The paper analyses the Polish government’s actions to support Polish studies units abroad and examines the relationships between these units and institutions in Poland. It aims to understand the forms and scope of support offered to Polish studies units and to explain why public diplomacy actions also target the Polish diaspora. The analysis is based on official documents related to public diplomacy and Polish diaspora policy, as well as the results of an empirical study conducted among representatives of Polish institutions responsible for promoting the Polish image abroad and representatives of Polish studies units. The conclusions indicate the heterogeneity of these units and differences in support for units in the East and the West. In the case of units operating in former Soviet Union countries, Polish diaspora policy dominates, aiming to maintain connections between local Polish communities and Poland. In the West, support for Polish studies units stems from both Polish diaspora policy and public diplomacy.

The article is aimed at seeking an answer to the question about the place of Polish immigrant organizations centered around cultural activities, Polish artists residing abroad and the general immigrant community within the organizational field focused on the promotion of Polish culture abroad. To answer the question, the author analyses key documents underpinning cultural policy and policy towards diaspora, describes the structure of organizational field including various kind of organizations engaged in promotion of Polish culture abroad. The policy analysis covered the presentation of assumptions on the role the diaspora should play both – as an addressee and the “tool” of public policies. Findings on positioning of organizations representing Polish diaspora in organizational field stemming from the analysis of documents were confronted with the results of state programs analysis. The author focused on 15 state programs ran between 2017 and 2022 – their goals and beneficiaries. The study reveals that immigrant organizations and Polish artist residing abroad had limited access to structural support for their projects, despite policy makers’ positive evaluation of diaspora resources. Members of diaspora are positioned at the periphery of national branding organizational field. Therefore, the resources of numerous members of Polish diaspora – dispersed around the whole world – are still underestimated and unused.

The changing character of diasporas and states’ politics intersect with new challenges in the policymaking process. This study aims to investigate the priorities and hardships of the diaspora education policies in Poland and Lithuania. The study applies the three-dimensional approach (Lesińska, Popyk 2021) to study diaspora policy and draws on qualitative research with the diaspora state institution representatives in the two countries. This paper compares the role of diaspora education policy in a broader policy context, alongside presenting the challenges, namely “socio-demographic”, “methodological”, “political” and “financial”, that state institutions face while ensuring education for the young members of diasporas. It contributes to the scholarship on diaspora policies studies by presenting how state institutions approach and govern the relationships with young diasporas through ensuring education and support social and cultural life of diaspora schools.

This article aims to outline the activities of the Emigration Museum in Gdynia (Polish abbrev. MEG) in building relations with the Polish diaspora and maintaining Polish identity among Poles and people with Polish ancestry living abroad. Its main thesis is that the MEG, as a comparatively small institution, has a relatively large potential for shaping symbolic and identity ties with the Polish diaspora and could potentially be an important actor for activities undertaken in this sphere, implemented as part of a broadly defined policy with regard to and for Poles living abroad. The article consists of an introduction, three main sections and a conclusion. In the first section, we briefly define the diasporic policy in its subject and object dimensions, present selected concepts that typify this policy, and point out the role of culture and cultural institutions in building symbolic and identity ties with the diaspora. The second section was devoted to presenting the history, circumstances of the establishment and organizational basis of the Emigration Museum in Gdynia. The museum, although technically a self-government cultural institution, is the first and only museum in the country to show the history of emigration from Poland and Polish lands in a comprehensive way. Section three, on the other hand, focuses on showcasing selected MEG activities in forming symbolic and identity ties with the Polish diaspora.

The Polish Institute of Arts and Sciences of America (PIASA) in its eight decades of history frequently collaborated with organizations of other ethnic groups in the U.S., particularly with academic and cultural organizations of East and Central Europe diasporas. Among them strong ties have been established with Ukrainian organizations, especially the Shevchenko Scientific Society and the Ukrainian Academy of Arts and Sciences. The paper describes levels and forms of institutional cooperation. It tries to answer the following questions: was this collaboration accidental or rather resulting from PIASA’s long-term vision and goals? In what fields partners managed to build joint representation? 

These emigrants created a number of diasporas inhabiting the border zones with the USSR. The Soviet authorities treated these communities as hostile, and the hermetic nature of the Soviet border meant that contact between the diasporas and the country of origin was negligible. With thecollapse of the USSR and the opening of the borders of the diaspora, they began to play an essential role in the so-called ethnic revival of minorities in Russia. The incorporation of previously demonized, disloyal, and hostile frontier communities required the introduction of new discourses and representations in local public histories. On the example of the Buryat diaspora in China, the article shows the process of including diasporas in the field of ethnic politics in Siberia and negotiating their social status in contemporary Russia.