Overview

The major dilemma this volume addresses is the function of national identity in a modern society, for despite the trend towards globalization, the world continues to be riddled with national conflict. Kłoskowska begins by looking at the controversy between two competing concepts of the origin of the nation – political and ethnic. She examines the central issues of the argument, and in particular, the characteristics and effects of ethnic differences on personal identity and the appropriation of national culture. Her theories are based upon autobiographies by individuals belonging to various national minorities in Poland and other areas where ethnic borders are blurred. The group studied included mostly young intellectuals: Ukrainians, Belarussians and Silesian-Germans. She examines the national attitudes of the various countries the ethnic minorities have been forced to live with. In her conclusion, Kłoskowska takes the view that national cultures are either ‘open’ or ‘closed’ and stresses the importance of participating in more than one cultural medium. National Cultures at the Grass-Root Level is rich in information on contemporary theories of the nation, on its origin, character and future, and offers a deep insight into the complex and often ambiguous reality of national attitudes.

Full Product Details

Author:   Antonina Kloskowska
Publisher:   Central European University Press
Imprint:   Central European University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.90cm , Height: 3.10cm , Length: 23.40cm
Weight:   0.700kg
ISBN:  

9789639116832

ISBN 10:   9639116831
Pages:   462
Publication Date:   30 January 2001
Audience:   General/trade ,  Professional and scholarly ,  General ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Out of Print
Availability:   Out of stock  

Table of Contents

Part 1 Theory, history and anthropology of a nation; controversies around the concept of nation; historical perspective; `Patria' - fatherland. Part 2 The culturalistic sociological perpective; complexity and diversity of national symbolic communities; national stereotypes and the concept of national identity; personal identity as related to national identification and the appropriation of national culture; empirical materials. Part 3 National conversions; national conversion as a borderland phenomenon; Polish conversion of A.V. Winkler; German conversions. Part 4 National minorities; variants of Ukrainity; problem of Belarus nationality; Silesian national dilemmas; old and young generation; open and closed national attitudes in borderland situation. Part 5 Centre of national culture; portrait of the wartime generation; young Poles in the period of democratic breakthrough; young Poles facing others. Part 6 Epilogue on emigration; scales of Polishness; negation of Polishness; Polish identification. Conclusions

Reviews

American Journal of Sociology The book addresses important questions and provides much-needed empirical materials. * American Journal of Sociology *

"""The book addresses important questions and provides much-needed empirical materials."" * American Journal of Sociology *"

Author Information

Antonina Kloskowska is Head of the Research Unit of Culture and Politics of the Polish Academy of Sciences

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