Dziedzictwo natury i tożsamość narodowa. Wstępne pytania i wątpliwości
Natural Heritage and National Identity. Introductory Questions and Doubts

Summary/Abstract: Man inhabits an ecological niche, creates a bond in society, settles down and managesthe niche transforming it into the environment. In this process, he creates culture. In culture,he shapes the view of the environment, which he names nature. It is important to indicate thatwhat we consider to be nature is created by a human. The environment is subject to changesdue to human activities. Transformations of views about it are not their simple consequences.Nature is a cultural interpretation. As such, it is part of the heritage, or resource consideredimportant in the construction of identity. The environment reacts to human activityin a way that views do not control. On the other hand, they influence interpretations, consciousness.In this sense, nature can become part of the national heritage.Nature played a special role after the partitions; along with the language it createdanother space of freedom. The Polish language referred to speaking and feelings focusedon the ideal of the “country of childhood”. Regaining independence transferred imagesand feelings into the realm of myth, above all the borderland myth. Then urbanization andindustrialization treated as a synonym of progress gave birth to a new form of longing fornature and opposition to its limitation through ownership. The revolution was supposed togive nature back to society and at the same time to subordinate it to the requirements ofa planned economy. In free Poland, nature has been separated from the concepts and policiesrelated to modernization. Natural heritage comes down to resources that can be commercialized.It leads to the stagnation of thinking about national identity.The author postulates to examine whether what we inherited is still a useful resourcefor the national community in constructing the necessary adaptations of Poland to globalchallenges.

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