Dariusz Nikiel

The article presents a theoretical conceptualization of the metaphor of “reliving the past” for ethnographic fieldwork use. The following three issues are elaborated: (1) how the metaphor of “reliving the past” is present in the academic literature; (2) what anthropological theories inspire the proposed use of the notion of “reliving the past”; and (3) how the use of this kind of “theory” and “method” might affect the practice of ethnographic fieldwork. The article is based on the author’s experience gathered during the realization of research on the memory of the Second World War and the post-war period in the Podhale region.

* The present article is the result of the project Józef Kuraś „Ogień” i jego podkomendni w wyobraźni społecznej. Antropologiczne studium przeżywania przeszłości (National Science Centre, grant no. 2016/21/B/HS3/02921 completed at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Ethnography of the Jagiellonian University, under the supervision of Monika Golonka-Czajkowska PhD, professor of the Jagiellonian University (2017–2022).

Witness of History as a Figure in the Context of Cursed Soldiers’ Practices of Commemoration

Article is a proporsal of anthropological reflexion on the functioning of the Witness of History cathegory, and process of collecting oral history, in the context of Cursed Soldiers commemorating practices. Study shows Witness of History figure and its memories as phenomenas of not only epistemological, but also axiological meanings. It presents ideological and political background of presence people who experienced Second World War and afterwar period in the context of Cursed Soldiers commemoration movement. Author stress importance of reflexion on the functioning history and historiography artefacts in the space od social practices.