How could it (not) be - polish colonial dreams before 1939?

elective courses

The seminar will focus on Polish colonialism before 1939 and its influence on the creation of a modern national imaginary. Although during European colonial expansion in XIX century, Poland was not on the maps and de facto played the role of a colony itself, colonial thought was then clearly present in the considerations about Poland and Polishness. On the other hand, the colonial discourse after 1918 became an indispensable part of creating an imagined Poland - a dreamed international empire, a military and political power. The unrealized Polish colonialism resulted in numerous literary and journalistic texts, analyzes and visual representations. The aim of the seminar is to take a critical look at the pre-war Polish idea of colonialism, understood primarily as expansion (administrative, demographic or economic) to take overseas territories, with placing it in a specific historical and cultural context.

The seminar will focus on Polish colonialism before 1939 and its influence on the creation of a modern national imaginary. Although during European colonial expansion in XIX century, Poland was not on the maps and de facto played the role of a colony itself, colonial thought was then clearly present in the considerations about Poland and Polishness. On the other hand, the colonial discourse after 1918 became an indispensable part of creating an imagined Poland - a dreamed international empire, a military and political power. The unrealized Polish colonialism resulted in numerous literary and journalistic texts, analyzes and visual representations. The aim of the seminar is to take a critical look at the pre-war Polish idea of colonialism, understood primarily as expansion (administrative, demographic or economic) to take overseas territories, with placing it in a specific historical and cultural context.

In recent years, the terms colonialism and post-colonialism have found multiple applications in the study of the history of Polish culture. As part of the seminar, we will be looking for answers to questions about the sources of colonial thinking as "modern" thinking in Poland. We will also deal with colonial aesthetics, fantasy, racism and oriental fantasies of positivists and modernists. The source materials will be texts and audiovisual materials from the era: novels, short stories, press articles, films, advertisements, political manifestos - with complementary contemporary theoretical texts.

Topics:

- the origins of the Polish colonial idea; colonies as the key to independence

- refugees, pioneers, colonizers - symbolic changes

- colonial visuality

- Maritime and Colonial League; between Gdynia and Parana

- Church and colonialism - Polish missionaries

- Antisemitism and colonialism

- Poland as a colony

- Kresy (Borderlands) in the (post) colonial perspective

- Orientalism in Polish: a hurricane from the East

- imaginary colonies; colonial fantasy