Polish people in Zagreb – practices of maintaining and identity construction in the private and public sphere

Abstract

Cilj rada bio je istražiti identitete Poljaka u Zagrebu, odnosno načine kako pojedinac njeguje svoj identitet kroz Poljsku kulturnu udrugu „Mikołaj Kopernik“, a kako ga njeguje unutar obitelji. Slijedeći teorijska polazišta o identitetu, istraživale su se prakse u privatnoj i javnoj sferi. Istraživanje se temelji na polustrukturiranim intervjuima s migranticama iz Poljske i njihovim potomcima. U epistemološko - metodološkom smislu polazilo se od cjelovito istraženih pojedinačnih slučajeva, a metodom životne priče ocrtalo se življeno migrantsko/manjinsko iskustvo. U istraživanju se pokazalo kako su javna i privatna sfera neodvojivi simbolički prostori. Privatna sfera je osobni prostor pojedinca, a javna sfera je prostor Poljske kulturne udruge u kojem se svi osobni identiteti doseljenika isprepliću i tvore inter-identitet Udruge. Takvim kreiranim identitetom Udruga se predstavlja javnosti, odnosno građanima Republike Hrvatske. U radu su opisane pojedine božićne i uskrsne prakse, s naglaskom na poljsku gastronomiju, koje su se pokazale najvažnijim pri održavanju, prenašanju i konstruiranju identiteta u obje sfere. Tijekom istraživanja proslava običaja, uočeni su kulturni procesi selekcije pojedinih elemenata tradicijske poljske kulture koji se upisuju u stvoreni identitet Udruge i askripcije određenih folklornih elemenata kao zajedničkih svim članovima Udruge.The aim of this thesis was to examine the identities of Polish people in Zagreb, namely the ways how an individual nurtures his identity through the Polish Cultural Association „Mikołaj Kopernik“ and within the family. Following the theoretical starting point of identity, practices in the private mode and the public face were examined. The research is based on semi-structured interviews with female migrants from Poland and their offspring. In the epistemological – methodological sense, the starting point were fully examined individual cases, whereas using the life story method a migrant/minority experience was depicted. The research showed that the public and private sphere were inseparable symbolical spaces – the private sphere is the personal space of an individual and the public sphere is the site of the Polish Cultural Association where all personal identities of the immigrants interwine and form the inter-identity of the Association. With such created identity the Association is presented to the public, i.e. to the citizens of the Republic of Croatia. The thesis describes some of the Christmas and Easter practices, with a focus on Polish gastronomy, which proved to be the most important in maintaining, transferring and constructing identity in both spheres. While examining celebrations of traditions, cultural processes of selection of individual elements of traditional Polish culture which are recorded in the created identity of the Association and ascription of certain folklore elements as common to all members of the Association were detected