This article addresses the latest stage of transformations in Polish scientific discourse, the origins of which are commonly traced back to the 16th century in relation to Polish culture. The paper provides a synthetic and report-like overview, offering several key insights regarding the examined area of communication: 1. Changes in the discourse in contemporary humanities, influenced by the intellectual aura of postmodernism, pertain to certain areas of scientific reflection. 2. Science reflects the transformations in cultural and social nature, thus scientific discourse absorbs the characteristics of the world it describes. 3. Revaluations within scientific discourse serve as a certain signal of its denormalisation, although this process does not encompass the entirety of scientific communication but rather signifies cracks and shifts that emerge in the proposed and normative understanding of discourse. 4. Transformations within scientific discourse should not be regarded as a crisis, but rather as manifestations of certain qualities and general tendencies in culture that may bring new and surprising effects in the future. 5. The transformations of scientific discourse are also influenced by the field in which it operates. The specific nature of humanities sciences, situated in a particular way in relation to other branches of knowledge, should be taken into account. 6. Despite changes in the scope of scientific discourse, many of its characteristics remain relevant. 7. Scientific discourse should not be regarded as monolithic; on the contrary, it is a complex, multidimensional quality dependent on various aspects. 8. The specificity of scientific discourse as one of the areas of communication becomes more graspable when examined from a certain distance. Therefore, a historical perspective on the issue proves fortunate for the proposed conclusions.
The article presents various methodological approaches to the Cossacks Studies with a special focus on the past and present academic discourses and practices in Ukraine, the Russian Federation, the Republic of Kazakhstan and Poland. Images of Cossack armies provide an interesting but hybrid research material, because these military groups represent both the identity of the border communities and the military democratic society. Hence the exceptionally varied ways of viewing their identity in which this group has been seen as a nation, ethnic group, Asian Orda or Russian//Ukrainian military nobility. In contemporary Ukrainian science, the Cossacks have been perceived as a leading force behind the nation-building process, while for the Russian researchers, they have been depicted as local insurgents. In Polish science and discourse, the Cossacks are analyzed strictly from the Polish historical perspective. The article suggests that those diversified approaches to the Cossack identity and history may help formulating a comprehensive and universal discourse and methodology for the Cossacks Studies.
PL
Artykuł naświetla różne podejścia badawcze w kwestii badań nad Kozaczyzną, metodologię, wykorzystywaną przy analizie obiektu badawczego w ośrodkach naukowych Ukrainy, Rosji, Kazachstanu i Polski. Ów obiekt badawczy był traktowany niejednoznacznie z racji swej tradycyjnej specyfiki społeczności transgranicznej, opartej na demokracji militarnej. W związku z powyższym Kozaczyzna była postrzegana zarówno jako oddzielny naród, grupa etniczna, orda azjatycka bądź też rosyjska lub ukraińska zmilitaryzowana warstwa społeczna. W ukraińskim dyskursie naukowym Kozacy byli tradycyjnie postrzegani jako warstwa państwotwórcza, w przeciwieństwie do rosyjskiej szkoły badawczej, często traktującej Kozactwo jako lokalne siły zbrojne albo burzycieli tradycyjnego porządku. Natomiast w polskiej nauce Kozaczyzna tradycyjnie była wplatana w polską perspektywę historyczną. Zdaniem autorki porównanie różnych podejść badawczych pomoże w wypracowaniu całościowego nurtu badawczego i metodologii kozakoznawstwa.
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