Wizerunek Polski w Europie i świecie
Image of Poland in Europe and the World:

Problems of the European Periphery

Summary/Abstract: The article is an attempt to demonstrate opportunities for analysing the constructing of Poland’s “soft” power, especially the image of Poland in Europe and the world, arising from Polish post-colonial studies, in particularits post-dependence variation. Basing on Tomasz Zarycki’s theory, the author discusses centre-periphery relations with focus on long-termstructural conditions affecting Poland and other Central-Eastern European countries. Using historical materials from the inter-war period, she characterises two basic strategies of constructing representations of Polish cultural identity aimed at the international public. One consists of emphasising peripheral specificity, primaririly national identity and its roots. The other “occidentalises” it, demonstrating connections with the past and present of the Western civilisation, mostly European cultural traditions and modernisation. In the conclusion the author argues that contemporary Polish cultural diplomacy still relies on these two strategies,the former being associated with the concept of “ethnodesign” and the latter – a national brand.

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