The article is the author’s refl ection on her experience related to teaching a course on historiography for undergraduate history students entitled Interpretations of the past. Alterations of images related to historical events, personalities and processes in historical narratives. She presents the general concept of the course, topics and contents of particular classes, as well as (with relation to some exemplary topics) concrete teaching methods used and specific educational effects to be achieved.She also discusses the historiographical sources and scholarly literature she adopted as the textual background of her course.
This article examines the main characteristics of the historical memory of Poles in Belarus, allowing to speak about the special image of the past within this ethnic group. The canon of historical and cultural figures is analyzed, as well the relationship between historical grand narrative and family memory that creates a trend of “escape” from the rigid interpretations of the past.
An intense discussion about the issue of historical narrative arose during the time when the naïve realism of classical historiography was being critiqued and led to a dispute, in the last century, between constructionism and critical or scientific realism. We can distinguish between constructionism and noetic constructivism. According to ontological constructionism all facts are human constructions; according to noetic constructivism, our notions and theories are constructs with objective meaning (sense and reference); they refer to objective reality. Scientific realism recognizes the existence of noetic construction but does not regard facts as our constructions, as pure fictions. The point of contention is the question over whether historical narrative is merely a discursive construction or whether it is also a scientific reconstruction of the past. Resolving the dispute over whether historical narrative can be objectively true, or whether it is subject to empirical control or not, is dependent on finding the answer to this question.
Our research project “Unworthy of History” focuses on discussing the historical narrative in Polishhistory textbooks that are used in teaching history at the middle school level. The aim is to analyze and describe ways of thinking about as well as presenting the role and place of women and men in history in schools. Research shows that women are portrayed in textbooks as playing a less important role than men – they are almost non-existent in public life. “(...) what is male is universal. What is female is accidental and secondary”. The few women that are mentioned in these textbooks are portrayed in traditional roles, usually family roles, and in those contexts and spheres of life that are culturally considered to be typically feminine. Women are not only under-represented in history textbooks; also, informationabout them is often distorted or simply untrue. The topic of the (in)equality between women and men as well as the history of women’s emancipation movements, which are related to the empowerment of half of humanity, is not considered worthy to be presented in Polish textbooks. Our presentation and study focused on the absence and stereotypical representations of women scientists in Polish history textbooks. The results reveal that although women could be as creative and hard working as men – not exclusively in the fields traditionally associated with women (e.g. Josephine Cochran invented the dishwasher in 1872, and Marion Donovan – disposable diapers in 1950) butalso in those associated with men (e.g. Mary Anderson created windshield wipers in 1903 and Grace Murray found the first computer bug in 1947) – their contribution to the development of societies is marginalised, trivialised or totally omitted by the authors Polish history textbooks. In every textbook analysed, men make up over 90% of characters introduced by name although they were not necessarily widely known. On the other hand, women who achieved professional success in science, art or social development get ignored.
EN
Our research project “Unworthy of History” focuses on discussing the historical narrative in Polishhistory textbooks that are used in teaching history at the middle school level. The aim is to analyze and describe ways of thinking about as well as presenting the role and place of women and men in history in schools. Research shows that women are portrayed in textbooks as playing a less important role than men – they are almost non-existent in public life. “(...) what is male is universal. What is female is accidental and secondary”. The few women that are mentioned in these textbooks are portrayed in traditional roles, usually family roles, and in those contexts and spheres of life that are culturally considered to be typically feminine. Women are not only under-represented in history textbooks; also, informationabout them is often distorted or simply untrue. The topic of the (in)equality between women and men as well as the history of women’s emancipation movements, which are related to the empowerment of half of humanity, is not considered worthy to be presented in Polish textbooks. Our presentation and study focused on the absence and stereotypical representations of women scientists in Polish history textbooks. The results reveal that although women could be as creative and hard working as men – not exclusively in the fields traditionally associated with women (e.g. Josephine Cochran invented the dishwasher in 1872, and Marion Donovan – disposable diapers in 1950) butalso in those associated with men (e.g. Mary Anderson created windshield wipers in 1903 and Grace Murray found the first computer bug in 1947) – their contribution to the development of societies is marginalised, trivialised or totally omitted by the authors Polish history textbooks. In every textbook analysed, men make up over 90% of characters introduced by name although they were not necessarily widely known. On the other hand, women who achieved professional success in science, art or social development get ignored.
The aim of this article is to present selected methodological threads of the discussion on the status of historical sources which took place in Polish post‑war historiography. In the article, I present the concepts of the historical source formulated in 1957–1989, mainly by Gerard Labuda and Jerzy Topolski. Further in the text, I will present the discussion about Topolski’s concepts and characterize the peculiarities of contemporary history as regards historical sources. In the light of the presented classification of sources, I will reflect on the status of the documents created by the apparatus of repression of the Polish People’s Republic.
The author of the article analyzes two texts in their first editions – Naumachija chocimska (The Khotyn Naumachia) by Jan Bojanowski and Pamiątka wojny tureckiej (The Memory of the War with the Turks) by Józef Bartłomiej Zimorowic. Both works concern the event significant for consolidating the idea of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as the bulwark of Christendom, namely the heroic defence of Chocim in 1621. Both texts were created with a view to commemorating the heroism of the ancestors; however, Bojanowski praises only Mikołaj Sieniawski, whereas Zimorowic mentions a lot of names of brave defenders of the country. Naumachija chocimska… is an incoherent work composition-wise and stylistically awkward (the author failed to master the difficult stanza ottava rima), and what is more, completely dominated by its panegyric nature. Still, Bojanowski used a few interesting concepts, among which we should distinguish the comparison of the invasion of the Turkish army to a flood inundating the lands of the Commonwealth. The early poem by Zimorowic is an incomparably better work. Despite the chronicle-like narration (characteristic of the Old Polish historic literature) which was considered the author’s fault, the text is valuable among others on account of the combination of a diary account with the concept of a rock sculpture, several interesting descriptive fragments, strong contrasts and the appearance of the idea of the bulwark.
The purpose of the article is to analyse the process of change in Russian historical policy from a foreign policy perspective. The article hypothesizes that the historical policy can be considered as an indicator of changes in Russia’s foreign policy, allowing to infer the direction of its future development, playing both an ‘integrative’ and ‘disintegrative’ role. Using the example of the EU, the impact of Russia’s historical policy on the EU’s historical narrative is examined. While in the analysed context the new Russian historical narrative signalled a growing distrust and a more confrontational stance towards the EU (a disintegrative role), its unintended side effect was the construction of a common European historical narrative (an integrative role) pushed by the Central and Eastern European states in response to Russia’s aggressive rhetoric on historical issues, the interpretation of which few years earlier had divided the ‘old’ and ‘new’ member states.
The following paper, in its sense, is a summary of the broad qualitative and quantitative authorial research on the historically-themed materials from the social media video platform YouTube. The main research problem dealt with the matter of the meaning of the historical narrative for the contemporary polish society and the specificity of its historical consciousness. 635 videos from 6 channels since 2013 till 2019 were analyzed. Authors point out the relation between the quantitative analysis of the videos’ topics with the current trends of interests in history present in the society. Functioning of the most popular videos’ trends were emphasized and its connection with their qualitative layer of the historical narrative. Further research on the hypothesis on the ethnocentric interest in history was conducted. Slightly advantage of the political and military narrative was observed and a little less advantage of the factographical and processual perspective in history which is the matter for the further analysis. Conducted research showed that interest in history on the YouTube platform confirms the special status of the XX century and II World War narrations in the historical consciousness of the Polish society.
The following paper, in its sense, is a summary of the broad qualitative and quantitative authorial research on the historically-themed materials from the social media video platform YouTube. The main research problem dealt with the matter of the meaning of the historical narrative for the contemporary polish society and the specificity of its historical consciousness. 635 videos from 6 channels since 2013 till 2019 were analyzed. Authors point out the relation between the quantitative analysis of the videos’ topics with the current trends of interests in history present in the society. Functioning of the most popular videos’ trends were emphasized and its connection with their qualitative layer of the historical narrative. Further research on the hypothesis on the ethnocentric interest in history was conducted. Slightly advantage of the political and military narrativewas observed and a little less advantage of the factographical and processual perspective in history which is the matter for the further analysis. Conducted research showed that interest in history on the YouTube platform confirms the special status of the XX century and II World War narrations in the historical consciousness of the Polish society.
The tragic events of 3–4 September 1939 in Bydgoszcz, which went down in history as ‘The Bloody Sunday of Bydgoszcz’ due to German propaganda, are among the unsolved mysteries of World War II and mark the beginning of the Polish campaign in September 1939. The prevailing view in Polish historiography is that in the morning hours of 3 September, a German sabotage took place in Bydgoszcz, which involved an attack on the retreating troops of the Polish Army, defeated in the so-called ‘Pomeranian corridor’, by either local Germans or outside saboteurs. According to the opinion prevailing in German historical publications relating to these events, amid wartime panic and anti-German psychosis, as the Polish troops were retreating through the city, they and the armed groups of local Polish self-defence started mutual shelling of one another. The German minority was blamed for this, which resulted in its brutal pacification. For over ten years, a Polish historian Włodzimierz Jastrzębski has been presenting an opinion that differs from the Polish historiography. The present article is a polemic against his latest book on the subject, in which he blames the events of Bydgoszcz and the brutal pacification of the German community in Bydgoszcz and neighbouring towns on local Polish military and civilian authorities who, in his view, sought a crackdown on the German minority. The article addresses errors in his method, criticism of sources and the manner in which they were used, in compliance with a preconceived thesis. The author has also presented his own hypotheses on the origin and the course of the events of 3–4 September 1939 in Bydgoszcz.
The review is devoted to the book by Małgorzata Radkiewicz Refleksje zza kamery. Reżyserki o kinie i formie filmowej [Reflections from behind the Camera: Women Directors on Cinema and Film Form]. The publication showcases a deeply feminist frame of reference not only in its theme which is women directors’ theoretical oeuvre, from Alice Guy-Blaché to Alexandra Juhasz, but also in its concept. The author presents their reflections on cinema in the broader context of changing social norms, cinematic language, feminist philosophy and other minority discourses. The review highlights the importance of translating and publishing those reflections in Polish, however it pays particular attention to the author’s proposal of alternative form of scientific discourse and historical narrative. Radkiewicz changes traditional structure – which, typically, is linear, final, unified and focus on progress and hierarchization – for more open, horizontal and activating. That approach led to placing the book as a parallel to feminist, avant-garde endeavors of presented women directors. It could be positioned as a new narrative mode in the process of (re)writing film history by women and other minorities and inspire future relocations.
This article set out to present the mutual relationship between two discourses that conceptualize the notion of memory: the theoretical-literary discourse and the politico-historical one. Literature, which is a constitutive element of the cultural memory system, plays two major roles in the society: it reflects the dominant tendencies in the collective memory, and secondly, it participates in the formation of individual, as well as collective, images of the past and the discourse that surrounds them. The study draws on, inter alia, the literary representations of memory in the works of Jorge Semprún (testimony) and Javier Cercas (postmemory). Both writers were keen on participating in the public debate on the policy of remembrance in Spain. This article focuses on the metaliterary and self-reflexive components of their writings and aims to position them in the wider theoretical context.
The text indicates a few problems of historical research, which were interestingly taken in the book by Marta Kurkowska-Budzan and Marcin Stasiak "Stadium on the periphery". They are connected above all with: methods of metaphorization used in historical narrative, problematization of the relationship of time experienced and the time of historical narrative, construction of a historical event, the center's and periphery's relationship as a relation of domination and the relationships between the investigators and the respondents. In conclusion, I point to the value of the non-standard approach used by the authors and the traps that are associated with it.
The myth of the Argonauts, well-known in Greek mythology, has made its mark in the consciousness of the Slovenians as an important element indicating the connection of Slovenian culture with ancient culture. The basis for the following thesis is the assumption of the so-called Danubian version of the myth according to which the Argonauts, returning from the Black Sea (Colchis in Georgia), visited the territory of present-day Slovenia and founded the city of Emona. The incorporation of this version in the epic poem of Apollonius of Rhodes has increased the interest among researchers of the history of Ljubljana as well as inspired artists to reinterpret the voyage of the Argonauts in culture. The aim of this work is to explore the traces of the Argonauts’ presence in the imaginary memory of Slovenes in Slovenian literature, taking into regard the status and functioning of the Argonauts myth in the literary and non-literary reality of Slovenia.
Artykuł składa się z kilku części: wprowadzającej i ukazującej zna- czenie historycznych narracji dla tożsamości andragogiki, ogólnej charakterystyki minionego stulecia, części egzemplifikującej, w której poprzez parę przykładów wykazano aktualność i przydatność dorobku andragogiki dla współczesnej refleksji oraz części końcowej, w której analizie poddano kwestie tożsamości grupowej an- dragogiki. Autorka wykazała konieczność wytworzenia wspólnotowej tożsamości andragogiki/andragogów, która kształtuje poczucie własnej wartości oraz ugrunto- wywania tej tożsamości w dialogu z innymi oraz poprzez doświadczenie ciągłości, czyli pamięci historycznej.
EN
The article consists of several parts: introduction showing the importance of historical narratives for the identity of andragogy, the general characteristics of the past century, an exemplifying part in which, through a few examples, the relevance and usefulness of andragogy’s achievements for contemporary reflection are shown and the final part, in which the issues of andragogy group identity are analysed. The author showed the necessity of creating a community identity of andragogy/ andragogues, which shapes self-esteem as well as strengthening this identity in dialogue with others and through the experience of continuity, that is historical memory.
The verse text of the So-Called Dalimil’s chronicle from the beginning of the 14th century is one of the oldest Old Bohemian epic texts. Dalimil’s depiction of Bohemian history from its beginnings (with biblical continuity) to the author’s present has been analysed especially with regard to the strong anti-German accent of the author’s narrative. In this study, I aim to look at Dalimil’s thinking from a different angle, namely, to capture the role of the bishop of Prague as an important figure of contemporary society in his conception of history and how this interpretation of the history of the Church in Bohemia is incorporated into the author’s master narrative.
The paper studies the integration models used by Ukrainian migrants living in Poland and the resulting problems associated with the rivalry between historical narratives of the Ukrainians and the host community. The author’s work is based on the concept of cultural memory (Maurice Halbwachs, Aleida Assman) and the idea of the dynamic character of images of the past (Jeffrey K. Olik). The data for the study was collected during 30 in-depth interviews with the Ukrainian migrants and also from social networks, forums and open Internet resources. The study has revealed that the majority of the Ukrainian migrants seek to avoid the rivalry between historical narratives, arguing that they personally are not involved in it and events of the past are no longer actual in modern life. Close contacts with representatives of the host community contribute to the assimilation of the Ukrainians. Only a few of the interviewed respondents choose the Ukrainian historical narrative, however they are not going to throw their lot in with Poland. The paper also thoroughly discussed the factors contributing to the choice of one or another position.
Kinematografia, w tym kinematografia ukraińska, jest wciąż niedocenianym źródłem w badaniach historycznych. Ukraińskie filmy doby niezależności stanowią natomiast bardzo interesujące i ważne źródło ilustrujące zmiany społeczne i różne perspektywy patrzenia na historię w okresie transformacji. Po 1991 r. określenie roli i miejsca Tatarów Krymskich w historii i społeczeństwie Ukrainy stało się istotnym wyzwaniem dla historiografii i państwa. Ukraińskie filmy fabularne z okresu 1991–2017 to dowody podejmowania prób zmierzenia się z tym tematem i reprezentacja różnych koncepcji dotyczących kwestii krymskotatarskiej. Films, including Ukrainian feature films, remain an undervalued source in historical research. However, Ukrainian movies produced in the period of independence are an interesting and important source and mirror social changes and various perspectives regarding history in the times of transformation. After 1991 it was a significant challenge for the state and historians to define the role of the Crimean Tatars in Ukrainian history and society. Ukrainian feature films from the years 1991–2017 are evidence of attempts to address and present various concepts related to this issue.
In this article an attempt is made to use the cognitive approach in the study of the activities and history of a definite special service. The organization of Ukrainian nationalists is very significant for this kind of research. Its officers are characterized by national and ideological homogeneity to a high degree. The study used the concept of the „national frame of the world”., to define the professional work of staff factor. The declared historical framework allows to arrive to valid conclusions.
PL
W artykule została podjęta próba wykorzystania kognitywnego podejścia podczas badania działalności i historii wiadomej służby specjalnej. Organizacja Ukraińskich Nacjonalistów jest bardzo wzorową (znamienną) dla tego typu badań. Jej członkowie w bardzo wysokim stopniu charakteryzują się narodową i ideologiczną jednorodnością. W trakcie badań w charakterze organizującego pracę członków (OUN – red.) czynnika wykorzystane zostało pojęcie narodowego obrazu świata. Określone historyczne ramy uzasadniają prowadzone wywody.
The article analyzes the narrative used by the authors of Lithuanian history textbooks (11 items published in the last ten years, intended for grades 5-12) to describe the issues of rebirth and the functioning of Lithuanian and Polish states during World War I and in the first years after its end. The analysis showed that special attention was paid to the genesis of Lithuania's rebirth – phenomena related to Lithuanian social and political life. Textbooks for grades 9–12 more clearly link the attempts to regain independence initiated by the Lithuanian political class with the situation in Europe at that time. In terms of Poland, textbooks most often mention the importance that the Entente countries attached to its independence and the numerous armed conflicts that flared up at the dawn of its independence. The narrative of the authors of the textbooks also introduces students to the diverse concepts of Lithuanian and Polish politicians related to the reconstruction of Lithuanian statehood and its alternatives, such as the idea of rebuilding the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
PL
W artykule poddano analizie narrację, którą autorzy litewskich podręczników do historii (11 pozycji wydanych w ciągu ostatnich dziesięciu lat, przeznaczonych dla klas 5–12) zastosowali do opisu problematyki odrodzenia oraz funkcjonowania państw litewskiego i polskiego w okresie I wojny światowej i w pierwszych latach po jej zakończeniu. Analiza wykazała, że szczególną uwagę poświęcono genezie odrodzenia Litwy – zjawiskom dotyczącym litewskiego życia społecznego i politycznego. Podręczniki dla klas 9–12 wyraźniej łączą próby odzyskania niepodległości inicjowane przez litewską klasę polityczną z sytuacją panującą w ówczesnej Europie. W kwestii Polski, podręczniki najczęściej wspominają o wadze, jaką państwa Ententy przywiązywały do jej niepodległości oraz o licznych konfliktach zbrojnych, które rozgorzały u zarania jej niepodległości. Narracja autorów podręczników przybliża również uczniom zróżnicowane koncepcje litewskich i polskich polityków związane z odbudową litewskiej państwowości i jej alternatywami, takimi jak chociażby idea odbudowy Rzeczypospolitej Obojga Narodów.
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