![Stanisław Leszczyński and Europe](/api/image/getissuecoverimage?id=picture_2001_10726.jpg)
Keywords: absolute monarchy; Nobles’ Democracy; Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth; Partitions; underdevelopment
The main thesis of the book reviewed is an assumption that Poland and other countries of East-Central Europe suffer from a chronic underdevelopment, whose sources the Author is trying to find in the past. The review focuses on one of the two main themes of the book, i.e., leaving out the economic issues, it concentrates on the politics. The Author sets out to claim that only those countries develop correctly which have experienced absolute monarchy in their history. Referring to the idea of Ernst Kantorowicz, Jan Sowa assumes that such a political system is the only guarantee of stability and continuity of a country: on the death of the “physical body” of the king, his “political body” continues to last. In Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, because of the elective character of the monarchy and the claims of the nobility to play the role of the sovereign, the “political body” disappeared, and the country turned out to be a “phantom body.” For the Author, this means an atrophy of the country following the death of the last Jagiellonian king, Sigismund II Augustus. Between 1572 and 1795 there is no Polish statehood, since the Author regards the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth as only an “illusion.” Both the theories presented above and the sources used to prove their correctness raise substantial doubts. The Author confuses basic notions, identifying sovereignty with absolutism, and he makes basic historical mistakes, regarding the Jagiellons’ throne in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland as hereditary, and also assuming the factual decay of statehood as early as in 16th century, with its symbolic confirmation in 18th century. He finds the grounds for his theories in political theology and psychoanalysis, using historical and legal historical sources to a very limited extent
More...Recenzje i polemiki; Reviews
More...Keywords: Polacy; Afryka Południowa; Kolonia Przylądkowa; kolonizacja holenderska; kolonizacja brytyjska; Poles; South Africa; Cape Colony; Dutch colonization; British colonization
Udział Polaków w kolonizowaniu i zagospodarowywaniu Kolonii Przylądkowej nie jest powszechnie znany. Tymczasem Polacy pojawiali się w niej od samego początku jej istnienia (1652 r.). Przez prawie cały badany okres obecność ta była wynikiem silnych więzów gospodarczych wiążących Polskę z Niderlandami. Pod koniec tego okresu nastą-pił wzrost ich udziału w związku z obecnością w Kolonii licznych obcych jednostek wojskowych, w których służyli Polacy. Wielu przybyszów z Polski osiedliło się w Po-łudniowej Afryce na stałe, założyło rodziny, a ich potomstwo weszło w skład miejscowego społeczeństwa. Pod panowaniem brytyjskim, w wyniku dwóch fal kolonizacji, osiedlili się kolejni przybysze z Polski, niejednokrotnie przybywając całymi rodzinami. Świadectwem tego zjawiska są dzisiejsze rodziny afrykanerskie: Ankiewicz, Aproskie, Beirowski, Drotsky, Hohowsky, Jankowitz, Jewaskiewitz, Kitshoff, Kolesky, Latsky, Masuriek, Troskie, Waberski, Zowitsky itd. Pobieżne obliczenia wskazują, że osadnicy z Polski stanowili nieco ponad 1% przodków dzisiejszych Afrykanerów. Polacy brali również udział w pionierskich przedsięwzięciach na odległych pograniczach Kolonii, w tym w wyprawie łupieżczo-handlowej z 1702 r. The contribution of Poles to colonization and development of the Cape Colony is not commonly known. Yet, Poles have been appearing in this colony since its very inception (1652). During the entire period here considered this presence of Poles was the outcome of the strong economic ties linking Poland with the Netherlands. At the end of this period an increase took place of their share, in connection with the presence of numerous alien military units on the territory of the Colony, Poles having served in such units. Numerous newcomers from Poland settled in South Africa for good, established families, and their progeny made up the local society. In 1814 Cape Colony became in formal terms a part of the British Empire (while being under British occupation since 1806). This, however, did not hamper the inflow of immigrants from Poland. In the majority of cases they also melted into the Afrikaner society. An especially important group, together with emigrants from Germany, came during the decades of 1850s, 1860s and 1870s.Poles were very often involved in the pioneering undertakings within the far-off fringes of the Colony. Jan Liske took part in the expedition to Namaqualand, Michiel Kowalski and four other emigrants from Poland – in the expedition to Cobuquas people, Stephanos gained fame as a humbug and false missionary among the Nama and Griqua peoples, Jan Michiel Sowiecki settled the eastern borderland of the Colony and remained in close relations with the Boer pioneer and rebel Conraad de Buys, Jan Latsky became the pioneer of the European colonization of the High Karoo. This concerned also the later Polish settlers – even those from the second half of the 19th century – like, for instance, Ankiewicz, Mendelski, Szukała, Waberski – many of whom settled within theeastern borderland of the Colony in the British Caffraria. In an indirect manner the participation of Poles in the extension of the boundaries of the Colony is perceived by R. Shell in the article The Forgotten Factor in Cape Colonial Frontier Expansion, 1658 to 1817. In his opinion, “all we may conclude is that it was the Cowalskys [Kowalskis] of this world rather than the Van der Merwes who opened up the frontier in this early period”. The evidence for this phenomenon is provided by the present-day Afrikaner families of, for instance, Ankiewicz, Aproskie, Beirowski, Drotsky, Hohowsky, Jankowitz, Jewaskiewitz, Kitshoff, Kolesky, Latsky, Masuriek, Troskie, Waberski, Zowitsky, and others. Quite superficial estimation implies that the settlers coming from Poland could make up a bit over 1% of the ancestors of the present-day Afrikaners.
More...Keywords: Vatican diplomacy; Catholic Church in Russia; Partitions of Poland; History of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
Russia proved to be a difficult terrain for the Vatican diplomacy, especially since, due to the partiotions of Poland, crowds of Catholics of both the Latin and Greek rite fell under the reign of the Orthodox ruler. As it was not possible to establish in the Russian Empire regular nunciature, the Holy See, in this period of particular importance, send their ambassadors to the court of Russian tsars. In the years 1783-1804 this function was held by: Giovanni Andrea Archetti (1783-1784), Lorenzo Litta (1797-1799) and Tommaso Arezzo (1803-1804), and each of them had a specific purpose of the mission. Generally, however, it has been about the canonical regulation of the church’s administrative structure, adapted to the political borders of the Russian Empire, and to give people freedom of religious practices and opportunities for contacts with the Holy See.
More...Keywords: collective memory; historiosophy; subjectivity in history; synechdoche in historiography
A key issue for Polish culture – post-partition as well as now – is the juxtaposition of two differently actualized historiosophical matrixes of memory. The matrix of the subjective narrative stresses that the Poles have (almost) always been agents or ‘authors’ of Polish history. This position foregrounds the moment where history is actively created through collective agency. By contrast, the matrix of the undermined subjectivity suggests that Poles – at least since the nation’s partitions, but perhaps even before – have not been active agents or ‘authors’ of their history. These two matrixes are key to Polish memory. They are able to function beyond the sphere of immediate political axiology, and to connect, in the art of remembering and forgetting, different groups of Poles, even those that are strongly antagonistic.
More...Keywords: Joachim Lelewel; Romanticism; parallel; historiography; 19th-century literature;
The article is meant as an introduction to Joachim Lelevel’s comparative studies (and other comparative works appearing in an entourage of this historian) and their relation to “the romantic style” (of, for example, Adam Mickiewicz) based on the poetics of parallel (analogy, antinomy). The author presents Lelevel’s comparative studies, usually unknown to Polish scholars. She poses questions about the origins of the heyday of comparative thinking (in historiography and literature) at the beginning of the nineteenth century and she seeks to identify the most important functions of this method of cognition, thinking and writing in selected Lelevel’s texts.
More...Keywords: Polish question; Russian studies in Polish history; partition of Poland; N. I. Kareev; S. M. Soloviev
With the beginning of the First World War, the Polish question again declared itself, under the sign of which the Russian Empire was for more than a century, but the idea of which in the Russian society was most uncertain. To clarify the situation with regard to the past of Poland and the Polish question, the prominent Russian historian N. I. Kareev took up hid pen. In his article of 1915, he outlined the circumstances in which the Polish ques- tion had originated, evolved and manifested itself over the centuries. How N. I. Kareev presented to compatriots, the Polish question, shows that his interpretation of the Polish question largely converges with the interpretation of S. M. Soloviev, confi in the fact that “the Polish question was born along with Russia”. Kareev not only sup-ported the Russian historiographical tradition, but also corrected it. On the one hand, he shared the semi-offi point of view on the partition of Poland, but on the other, stressed the predominance of geopolitical aspects in the process, almost ignoring romantic references to the ethno-religious motives, which are often heard in Russian historiography and journalism of XIX century This article N. I. Kareev, who has always advocated reconciliation between Russians and Poles, can be regarded as an attempt to acquaint the Russian reader with Poland, which, according to one of them, there are currently terra incognita.
More...Keywords: insurance protection; risks in agricultural activities; agricultural activity
The article consists of two parts. The first part focuses on the presentation of the historical background of the formation of the insurance offer for agriculture in Poland and characterizes the risks associated with the implementation of agricultural activities. In his second part the article presents an overview of the insurance cover of the risks inherent in agricultural activities, including compulsory and voluntary insurance. Feasible insurance coverage is described on the example of three selected insurance companies. The aim of the article is to understand the general scope of insurance coverage that concerns population engaged in agriculture, in its historical conditions, in the context of the risks associated with agricultural activity.
More...Keywords: Catholic Univeristy of Lublin; KUL; academic buildings
More...Keywords: autobiography; silent autobiography; psychoanalysis; mourning; loss things;
The article is an analysis and interpretation of Marcin Wicha’s Things I Didn’t Throw Out in terms of their autobiographical character. It focuses on the autobiographical challenge, that dominates work, which manifests itself in gaps and understatements. In addition, it addresses mourning, loss, absence, memory and what remains of us – things.
More...Keywords: fear; anxiety; culture; modernity; identity
Review: Leszek Koczanowicz Lęk i olśnienie: Eseje o kulturze niepokoju [Fear andEnlightenment: Essays on the Culture of Anxiety], Wydawnictwo IBL, Warsaw 2020.
More...Keywords: the Anthropocene; anthropocentrism; posthumanism; dark ecology; object-oriented ontology
In a review of Andrzej Marzec’s Antropocień. Filozofia i estetyka po końcu świata (TheAnthroposhadow: Philosophy and Esthetics after the End of the World), Żółkoś framesMarzec’s considerations in the perspective of the posthumanist current, which dealswith the climate crisis and its social consequences. Żółko presents the conceptof “anthroposhadow” outlined by Marzec by juxtaposing it with key aspects of theAnthropocene debate. The main discussion concerns the possibility of transcendingthe anthropocentric attitude, which Marzec attempts by referring to Timothy Morton’sconcept of “dark ecology,” Graham Harman’s object-oriented ontology, and Jane Bennett’snew materialism. Żółko polemicizes against Marzec’s rejection of the environmentalhistory of the Holocaust by indicating that his critique fails to consider the relationalityand connections between human and non-human actors of the Holocaust.
More...Keywords: Themersons; archive; catalog; bibliography; biography
Review: Themerson Archive, eds. Jasia Reichardt, Nick Wadley, The MIT Press, Cambridge,London 2020.
More...Keywords: trauma; camp literature; interpretation problems; oneirism
The article addresses the main issues of Wojciech Owczarski’s monograph. I focus onpresenting the main theses of the pioneering work and discussing the main issues raised,but I also indicate possible points of contention that require a separate discussion.
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