-
extracted text
-
even of the inhabitants of villages nor a yet differently
comprehended province. It appears, as a rule, in the
form of cultures accompanied by an adjective (such
as: suburban, corporative, local, regional, or others).
After all, in order to be able to speak about such cul
ture it suffices to think about social or symbolic reality
as long as it meets the need for emotional solidarity,
is a framework of joint convictions, and assists in the
discovery of a feeling of identity in assorted lifestyles.
2. For years folk culture known from ethnographic
descriptions has not existed as an autonomous func
tional entity containing concurrence between the type
of the economy, material cultural endowment, type of
social organization and the religious and mythicalmagical world outlook. In this sense, folk culture is
only a reconstructed historical model, and in such a
he dilemmas of cultural communication ap form it is of use for regionalists as an historical context
in interpretations or quests for local originality.
pearing within the context of deliberations on
3. A t present, it is much better to speak about
the province must be additionally explained by
“provincial
culture” as a qualitatively diverse reality
resorting to a characteristic of the context surroun
produced
by
various elements of assorted former cul
ding this particular category.
tural entities (including folk ones) but composed dif
ferently. This new whole is extra-technological and
In numerous convictions and expectations “the
province” is associated with folk qualities or is an au consists of mental structures often expressed in iden
tonomous reality contrasted with the “centre”. A c tical rituals and customs but lacking mythical and
magical senses; consequently, they become an eclec
cording to such opinions, provincial and folk space
tic mixture of ceremonies possessing new costumes
contains truths of life, ethical values, and an authentic
and often banalised meanings. This is the opinion of
experiencing of the world, which can be juxtaposed
with illusion, falsehood, and the superficiality of ex an expert on folklore engaged in observing so-called
periences offered by the contemporary, global man new folklore (Kowalski 2004: 156-158).
4. Provincial culture is a variant of multi-form con
ner of communication. Another prevailing conviction
temporary
culture. The latter is universal, technicised,
claims that even if those positive values had been al
and can be variously rendered ideological, variable, and
ready composed in a certain manner and participate
multi-value. It is the scene of a game and an exchange
in new contexts they still remain attractive for social
of values entailing the emergence of numerous returns
dialogue.
and transformations. This nature of contemporary
On the other hand, folk qualities as a derivative of
culture is the reason why each element or variant can
the province produce today ambivalent attitudes even
easily become its magical, i.e. provincial version (even
among experts on folklore and folk art, ethnographers
if only due to changing fashion), although there also
and anthropologists.
occur returns to the centre of life in a reconstructed
The conceits: “folk qualities”, “folk culture”, and
or partial form.
“provincial culture” are applied in assorted meanings
5. Contemporary so-called postmodern stands per
and upon different levels of interpretation. Since men
tion is made of a special reality composed of behav mit a multiplicity of views of the world, treating them
iour, values, and ideas as well as their material dimen all as enjoying equal rights. A frequent symptom of
the present-day way of experiencing the world is once
sions, points of view are easily confused owing to the
again a quest for the exotic, truth, authenticity, and
differently understood ontological status of this sort of
profundity;
such declarations are considered suspi
culture. A relativisation of world outlooks and man
cious and beyond deeply justified convictions. Is it,
ners of using descriptive categories in social dialogue
however, possible to refuse us, contemporary men, the
results in paradoxes and dilemmas that appear to be
ability of experiencing the metaphysical nature of the
irremovable from the contemporary reception of the
world, or is metaphysics finally dead? Such questions
world of culture.
Upon the level of description and scientific (re too can be provoked by reflections on the province.
Within the context of the above-mentioned theses
search) interpretations it is said that:
1.
The class definition of folk culture has been rethe province and its representations - folk qualities
- occur in several ways of deciphering culture texts.
jected already long ago. In its contemporary form folk
They could include:
culture is an attribute neither of the peasantry nor
C Z E S L AW R O B O T Y C K I
The "Province” from an
Anthropological
Viewpoint. Reflections
from the Perspective of
the Dilemmas of
Cultural
Communication
T
34
Czeslaw Robotycki • THE “PROVINCE” FROM AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT
1. interpretation meta-texts. In those cases, folk
qualities and provincialism refer to values and ideas;
2. folklorism - brings to mind folk and amateur art
and practiced anew folk customs, the stage, commer
cialism, agricultural tourism and similar ventures;
3. folk culture comprehended as a model of histori
cal social and cultural reality, the outcome of studies
but also of scientific creation;
4. counter-culture (alternative cultures) - reach
ing for the resources of folk qualities and provincial
ism in order to propagate certain lifestyles, the theatre,
and forms of expression as ideological protest against
technicised life deprived of spiritual qualities;
5. ideas and practices of regionalism, propagating
the portative slogan of so-called small homelands. In
those instances, folk culture provides signs of affilia
tion and identity despite the fact that the small home
land is an anthropological (literary and sociological)
hypostasis and not reality.
In such an application one could say about folk cul
ture and its participation in provincial culture that:
1. it belongs only partly to the contemporary rural
environment,
2. the environment of provincial culture (space
and society) is differentiated due to the type of con
sciousness, and thus organized differently than has
been described by researchers dealing in the past with
folk culture,
3. it is a created, mythicized vision of the world
without any dark sides,
4. as a lifestyle and manner of thinking it belongs
not only to rural space but cultivates its ideal vision in
different surroundings,
5. as a scientific meta-text it is has been created
anew and belongs to the dictionary of interpretations.
The conclusions are as follows:
Folk culture is more myth than reality. It is a collec
tive story about the past moulding certain world out
look spheres. It can be also the foundation and value of
critical assessments of contemporary behaviour. Con
victions about the natural character of folk culture and
the province also refer, as is always the case in history,
to contemporaneity, and are used within it (politics,
culture, the regionalist movement). Nonetheless, it is
not folk culture in the traditional meaning of the word.
New folk culture, the sort that the province requires,
mixes tradition and knowledge. History, literature, and
ethnography appear on the level of usage and common
narration. It is, after all, easy to read a book and refer to
an expert who will say what is folk and characteristic for
a given region. This sort of application is dominated by
the local, integrating and identity-oriented dimension.
Its cultural expressions are carnivals, holidays, festivals,
fairs, regional lessons, agricultural tourism, etc.
An anthropologist of culture observing these is
sues, familiar with their nature and expert regarding
meta-textual descriptions, becomes embroiled, to
gether with a trained ethnographer, in dilemmas of
social participation. Here, the anticipations of local
communities entitled to raise their provincialism to
the rank of essential values are focused on the author
ity of science and institutions traditionally regarded as
a source of knowledge. This is at odds with the ironic
postulates formulated by anthropology in relation to
the description of reality. The anthropologist would
prefer to stand to the side and observe spontaneously
occurring processes. It has to be said outright, howev
er, that today spontaneity is constant communication
and exchange.
On the present-day level of social awareness the
scholar cannot avoid questions or refuse to render as
sistance in the emergence of new forms of using folk
culture. The province is not cut off from information,
but takes part in global communication according to
the same principles as an anthropologist of culture.
Let us thus draw a suitable conclusion: we all create
mythicized, imaginary realities, with some of us doing
this in the province and others about the province.
Such is the plight of the contemporary humanities.
The above theses can be illustrated by a sui generis
interpretation proposed in the title and already partly
presented. Undoubtedly, the issue at stake is multi
dimensional. The province remains an important
object of studies pursued by anthropology when
we treat the topic realistically; in a metaphorical and
conceptual sense the province is an interpretation
category. It is also a figure of thought or a stereotype
in the catalogue of the concepts of common knowl
edge. The use of a concept in assorted contexts and
discourses grants it meanings, upon which a discussion
should cast light. It is thus worth conducting if only
an approximate analysis of the semantic field of the
incriminated concept and thus demonstrate what sort
of functions it fulfils in language and culture.
I
shall carry out an analysis of the select vocabulary
comprising the semantic field of the concept of the
“province” by resorting to my research and linguistic
experience. In this fashion, the lexicon used in the
analysis will remain highly incomplete, not to say arbi
trary, just as in the case of every individual reception
of reality.
What is my intention?
This is what Regine Robin wrote: a search for the
meaning of the text, sentence, and expression calls for
certain work with the text, an ostensible configuration
of the continuum and order of the statement so as to
arrange it anew and render it a significant legibility
[...] to search for the meaning of the word denotes an
analysis of all its applications or contexts ... (Robin
1980: 252).
The effectiveness of this method in anthropological
interpretations has been already shown in reference to a
35
Czesław Robotycki • THE “PROVINCE” FRO M AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT
Sulejówek
literary text submerged in ethnographic detail. I have in
mind an analysis of Konopielka by E. Redliński (Galasińska
1989) as well as a id e n tic publication by art historian
treating sources flom a Polonocentric viewpoint
(Robotycki 1995i. Jędrzej Bartmiński made fullest
use of this method for other purposes in Infs ethnolinguistic dicyionary (Bartmiński 1996,1999).
The essence on the method in question is the impo
sition upon the texts of three networks of relations: the
network oi definitions corresponding yo the semantic
function, the network: of thematic or concnptual con
nections delineating thc asiociation group (i.e. positive
solhtions) and oppositions (negative connections), and
thc verbal network indicating the functions of some
one or “functions on”. Whila dereemining tine domi
nant (core) of the field there comes inio being a col
lection of expressions identifying nhn latter. The usw of
the ybovy-mentioned networks consists of discovering
relations amidst words cnmprisSng the field.
In the case of the dnminant “province” I acted in
the following manner: from the open set, i.e. represen
tation. of style s ot linguisticstatements (I took into
aeoount literature, science, the essay, and the Polish
vernacular) I selecied examples of definitions, tire us
age of words, and descripsions of activities connected
with the eoncept of the “province”. This provided a
barely apnfoximate structure of the finld, but iutficient
fot my initial recognition. (A further part o( the argu
ment 'will de monstrate the sort of texts I used while
seeking the context of application; it nlso contains (eterencei to pertinent literature).
In this manner, thy positive "province” (+ ) enteils:
—associations with: Nature, tranquillity, calmness,
order, the “smkll homeland”,
— distingnishing features expressed by adjective
telling us that it is looal, kamliSiar, close, unamkignous,
— it is evaluated as noble simplicity, the prime
fount, an obsnrvation point and an ethical yssessment
of collective life,
36
- it (its essence) is expressed i n a calm lifestyle,
a certain manner of perceiving the world, and the
predominance og positive social relations, while as a
plaice of residence it is an environment endowed with
o large social capital owing to tire afore-mentioned lo
c al qualities.
The oeposite provence (-) is:
- a cencre, a town, grand monde, and Warsaw, charaoterised as alien from the viewpoint of tire province,
thaotic, inimical, and incomprehentible.
Equivtlents deprecating (-) the province from the
point of view of the centre include such expressions
as:
- country bumpkin, “villager”, simpleton, brute,
psasant, “mohair” (wearer ok a mohair beret), folklore,
“the sticks”, ignoramus. They ohaeacterise a state of
backwardnes s, a lack of underscanding tor the spirit of
the time and new perspectives, primitive pettiness and
a quarrelsome nature.
In both the positive and negative valorisation of
elements oC the semantic field of thf category of “the
province” there addicionally appeaee the problem of
langu age and dialect, recognisable as a feature or nragmotics.
The dialect can tie a positive featues: as the lan
guage used ait home or the sign of a group;
- with a negative signs it cam be classified as an cpposition: the sign of ucskilful ice impeired speech - che
pragmatics oC statements.
Already such initial recognition fhows that when
roe say: “province” we are dealing to t only with a cat
egory of linguistic descripti“ n buc also with anthropo
logical and ethno-linguistic reality (boeh words con
ceal social meanings arid colleotive ecnceits). From
this point of -view, tire province ccn become the object
of observation and anthropological, sociological or
historiccl ftudios. It should be kept in nknd, however,
that we are speaking about something that lies simul
taneously in the domain oo languaae and culture. In
ehis skecdi I aim interested prim airily in ala possible as
pects and types of refleceions about the province that
eppear in anthropological tents, sfudies on folklore,
anthropologising sociology, and the belles lettres (re
gardless of the way in which we shall conceive the lat
ter). I shall ehus indicate further examples of the ranye
end m am ur of writing about: the provmceoriginating
erom the earlier mentioned fom ain oh reflestsons purlued by the humamtiet. By referring only to particular
works I trees them as an illustration of the diversity of
the issues under examination.
'The province io thur depicted as a “ lace ol res idence
albeit pocseseing special conditions. It is anthropologi
cal spate domesticated by cocstant symbolic valorination and deciphering, and spans nrom the cosmologecal
dimen “ion to folklore. This is the way it was described
Hey. andiropologists and ethnographera (Benedyktow-
Czeslaw Robotycki • THE “PROVINCE” FROM AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT
icz 1992, 2007; Czaja 2007), folklorists (Bartmiński
1990), and men of letters (Vincenz 1980).
Such a place of residence can also become the site
of individual withdrawal or a collective demonstration
of certain social stands connected with social criticism
known as anti-globalism. In those cases, living in the
province is a conscious choice of life in alternative
communities, often inclined towards specific forms of
creativity and expression (Sztandara 2001).
Problems relating to, and rhetoric making use of
the prime category of our reflections are also to be
discovered in texts on the so-called small homeland.
Here, the province is connected with such categories
as tradition, invented tradition, folklore, and history.
All serve the construction (and according to the local
population - the recreation) of local “genuine” tradi
tion. Convictions about the truth contained in folk
lore and regional history stem from a certain categori
cal axiological stand generating tradition, the latter
being nothing else than the past brought up to date.
In this case, tradition is also a specific comprehension
of time and chronology. These dimensions are either
downplayed or not noticed as essential. I deliberated
on them upon numerous occasions (see: Robotycki
1998). It is worth drawing attention to the fact that
authors writing about local history are to be encoun
tered in almost every locality. They treat questions of
chronology in assorted ways, from historical attempts,
i.e. critical precision, to freedom of operating with
facts. I found such examples in Poronin (Bafia, Nocoń
2004), Jurgów (Ciągwa 1996), Legnica (Urbański, no
year of publication), Dobrocice (Wrońscy 2007), Be
jsce (Bajka 1994), Wójcin (Wilczyński 1995), Brzesko
(Wyczesany 2000), Iwanowice (Miska 1993) and many
other localities. I cite only several examples from my
collection of local monographs.
What about the “small homeland”? This term, traves
tied in daily language and once applied by Stanisław Os
sowski (private homeland) and Stanisław Vincenz (small
homeland), is today regarded as a real being. Meanwhile,
in the case of both authors it was a spatial correlate of
the imaginary world, a function of a subjective, emo
tional perception of reality. Currently, use is made of in
creasingly distant associations. In the semantic relation
“the small homeland”: space and pragmatics, distinctly
shows a preference for real space (area). The cultural ef
fect of changing meanings in the lexical domain of the
“province” is visible in collective activities. We know of
numerous socio-technical operations intent on render
ing the place of residence a realistically comprehended
homeland. Literature on this topic is enormous. Here,
works by Wojciech łukowski (2002) and Roch Sulima
(2001) are of importance for describing the phenome
non, and examples of an analysis of literature include a
study about the nostalgic comprehension of the category
of the ’’homeland” in literary essays (Olejniczak 1992).
Oblfgorep
Within the range of semantic references to the cat
egory of tine “province” a considerable role is played by
tide conviction that characteristic features include a
specific lifestyle and type of fntfraction. It has already
become tin historical truth that anthropology and so
ciology mention a difeeeentiatidn of the socieS environmtnt into Gemeinschaft and Geselschaft, introduced
by Fnrdinand Tonnies. Community is the structural
and interactive feature nf the province Observations
inspired by ehis classical ditfereneiatk>n are encoun
tered among such ethnographicaUy oriented anthro
pologists ar K. Gorny and M. Marczyk (Gorny 2003,
Gorny, Marczyk 2003). The province organized in ac
cordance with the mentioned principle s should have
at its (disposal considerable social capityl - a sociologi
cal category known from the contemporary dictionary
ot the socicl sciences (Lewenstein 2006).
The province is ihe spacr ofsocial dialogue and
possible conflicts but to tin equal measure of coopera
tion. Each of those forms is familiar to social research
ers. In contempprary Polishsociety, laboriously build
ing ite civic links , ahe local social debate is partiaularly importanf and deso^atae. Thii fact could not have
evaded the attension of re!earchers stohying the lefe of
local communities, By wan of example, local debates
were observed by A. MalswsltatSzalygm (2002), the
extra-legal mannet of terolving inner rural conflicts
was described by M. Magoska
(1991), and ethieal aspects connected w it. ihe
identity of minorities and local communities were
studied at the Department of Serial Anthropology in
thr Institute of Sociology at the Jagiellonian Univer
sity (Flfs 2004). These aociol ogical publications dem
onstrate rhat the simation ot the provinte is subjected
to changes. Thee term appearr more aa^ly in assorted
publiaations, where its place is eaken ley tha cencept
of “locality”, o. a postmcdern provenm ce. This ia not
solely the question ot a fashionable term. If concepts
denote, then there must have oaturred a (qualitative
chwnge os social reality. Dialogue and debaee are forms
of tin interaction of a democratic socieey tfganized dsfteeentln than the traditional province. Relearchers
have been observing transformations for a long time
37
Czesław Robotycki • T H E “PROYINCE” FROM AN ANTHROPO LOGICAL VIEWPOINT
now and pondering the nature of the contemporary lo
cal community and culture. Much attention Iras been
devoted to these topics hy .Joanna Kurczewska and her
team. In this case, sociological answers are extremely
significant. Former traditional ethnographic knowl
edge is no longer sufeicient. Joint reflections pursued
by cultural sociology and anthropology offer new arid
greatly interesting results, as testified by two volumes
of studies edited by Jo anoa Kurczewska on assorted
aspocts oS the local (KurczewsOa 2004, 2006).
Tiro sraditionally ethnographic and anthroyoloaical range of interssts fooused on the provinca includes
fofk teligiositn. We come across its collscsive expres
sion in recurring miracles inspiring c sponteneecs
establishment of pilgrimage sites. Ao the same time,
already known sttes do not vanish together with their
accompanging fairground art and religious kitsch. An
excellent example is the dynamioally developing cen
tre in Lichen. In ewider dimension, these phenomena
became part ot the iconic space oS the province, creat
ing its repeatable or unique atmosphere. "This is tUe
reason why dm anthropologist ie interested in celebra
tions og tho days of the patron saint of a local church
and the accompanying fair cs wtll as their contempo
rary variants: work connected with servicihg tourises
and rummer vacationsrs staying on suitably adapted
nanns (agricultural touiisisi), ehe outfitting oh summer
holiday locations, open-air markets, and local gastron
omy. Here are several examples ot anthropological
studies developing the presented motifs.
Much is already known, since a lot has been writ
ten, about miracles witnessed from time to time in
assorted localities in Poland. For years we have been
hearing abwut Oława, Okunin, Radomin, meżajst, Lu
blin and other sites (Czachowski 2003). Ars and crade
awcompenying tire sacrwm have been discussed by, for
example, P. Kowalski (2004), while the iconosphebe
of the province, she local churchpatren’s day, and
summer vacation localities have been studied in inter
esting publications by young; sociologists from Toruń
(Olechnicki 2003). We ace also familiae with skeeches
dealing with transformations ol the bisual surround
ing ot a small town (Witkowska, Nowina-Sroczyńska
1998) and contemporary kitsch (Fidwrkiewiez 2006).
Above, I presented the scientific asptcb of the com
prehension of th e oatcgory of the “province”. Once again,
I draw attension to the fact that present-day sociology
and cultural anthropology use, as Izos been acctntuated,
the term “localness” as an equivalent ot the category of
the “province”, stat-ng upon the basiz of empirical ob
servations that the fosmer is she best evocationof the
sitnoeibn of contemporary Polish soceety. "The anthropo
logical viewpoint, howtveu, encompasser not merely eth
nographic expressions of souial life, and “localnesd” does
Lusławico
38
Czeslaw Robotycki • THE “PROVINCE” FROM AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT
After all, their work is not provincial but pertains
to every important existential and collective problem.
Whenever a place is specifically manifested in the crea
tive oeuvre it is possible to decipher this situation as a
stunt thanks to which the authors situate themselves
outside or above the presented world. In literature,
the “province” is often an observation point, a meta
phor of the axiological order, a model of the world and
the cosmos. We also come across a metonymy of the
“province” - the house as moral order, a world of values
and memory. Nonetheless, the province does not lack
images dominated by a tendency to stifle, a feeling of
being entrapped, group pressure, as well as a prevailing
absence of all hope.
It is worth drawing attention to yet another literary
aspect of the province. I have in mind the so-called rural
theme in Polish post-war literature. It exploded in the
1970s, but it had certain antecedents and is connected
with the names of renowned authors (J. Kawalec, T.
Nowak, M. Pilot, W. Myśliwski, E. Redliński) to be dis
covered not only on book covers but also on the pages
of the interesting periodical ’’Regiony”, issued to the end
of the century. This was a forum of authors fascinated
with the low and provincial circulation of the word,
which they regarded as the important building material
of culture. The publication of the periodical involved
also folklorists and sociologists (R. Sulima, K. Górski, B.
Gołębiowski). In both the literary and analytical work
the editorial board pursued a question more extensive
than the so-called rural theme, whose “godfather” was
for a longer time Henryk Bereza. The editors of “Re
giony” were concerned with something more than the
place of folk/plebeian qualities in the universe of Polish
culture. They understood folk qualities as world outlook
structures, as values to be universalised in the difficult
process of the peasants gaining a personality at a time
when they became fully fledged participants of the cul
tural dialogue (Zawada 1983 passim).
Roch Sulima described this process:
...Among writers of folk genealogy, who settle moral
and aesthetic accounts with attained culture (Redliński,
Myśliwski, Pilot), the “bottom" once again became a point of
reference for evaluations. At the same time, it possesses dis
tinctly expressed social contents and is not a supra-social and
supra-historical abstract. Contemporary literary critique and
publicistics very often refer to the axiology of the “source",
recognising it as a model of not solely name granting opera
tions but predominantly those that explain and assess (Suli
ma 1982: 102).
This was, therefore, a line of thought different than
the above-mentioned tradition of the topos of the prov
ince in literature. Nor was it the folklore motif present in
the history of Polish culture starting with Romanticism.
’’Province” has a number of names. Whenever it was
mentioned in mythicised history, in literature mythical
by its very nature, in an essay and in science I used an
not exhaust the anthropological potential. The anthro
pologist is interested also in cultural expression achieved
by means of colloquiality and assorted forms of art. In
such dimensions, the “province” assumes the character
of a symbolic gesture, a metaphor, and other possible
meanings in the course of discourses of this sort.
Recall that in the past the ’’nation” offered a residence
in the province to its men of merit (citizens, heroes) as
evidence of recognition of their accomplishments. In do
ing so, it granted them a symbolic place of rest and social
respect. This is the anthropological interpretation of the
residence in Sulejówek granted to Józef Piłsudski, in Kąśna
Dolna - to Ignacy Paderewski, in Polanka - to Władysław
Haller, in Żarnowiec near Jasło - to Maria Konopnicka,
and in Oblęgorek - to Henryk Sienkiewicz. The manor
house presented as a collective symbolic gesture is com
prehensible within the context of Polish tradition. Polish
history and culture were to a great degree rustic. Former
magnate residences (and frequently those of the gentry)
acted as centres of art and culture. Moreover, land own
ership was highly regarded. After all, it is said that the
Polish manor, conceived as an institution, preserved na
tional ethos throughout years of partition-era servitude
(Gogut 1990, Leśniakowska 1996). National heroes who
realised ethical values met group expectations.
The province conceived as a place of creative
work, an observation point and one of moral assess
ments is still something else. In the tradition of most
recent Polish culture it is possible to list creatively ac
tive persons choosing to stay in the province. Many
of them, well educated, in this manner implemented
their ideological or artistic programme. Others discov
ered in the province a suitable distance towards the
world of culture necessary for their creative pursuits,
while still others returned to their roots. The motives
were always numerous. By way of example, let us men
tion Drohobycz and B. Schulz, Krzyworównia and
S. Vincenz, Stawisko and J. Iwaszkiewicz, Kazimierz
Dolny and M. Kuncewiczowa, Górki Wielkie and Z.
Kossak-Szczucka, Skoczów and G. Morcinek,
Zegrzynek and J. Szaniawski, Gorzeń Górny and E.
zegadłowicz,
Szczawnica and J. Wiktor, and Wołowiec and A.
Stasiuk.
If we add the fact that avant-garde theatre compa
nies also seek expression and stimulus in the province
(the “Gardzienice” Theatre association, the Węgajty
Theatre, the Borderland Foundation in Sejny, the Wierszalin Theatre, etc.), and that the Krzysztof Pend
erecki residence consists of a magnificent manor and
park in Lusławice then it becomes obvious that the
province can be a lifestyle from which it is not that far
to the “grand world” of high culture.
Authors who in a programme-like manner live
in the province treating it as a sui generis observation
point do not lose contact with high culture.
39
Czeslaw Robotycki • THE “PROVINCE” FROM AN ANTHROPOLOGICAL VIEWPOINT
Galasińska Aleksandra, Pole leksykalno-znaczeniowe OBCY
na podstawie powieści E. Redlińskiego „Konopielka”, “Polonica”,
vol. XIV, 1989, pp. 121-141.
Gogut Anna (ed.), Dwór polski w XIX wieku, zjawisko histo
ryczne i kulturowe, SHS Warszawa 1990.
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anthropological yardstick, which showed that we are
dealing with ambivalent reality and that it is impossible
to apply categorical views. I spoke about it in the past
tense, indicating various transformations in knowledge
and attitudes towards the province. One could say that
old cultural habits urge us to see the province in a man
ner indicated by the semantic analysis conducted at the
onset. Apparently, even language does not keep up with
changes.
Surrounding contemporaneity introduces amend
ments into this manner of seeing and experiencing
reality. Technology has reduced the time needed for
overcoming distance, and communication has made it
possible to take part in collective life and to benefit from
science and information regardless of the place of resi
dence (TV, Internet, etc.). Even in the so-called prov
ince there function structures and institutions reducing
the feeling of being cut off from the world. The example
of the commune of Tyczyn near Rzeszów and the local
school of higher learning is sufficient proof of how the
comprehension of the “province” can alter. The globali
sation of numerous domains of cultural life has rendered
universal styles of daily life realised in each social stra
tum and place of residence.
Apart from the regions of poverty that comprise a
separate problem, models of life became extremely de
mocratised and similar. A t times, they have turned into
caricatures. but this is already a separate question from
the borderland of anthropology and the world of val
ues.
Participation in a differently organised society, in
a situation of constant exchange and communication,
inclines us towards changing intellectual categories de
scribing and interpreting reality; hence the mentioned
category of “localness” ousts the former comprehension
of the province and provincialism.
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