Etykiety: Kobieta, Żyd – Inny w przestrzeni szkolnej
The Labels Woman and Jew: The Other in the School

Summary/Abstract: In this article, Sylwia Kuraś addresses the problem of Otherness in literature and of the stigmatization and exclusion from the public space of what is different, and thus understood as a threat to everything that is familiar and local. Based on two novels by Isaac Bashevis Singer, The Manor and The Estate, Kuraś points to the universal mechanism of building the image of the Other as the enemy. Polish-Jewish relations, Jewish culture, and in it the accentuated role of women, become a starting point for a conversation about contemporary social processes. A priority issue in the context of instilling attitudes of openness, respect and acceptance in contact with the Other is education, which is limited here to lessons of Polish. The school, in its institutional and obligatory dimension, and the teacher who is aware of their role in this respect – these have the power to initiate changes in students’ awareness, habits, and views. During the lesson about Singer’s novels, Kuraś suggests the use of teaching based on “identification”, i.e., looking for a universal dimension in the actions and emotions of people in specific life situations, regardless of their cultural affiliation and gender. The priority in education understood in this way is to go beyond the space of narrative and political discourse of exclusion. The goal is a citizen who is open to difference, critical of their own culture, but also aware of its value.

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