Non-European Culture Heritage in a European Museum – Strategies of (Re)presentation

One can distinguish various ways of speaking about the Other in the history of ethnography museums. The initial exotizing and objectifying attitude is being replaced by new strategies, which were developed in response to among others postcolonial studies and the new museology movement criticizing the nineteenth-century model of the institution. The new forms of exhibition presentations can be describe in term of reflective turn, which is fulfilled by emphasizing the colonial roots of mutual relations. There are also strategies touching upon the idea of a museum as a contact zone (James Clifford) or the idea of agon (popularized by Chantal Mouffe), in exhibitions following that train of thought unambiguous representation is replaced by creative meeting of different entities having equal rights. The last mentioned strategy uses tools of art in presenting non-European ­heritage.
I am interested in ways of presenting non-European collections in European museums, as well as convictions and visions behind them which are projected on the heritage of a community often deprived of voice.

 

Museum of Folk Architecture and Ethnographic Park in Olsztynek as an Example of Inconvenient Cultural ­Heritage

Olsztynek is a small town in the area of so called Regained Territories, which used to belong to Eastern Prussia before the end of world war II. Most of the residents of the municipality settled there after 1945 year occupying houses displaced Mazurians and Germans. The Museum of Folk Architecture was founded by people, who used to live in Prussia before war. Its aim was to present variety of folk architecture styles of Prussia.
The purpose of this article is to present the past of the Museum in favor of the fact, that we can talk about it as an inconvenient relic of history. This paper is based on historical sources, like archival documents and literature, as well as ethnographic research, which I conducted in the municipality of Olsztynek in 2015 year. My main question was to describe memories, information and feelings, which come to minds of the informers when they think about open-air museum in Olsztynek, through what I wanted to examine residents attitude to museum. Many of the results were significantly different from that I assumed in the beginning, what It proved to be very valuable for further research.

 

I Became Only Pole. The Autobiographical Narratives ­Women who Survived from the Massacres of Poles in Eastern Galicia in the Years 1943–1944

The article is the result of research carried out in the Lviv region of Ukraine, author of the object of interest has made the experience of salvation from the Massacres of Poles in Volhynia and Eastern Galicia – carried out in Nazi German-occupied Poland by the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) in the years 1943–1944.The text describes the interpretation of the memories of survivors women and the impact of traumatic events on their identity. The narratives are examples of problematization memory unit associated with the experience of the border. In the text the author presented the interpretation of the life of interviewees and their attempt to cope with the tragic memories associated with the Massacres of Poles in Eastern Galicia.
 

German Cemeteries in the Western Lands as the Places of Oblivion

The cemetery is a special text of culture, made by various significations, which tell us about history of the local society. German abandoned cemeteries, after II WW, fell into oblivion, were deliberately destroyed and surrended to destructive forces of nature. Nowadays, many of these cemeteries are subject of revaluation, are arranged, the memory of the former inhabitans restored, even by placing a commemorative plaque. In this paper – based on my fieldwork – I would like to answer the question: why the forerly inconvenience and embarrassing heritage of the former inhabitians is now becoming a value for the local communities of the Western Lands? If it is true.

 

The Nomadic Space in Muittalus samid birra by Johan Turi

The article introduces Muittalus samid birra (1910, An account of the Sami) by Johan Turi, the first book with a secular content written in the sami language by a sami person. The author, a wolf hunter and reindeer-breeder, describes a broad spectrum of his people’s daily life. Pictures of everyday activities are supplemented with stories about the sami people’s knowledge of the world (traditions, myths, legends).  
Turi’s book is a candid protest against the depreciation of the sami culture perpetrated by the Nordic countries (Sweden and Norway); a protest written by someone who “has witnessed the struggle of his people, or rather, his people giving in to dominating oppressors”. The article concentrates on how Turi  creates a specific “nomadic space” in his narrative. Writing – which till now has served as the effective tool of the authorities – is used in a subversive fashion by the author.  Through his narrative he creates the limitless landscape of the nomad, a space where sami people feel at home and can assert their rights.  

 

German and Jewish Organizations in Łódź in the ­Context of the Theory of Association

This article presents the profiles of German (German Cultural-Social Association; Biblical Association of the German language) and Jewish (Jewish Community of Łódź; The Ronald S. Lauder Foundation with The Magen Dawid Association and Foundation) organizations. Their activities are analyzed with regard to selected regulations of the “Associations law” and the concept of social educators. Aleksander Kamiński described associations by defining their functions. These functions are also realized in actions undertaken by German and Jewish organizations.