somepoint210
09.06.04, 16:10
Witam,
Dyskusja o ksiazce D. Jerczynskiego byla ciekawa i w moim przekonaniu owocna,
moze nadszedl czas wymiany pogladow o opracowaniu Tomasza Kamuselli „The
Szlonzoks and their Language:Between Germany, Poland and Szlonzokian
Nationalism”.
Nie mam tlumaczenia polskiego (nawet nie wiem czy istnieje, jesli tak, to
dajcie znac), z koniecznosci wiec cytaty beda w oryginale, zapraszam wiec do
dyskusji.
Zaczne troche nietypowo, od koncowego przypisu Kamuselli w formie jego
osobistej noty. Nie ma bowiem w moim przekonaniu bardziej proslaskiego
opracowania wspoczesnie niz ow artykul i to pisanej z pozycji Polaka, jak sam
siebie okresla, przy ktorym dzielko Jerczynskiego jawi sie jak komiks o
kapitanie Zbiku (pamietacie?).
(...)Having said this, I would like to finish on a personal note. My ten-
yearlong
research into matters Szlonzokian and Upper Silesian has resulted in a
plethora of articles and a doctoral dissertation. In the second half of the
1990s I
had problems defending my dissertation in Poland. The reasons for that given
by
various universities were that the work was written in English or that its
analytical apparatus was interdisciplinary. Obviously, the Polish Act on
Tertiary
Education does not stipulate a single language in which dissertations should
be
written or that they must not transcend the boundaries of established
disciplines.
Only with my PhD degree diploma in hand was I told that my dissertation
presented ‘an incorrect picture of the Upper Silesian past’. In the context
of this
region I spoke about variegated ethnic and national groups. But the
stipulation
of this admonition was that being a Pole I should have emphasized ‘the
continuous and primordial Polishness of Upper Silesia’ avoiding any facts to
the
contrary of this view. The ethnonational vision of the world and of the
unceasing
struggle for fortifying Polishness still prevails at many a Polish university
and in
Polish political life.
However, I believe that these difficulties may not prevent scholars from
probing
into the significant questions of their times. Otherwise, scholarship would
turn
into a meaningless verbosity within the perimeters prescribed by politicians
and
ideologues. Obviously, in the case of my research some pro-Szlonzokian or
Szlonzokian politicians, activists, movements or organizations may utilize my
findings for the support of their projects aiming at building the Szlonzokian
nation and at codifying the standard Szlonzokian language. But such a use of
academic work, and these projects themselves do not breach the rules of
democracy and liberty that leave the decision who and what they want to be to
people alone. If a socially or politically significant group of persons come
to a
conclusion that they form a Szlonzokian nation with their own Szlonzokian
language, the answer of the authorities in democratic Poland cannot be
suppression or denial. It must follow Polish law and the international
standards
of human and minority rights protection. At the end of the twentieth century
with the hindsight of post-Yugoslav and post-Soviet wars and ethnic cleansing,
the consensus was reached that without observing these standards and ensuring
rule of law, prevention of ethnonational conflicts is hard if not altogether
impossible. (...) strona 31-32.
Zapraszam wiec do pogawedki. Kazdy znajdzie cos dla siebie, i Fogg
(metodologia:)i Wilym(profesor-mentor:) i Slezan(inteligentna "bestia":) i
wielu innych niewymienionych:)
