, and oral history interviews. An analysis of the documents revealed, above all, an asymmetry between the narratives of the gentry and the peasants. For the former, the reform was a key biographical event, while in most of the peasant narratives it was marginal, particularly in the context of other elements of the experience of war and occupation. The points of convergence, in terms of what members of the peasantry and gentry write or say about the reform, are few. Moreover, while the peasants always appear in the narratives of the gentry, the gentry appear much more rarely in the narratives of the peasants. The narratives of the gentry are fairly cohesive and it would seem that they have become the basis for the creation of a collective memory of the gentry as a group. The peasant narratives are quite diverse. Their shape is the outcome of factors such as the narrator’s social and economic status before the war; the fact of being, or not being, a beneficiary of the reform; the narrator’s political engagement; the narrator’s party affiliation at the time of the reform; and the period of Poland’s postwar history when the narrative was written or spoken. The author’s findings reveal what image of the agricultural reform has been preserved in Poles’ memory.
Authors and Affiliations
Anna Wylegała
Keywords
Related Articles
- EP ID EP536910
- DOI -
- Views 110
- Downloads 0
PUNKTY, CZYLI ZŁUDA MODERNIZACJI
POINTS, OR THE ILLUSION OF MODERNIZATION The author’s remarks on Agata Zysiak’s book Punkty za pochodzenie. Powojenna modernizacja i uniwersytet w robotniczym mieście [Points for Class Origin: Post-War Modernization and...
KONKURS NA EUROPEJSKĄ STOLICĘ KULTURY JAKO CZYNNIK ZMIANY DOŚWIADCZENIA POLSKICH MIAST
THE COMPETITION FOR EUROPEAN CAPITAL OF CULTURE AS A FACTOR OF CHANGE: THE EXPERIENCE OF POLISH CITIES This article contains an analysis of the “ECC effect,” that is, the long-term change produced in Polish cities by pa...
DZIELENIE PRZESTRZENI, PRAKTYKI GRANICZENIA PARKOWANIE, WŁASNOŚĆ I PRZYNALEŻNOŚĆ NA POLSKICH OSIEDLACH MIESZKANIOWYCH
DIVIDING SPACE—BORDERING PRACTICES: PARKING, PROPERTY, AND BELONGING IN POLISH HOUSING SETTLEMENT Space gains significance through processes of social differentiation and bordering, and in consequence is connected with...
O BIEDNYCH NIKT NIE CHCE SŁUCHAĆ — ROZMOWA Z PROFESOR ELŻBIETĄ TARKOWSKĄ
'No One Wants to Hear About the Poor' - interview in 2005
ŚWIAT SPOŁECZNY LUDZI ŻYJĄCYCH W UBÓSTWIE
THE SOCIAL WORLD OF PEOPLE LIVING IN POVERTY This is a chapter of a book containing the results of a study entitled ‘Old and New Forms of Poverty—The Lifestyles of Poor Families,’ which was conducted under the directio...