ODTWARZANIE TOŻSAMOŚCI W OPARCIU O TRADYCJE LUDOWE I JĘZYK NA PRZYKŁADZIE UKRAIŃCÓW PODLASIA
RECONSTRUCTING OF IDENTITY BASED ON FOLK TRADITIONS AND LANGUAGE ON THE EXAMPLE OF UKRAINIANS OF PODLASIE

Summary/Abstract: The article refers to the process of the revitalization of identity of a minority group on the borderland. The subject of these identity transformations is the population defined today as Ukrainian minority in Podlaskie Voivodeship, or as they call themselves “Ukrainians of Podlasie”. A coherent and explicit group, based on such cultural elements as: language in the form of archaic dialect, autochthonousness, local folk culture and customs and the orthodox religion. Over the past decades, this population has been a subject of enormous and significant consciousness-identity changes, which most often were the result of geopolitical changes the region. It should be emphasized that the process of the revitalization of this minority group in the Podlaskie Voivodeship has not yet been completed. There is also visible, gradual change in the approach to the key elements of culture that have historically decided about the rebirth of this minority. What is indigenous, traditional and local is more and more often transformed and changed by more unified, codified and universal cultural elements. Language in the form of a local, archaic dialect is replaced in the young generation by a literary language, and in cultural expressions, dances and songs local traditions are being replaced by patterns drawn directly from Ukrainian culture. The Ukrainian minority in Podlaskie Voivodeship shows very well how and on what factors, events, and in what direction can both the national image of a given region and the ethnic and national identity of ethnic and national groups change. The article was based on two own researches, historical studies conducted by historians and linguists on the area of today’s Podlaskie Voivodeship and the press and cultural events implemented by the Ukrainian minority in the Podlaskie Voivodeship.

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