Archeologia codzienności
Archaeology of Daily Life. Feuilleton

Summary/Abstract: The archaeology of daily life is the first feuilleton in a series presented by Anna Sobolewska in “Konteksty”; hence reflections on the poetics of a feuilleton immersed in daily life. The intention of the records made by Anna Sobolewska, literary scholar, however, does not consist of literature but the observation of culture and changes in the nearest urban environment. The text is composed of small narratives – strolls in Warsaw and Sandomierz, contacts with people, close encounters and misunderstandings as well as dreams since in accordance with the principles of the anthropology of daily life everything may become the object of studies. The presented observation of the town results in a pessimistic conclusion concerning the degradation of the Warsaw city centre. In the feuilleton the observation of daily life collides with the extraordinary once the war in Ukraine invades the awareness of the author and the urban landscape. A. Sobolewska tours places connected with the Ukrainian exodus, such as train stations and supply centres. She draws attention to the mass-scale salvage of animals by the refugees and records the persistent and heroic activity of Ukrainian writers and artists. In doing so, she recalls Pamiętnik z powstania warszawskiego by Miron Białoszewski, a description of the suffering and heroism of the Warsaw civilian population and the destruction of the very substance of the city. The author shares impressions produced by crime stories, fantasy, and psychological studies whose background contains a vision of the apocalypse. An important motif is the exclusion of the “other”, conceived in the wide meaning of the term. The author records and analyses facts of exclusion of the disabled, elderly, unattractive, and obese. In doing so she draws particular attention to the training of women within pop culture. The new capacious term: ableism denotes the lack of acceptance and the social marginalisation of all “non-normative” persons, who do not match the obligatory model. She also cites works by researchers dealing with this social phenomenon: Rosemarie Garland-Thompson and Sanaura Taylor; the latter claims that the path towards the liberation of humans and animals is shared and thus solidarity must prevail.

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