Jannick Piskorski will make a presentation „Poland A and B in Postcolonial Theory and Pop Culture“ at the conference „Polish studies: today and tomorrow (5)“ on 07.09.23 at 11.10 a.m. (CEST).
Abstract
The Partitions of Poland between Prussia, Austria, and Russia remain present in Poland more than 100 years after the regaining of sovereignty. The narrative of the divided nation is reflected in the motif combination ‘Poland A’ and ‘Poland B’. Poland A emerged from former Prussian territory and is conceived as superior in economic and structural terms to Poland B which emerged from the Russian and Austrian partition territories. This paper analyses the use of the motifs Poland A and Poland B in Polish popular culture from the 2010s focusing on several exemplary songs. Maria Peszek reached number one in the Polish music charts with her song ‘Polska A B C i D’ in 2016. While social and political tensions and a clear critique of the role of the Polish Catholic Church within an emancipatory feminist stance are articulated here, the rock band Speculum uses the motif Polska B as an self-orientalising representation of the backwardness of Eastern Poland in combination with chauvinistic and xenophobic content (‘Polska B’, 2014). Poland B appears here as an authentic culture counterpoint to the inauthentic Western Poland. This paper interprets these artifacts from a postcolonial perspective by drawing on the particularity of the Polish postcolonial discourse and East-Polish self-orientalization since the 2000s (Clare Cavanagh, 2004; Maria Janion, 2006). In my view, Polska B can be interpreted as the focal point of expressions of national identities in contemporary Poland. It can be understood as a projection surface for an original space, comparable to the notion of kresy in the 19th and 20th centuries.
More Information of the UCL SSEES website: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/events/2023/sep/polish-studies-today-and-tomorrow
Decolonize Eastern Europe! 