Refugee/immigrant crisis in Europe is connected mostly with Arab or Muslim minorities. Negative perceiving of those groups in Poland is often based on stereotypes, myths and exaggerated facts. In this paper was made an attempt to confront the image ofthe Arab community living in Poland, which is functioning among Poles with the own image of the group, reconstructed on the basis of interviews and surveys conducted with representatives of the Arab community and Poles in the research fi eld. Most frequently nrepeated myths about Arabs occurring among Polish respondents also was and the most popular stereotypes relating to the tested group. Myths and stereotypes have been confronted with the results of Author’s own research, which undermine their legitimacy.
This paper constitutes an attempt to confront the image of the Arab community living in Poland with the self-image of this community. It is based on interviews and surveys conducted with the representatives of both groups (Arabs and Poles), which reveal some myths about Arabs most frequently repeated by Polish respondents, such as: ‘There are a lot of Arabs in Poland and they are everywhere’, ‘Arabs in Poland benefit from social welfare as in Western countries’, ‘Arabs (immigrants) are stealing jobs from Poles’, ‘When you buy a kebab, you settle an Arab’, ‘Arabs in Poland do not integrate with Poles’, ‘Arab means Muslim, Muslim means Arab’, ‘Arabs are the most unpopular nation in Poland’, and other widespread stereotypes relating to the Arab community. These myths and stereotypes were confronted with the results of the author of this paper’s own research, which undermines their legitimacy.
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