CONSTRUCTING A BICULTURAL UPBRINGING ENVIRONMENT IN POLISH-ITALIAN FAMILIES
CONSTRUCTING A BICULTURAL UPBRINGING ENVIRONMENT IN POLISH-ITALIAN FAMILIES

Summary/Abstract: Introduction: The article relates to research in the field of education focusing on family andidentity that have gained particular importance in recent years in relation to the increasingnumber of children brought up in culturally diverse environments and attending Polish kinder-gartens and schools not only in the territorial border areas. The aim of the article is to show theways in which Polish-Italian families living in Kraków construct bicultural upbringing environ-ments for their children.Research Aim: The research aim was to analyse and interpret the subjective experiences ofPolish mothers raising preschool children with partners of Italian nationality.Method: The research project was embedded in a qualitative research orientation, adopting itsmethodological assumptions. The data was collected during individual, in-depth, semi-structu-red interviews conducted with 10 women.Results: Following the analysis and interpretation of the women’s narratives, four models ofupbringing strategies created by Polish-Italian families were distinguished. These are: a cultu-rally engaged family, a cosmopolitan (European) family, a culturally passive family, a family ofunfulfilled expectations and aspirations.Conclusions: The proposal to distinguish four models of family upbringing strategies createdby Polish-Italian families living in Kraków enables a novel perspective in analyzing the proces-ses of socialization and enculturation within mixed families. The proposed approach broadensthe spectrum of possibilities of understanding the processes taking place in families formed bypeople of two different nationalities, which can be found in publications of other researchers(e.g. J. Nikitorowicz, S. Gaspar).

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