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Organised activeness or on the evidence of the activity of the retired and pensioners in the urban environment

Aktywność zorganizowana, czyli o przejawach działalności emerytów i rencistów w środowisku miejskim

Author(s): Dorota Świtała-Trybek / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The subject of analysis constitutes organised activeness, reflecting itself in intentional forms of the activity related to a given group of people (the retired and pensioners) and selected centres where the very activeness is visible. In the local communities of the Silesian Voivodship (on the basis of the field studies conducted between 2003 and 2007) four characteristic types of organised activeness were distinguished. The first one is composed of the university of the third age. The second comprises circles (clubs) associating former workers of e.g. mines, steelworks, power stations functioning nearby the factories in question. The third group constitutes senior groups functioning nearby different institutions, e.g. a community centre, social welfare house, parishes. The fourth one (referred to as the “union” one) is connected with people’s affiliation to different unions and organizations involving hobbysts, e.g. stamp collectors, pigeon breeders, bee keepers, skaters, beer label collectors, etc. Differentiated reflections of organised activeness among the retired and pensioners show how it is possible to still effectively function in the society, perform certain roles in spite of having gone into the professional retirement. The need of affiliation, formerly satisfied by workmates is now satisfied by different groups related with different people and institutions (community centres, assosiations, clubs, unions, etc). It is thanks to these two factors that the elederly people have a chance to find themelves among other seniors having similar interests, develop their passions, complete gaps in their education, jointly realize tasks, struggle with life difficulties, experience success and failure. In other words, flee from idleness, thus finding the confirmation of their self value and life aim. One can estimate that organised activeness among the retired and pensioners is most efficiently realised in the local environment. Undoubtedly, it is the urban space that facilitates different forms of activeness thanks to the cultural educational institutions, unions, and clubs nearby the work places functioning in it. In this space, consisting in many social groups, life styles, man can choose from and decide him/herself on a given form of his/her own activeness.

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The city of old people. Nowa Huta and its inhabitants

Miasto starych ludzi. Nowa Huta i jej mieszkańcy

Author(s): Renata Hołda / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The propaganda literature of the period of creation of a metallurgic conglomerate and “new city” connected to it nearby Kraków, ideologically juxtaposed the young against the old, implying a tendency to radical social changes in the case of the former. It was young people coming from the whole country and deriving mainly from the rural environment, fancing themselves an avantgarde of socialism that constituted 80% of builders, and, later on, inhabitants of Nowa Huta. In spite of having included the very district into the administrative borderlines of Kraków, the integration of the two parts of the city was impossible for many decades, which was largely caused by mutual prejudices, deriving from the cultural differences of communities inhabiting it. At that time, the image of Nowa Huta as a district touched by various pathologies and, thus, extremely dangerous, was ingrained in the so called common belief. The very stereotype was rooted by a series of articles on the examples of violence connected to the subculture of blockers from Nowa Huta. It resulted in, among other things, the fall of attractiveness of the very district as a potential place of living and, consequently, the outflow of young, rich and industrious people choosing the places of a greater prestige. In connection with natural demographic processes, the former district of youth became a city of “old people” at the beginning of the 21st century. However, there is much evidence that the history of this “youngest district of Kraków” has not finished. At present, on the rising tide of interests with socialism, one can observe the attempts of Nowa Huta revitalization which is connected with the exploration of its original past. The district is also becoming a witness of interesting cultural initiatives and happenings presenting a new perspective on the period of the formation of socialism. Of course, the very situation is, above all, commercial in nature, but in many inhabitants of blocks of flats in Nowa Huta, evokes pride, constituting, at the same time, the element of community formation and identity creation.

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A battle for the space in a multicultural city on the example of Vilnius

Walka o przestrzeń w mieście wielokulturowym — na przykładzie współczesnego Wilna

Author(s): Iwona Kabzińska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

A mythologised image of Wielkie Księstwo Litewskie and its capital — Vilnius — says about a co existence of the representatives of the ethnic, religious and cultural groups. The situation changed radically in the 19th century when the leaders of the Lithuanian national movement treated the opposi¬tion to everything that is Polish as a condition of the success of the national idea, the development of the Lithuanian culture and identity. The benefits deriving from the historical relations with Poland were negated. The Poles were accused of the conscious devastation of the Lithuanian culture and compulsory Polonization of Lithuanians. The next source of conflicts was the inclusion of Vilnius and Wileńszczyzna to the II Republic of Poland (the so called Vilnius excursion 1919—1920). In spite of the flow of time, the echoes of the battles of Vilnius have been still alive. As it was in the past, the questions that arise are Whose city it is? To whom does it belong? The cause of the conflicts is not only historical “past”, political issues, mutual accusations and sense of harm, but also the contemporary transformations of the city. The battle has been fought on the so-called resources, being at the same time a perfect example of the rivalry of the space in a physical and symbolic sense. The very battle also has an economic dimension. It is also interpreted in the ethnic categories (the opposition: poor Poles — rich Lithuanians: Poles as the victims of the Lithuanian policy). The changes taking place in the space of the city lead to a greater restriction and appropriation of the sacred sphere by the commercialization, business, noise and entertainment. The conflicts fought in the Vilnius space (and on this space) prove how difficult it is to realize the ideals of multi culturality, an intercultural dialogue, non conflict life at the cultural borderline. They also show the power of money and its contribution to a division of the space of the city and managing this space. It is also visible on the basis of the problems with the returning the ground in Vilnius and Wileńszczyzna to its lawful owners (Poles in the predominating part of the places), the realization of the project “Great Vilnius” and appropriation of the Polish cultural heritage and its Lithuanisation.

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The change of the uran space and its influence on the sense of identity of Będzin inhabitants

Zmiana przestrzeni miejskiej i jej wpływ na poczucie tożsamości mieszkańców Będzina

Author(s): Dobrawa Skonieczna-Gawlik / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The author of the article raises the issue of changes taking place in the urban space of Będzin and their influence on man. She wonders if the inhabitants of Będzin feel connected with their city, identify with it or if the current spacious urbanist system of the city influences their attitude. Which streets, districts and elements of architecture are the inhabitants of Będzin mostly attached to? Which of these do they consider as symbols and why? Is their attitude influenced by their knowledge of history and culture of the area of living? The work also deals with the problem of the influence of the urban space transformation on the continuity of tradition, self identification and sense of identity of people from Będzin. In order to gain the information on the influence of the urban space on the identity of people living in Będzin, the author presents a spacious urbanist development of the city over centuries. Next, on the basis of the studies and conversations with the inhabitants, she raises the issue of “islandness” of the urban buildings, the separation or even a partial separation of both urban and suburban districts. She pays attention to important and considered to be central or symbolic spaces or buildings in the city which, according to the inhabitants of Będzin, though precious and valuable (e.g. historical), are often neglected, little attractive or mismanaged by the government. Although the inhabitants of Będzin, in majority, are attached to their city, they see its lacks and imperfections. However, many people place family bonds, friends in the first place. Only later on do they place their attachment to the city. The author, on the basis of the studies, states that currently, a small influence on the sense of bond with the city among the inhabitants of Będzin is ascribed to the traditional culture. Many of them cannot even show its elements, such as customs, beliefs, songs, dances, etc. Taking everything into consideration, the author states that the process of searching for one’s own identity by the inhabitants of Będzin has just started, and its course is conditioned by not only the historical past and economic factors, but also to a large extent the urbanist — spacious structure of the city, the urban space shaped by inhabitants and shaping them as such.

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Towards a group identity. An urban space and media between 2 and 8 April 2005

W stronę tożsamości grupowej. Przestrzeń miejska a media w okresie 2-8 kwietnia 2005 roku

Author(s): Grzegorz Studnicki / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The text is devoted to the events that took place in the Polish cities between 2 and 8 April 2005 — in the period of the national mourning after the death of John Paul II. It seems that it was during this period that a national religious community and collective identity connected with it manifested their existence at the streets. The actions jointly undertaken by social actors, such as white marches, joint prayers, singing and numerous references to national and religious symbols, had visible features of the transitional period that is why the author of the article, analyzing the very socio cultural behaviours, refers to the theory of Arnold van Gennep and Turner’s conception connected to it. The phenomenon of this event cannot be considered without taking into account the means of mass media, their role in the contemporary world and power of their influences. Thus, the references were made to the theory of Jean Boudrillard and the qualitative analysis of the contents of press texts in the period under investigation was conducted.

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Qualitative studies in the evaluation of the occurrence of mental illnesses in the space of the city

Badania jakościowe w ocenie częstości występowania chorób psychicznych w przestrzeni miasta

Author(s): Piotr Wacław Gorczyca / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The issue of the occurrence of mental illnesses was the subject of the studies published in both medical and sociological journals. The first pioneering works in this subject were written by R.E.L. Faris and H.W. Dunham from the Chicago school in 1944. Their work was based on quantitative studies. Qualitative studies, on the other hand, were hidden in the description and characteristic of the areas examined, and not enumerated in the methodology. The author of the article, conducting the research on the arrangement of people psychiatrically hospitalized in the area of Tarnowskie Góry, started from quantitative studies. Initially, though, he assumed that in these studies he can base on the administrative division of the city because the majority of the problems examined appeared in the estates with dominant flat estates whereas in the mixed structure districts dominated the problems in less attractive places. Knowing in which districts and areas the very problems dominate, one can make further considerations on the existence of possible relations. One’s own observations and deliberations on these places constitute the qualitative data stored in one’s mind. R.E. Park wrote that a researcher must “pass” many places to make his/her opinion. Thus, it is very likely that these initial observations, sometimes unintended, and, later on reconstructed, may give more information than an attempt to use selected techniques of qualitative studies, especially in such an attractive subject for the majority of inhabitants as the place of living of mentally ill people. One can add that a photographic method supplementing the data would be helpful here as it would leave certain openness for interpretation and freedom in selection of situations for consolidation and further analyses. The author of the work spent many hours thinking how to take an active part (a participant observation) and obtain information on a given subject in selected urban areas but as a rule, he was convinced that the issue of the occurrence of mental disorders the areas of the city was beyond a direct perception of its inhabitants.

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Between war and peace. Urbanist processes and their consequences in the south Sudanese city

Między wojną a pokojem. Procesy urbanizacyjne i ich skutki w południowosudańskim mieście

Author(s): Maciej Kurcz / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

Juba, located in the southern Sudan, used to be a small African place, devastated by war and inhabited by a small handful of haggard people. Currently, almost a day by day, it is becoming a big city and the capital of autonomous sothern provinces. For the last 50 years southern Sudan has been the arena of one of the bloodiest and longest con¬flicts in the history of postcolonial Africa. The black and Christian people struggled with the Muslim majority in an unequal battle. Hundreds of peole died or survived escaping to neighbouring African countries. Many inhabitants of the south, deported to the northern provinces, were given to Muslim caretakers, often enslaving them. The war finished at the beginning of our century without any deci¬sion. As a result of the peace treaty from 2005, rebellious provinces were given a big autonomy, and, in the future even the chance of self decision. An important element of the compromise was also a division of benefits from oil sale, exploited from the sources in the southern Sudan. The very richness has become the so called modus vivendi of the Sudanese conflict, making Chartum aware of war unprofitability. This memorable event has become the beginning of substantial and abrupt transformations touching upon almost each aspect of the region (an economic and political situation, as well as social or religious relations). The authors of the project Juba, the centre of cultures and conflicts, try to describe and understand the changes taking place. They assume a series of ethnographic terrain works in this very place aiming at the presentation of the real life of small town inhabitants in the widest way, as well as give data on the functioning of the so called traumatic society — the phenomenon extremely important for many countries of the contemporary Africa suffering from war not such a long ago which achieved stabilization. The material derives from the first survey excursion to Juba realized between February and March 2007.

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The problem of the urban centre in the light of dynamic urbanist and cultural changes on the basis of Bielsko-Biała

Problem miejskiego centrum w obliczu dynamicznych przemian urbanistycznych i kulturowych — na przykładzie Bielska-Białej

Author(s): Grzegorz Błahut / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The phenomenon of the centre, covering a series of conceptions concerning given wholes on the scale of both a micro and macro‑cosmos is also visible in the architecture. The architecture, on the other hand, concerning a house or a temple or their concentrated multitude in the form of the city, reflects given mythic structures. In Middle‑aged cities surrounded by the walls, the localization of the centre was not a problem at all. Nowadays, the centre of a big, modern city may be not only difficult to locate, but also, as Aleksander Wallis points out, difficult to define. He tries to take the criterion of function, as a result of which several overlapping city centres, such as historical, trade, administrative ones can appear in the area of the city. In the process of city development one can observe a dynamics of the urban centres, dependent on economic, urbanist and cultural changes. An interesting example of this phenomenon is a double city Bielsko‑Biała, where in the area of the same city — Bielsko — a new centre appeared and the oldest centre was located in the place of the old market square in the last few years. Both centres constitute a cultural area. The difference between them lies in the fact that they refer to different value systems. What seems interesting is the fact the new centre of a trade, service, and recreational nature borrows the cultural functions associated with other places and institutions in the city, such as the theatre, the house of music, galleries. Undoubtedly, it distorts a cultural ecosystem of the urban space, especially in reference to a widely‑understood centre. A relationship of these two centres is defined by the state of rivalry and contradiction, but there are also such areas that complete each other. The attempt to unify the centre and establish its location is visible above all in symbolic forms and forms of realization of given functions. An existing divergence can be eradicated by the users of these spaces not only mentally, but also the architects and urbanists thanks to a further development of the new centre in a direction of the Old Town in Bielsko, which is indicated by the already defined projects. There exist the differences between generations in the perception of the centre, as well as between the inhabitants of Bielsko‑Biała and people commuting and coming from other places. As it was in reference to the Ancient and Middle‑aged cities, the acquaintance of the centre of the contemporary city is important in a description of many present‑day social and cultural phenomena.

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Worker's flats in the area of Upper Silesia - the past and the present

Mieszkania robotnicze na terenie Górnego Śląska - przeszłość i teraźniejszość

Author(s): Monika Gnieciak / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The article compares the points of view of two groups of respondents — the inhabitants of new and old districts of Upper Silesia concerning the space inhabited by them, its organization and division expressing the life styles and structure of an every day of its inhabitants. Nikiszowiec, a district of an almost symbolic character for the social and urbanist history was chosen as a representative of old districts whereas the new districts were represented by particular districts of Tychy. As a result of this comparison, the types of workers’ flats, in the perspective of tradition and Silesian culture as well as the contemporary flat and district patterns are presented. The subordination of the region to the heavy industry influenced the spacious organization of the Upper Silesian cities. The relation between the industry and pragmatics of an every day life was most strongly reinforced in old workers’ districts, at the earliest in the form of the industrial settlement in the region whereas the spacious shape of workers’ colonies built conditioned and consolidated the social norms, typical of the inhabitants of the region. The old workers’ districts of Silesian cities were formed on the basis of patron districts built from the half of the 19th century around the abruptly appearing and developing mines and steelworks. The organization of the living space in the area of Upper Silesia was always marked with a given specificity, expressing the obligatory life style, work division and structure of the Upper Silesian family. The block of a red brick was its symbol giving the frames to the everyday outlines of the living space. Nowadays, an example of the spacious unit in question is Nikiszowiec, the former mining colony placed next to “Wieczorek” mine in Katowice. However, different districts, though also working class ones in the plan, built after the World War II in the form of big city blocks of flats are to be found nearby. The creation of new flats for the working class started under the ideological caption of the necessity to eliminate the social inequalities within the scope of living conditions. As a result of it, the representatives of different classes, professions characterized by different social and regional origins are neighbours in the PRL like blocks of flats. In the name of socialistic ideas, the project, unique in form, of a socialistic city of Tychy, a big base for incoming and native people working in the region of GOP was created. Both types of buildings — the one in Nikiszowiec and Tychy — currently constitute the spacious landscape of Upper Silesia and the way of inhabiting them determines the frames of life of the contemporary inhabitants of the region.

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The importance of work in life of the inhabitants of a contemporary city. A sociological study on the example of Katowice

Znaczenie pracy w życiu mieszkańców współczesnego miasta. Studium socjologiczne na przykładzie Katowic

Author(s): Andrzej Kasperek / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The author of the very text aims to raise the issue of the relationship between work and function¬ing of a specific type of an industrial city gradually transforming into a postindustrial one as a result of socio cultural and economic changes. His considerations start from a draft presentation of the importance of a professional work, an emphasis being put on mine work in life of the inhabitants of Upper Silesia, starting from the period of an abrupt 19th century industrialization and urbanization. The author treats work as a par excellence cultural phenomenon, as an important element of the system of values at the same time organizing an everyday life of the inhabitants of cities in Upper Silesia. He also pays attention to the social motive of urban space creation, the organization of which was largely influenced by its adjustment to the professional work. An exemplification of the very issue constitute the results of survey studies conducted this year among the inhabitants of Katowice. Based on them, the author makes an attempt to evaluate the impor¬tance of work in life of the inhabitants of Katowice, the level of satisfaction from it, their conception of the so called “good job”. Also, he tries to answer the question on the extent to which contemporary Katowice satisfy the inhabitants’ expectations connected with the opportunities of finding a good job. The author attempt to combine these expectations with the satisfaction of other needs related to the sphere of non work (e.g. recreation). He finishes his considerations with a conclusion that mental changes, constituting a consequence of the socio cultural process and economic transformation of the region of Upper Silesia find their very tangible traces in the attempts to transform the urban space which, as the findings revealed, is perceived by a large number of respondents as devastated in many respects (e.g. when it comes to the possibilities of satisfying cultural needs or spending free time) whereas devastation remains a consequence of the industrial nature of the city.

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A transformation of the public space of the contemporary city on the basis of the centre in Mysłowice

Transformacja przestrzeni publicznej współczesnego miasta — na przykładzie mysłowickiego centrum

Author(s): Grzegorz Odoj / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The majority of aspects of the urban life concentrate in the public space, clearly separated from private spaces. The nature of the public space consists in the fact that it constitutes a joint urban space in the social sense, comprising different functions and meanings. It also constitutes the area where basically all inhabitants can feel free. The public space is a space of identity which makes it possible for the next generations of inhabitants to identify with the city. It makes the mutual communication and expression of people easier. It is a stage on which the mystery play of human life is played every day. In the public space, it is not only the past or the present that is coded, but also the new phe¬nomena reflecting deep transformations sometimes in the humanistic dimension of the urban space. A traditional space is the centre of the city, the most significant element and basic form of which is a centrally situated market — the market square — essential for the existence of both an individual and given social groups. Currently, shopping malls and hypermarkets are more often becoming a substitute of the public space. However, they are not a public space, but a private area only publically used. As long as the pub¬lic space is the sphere of freedom, it is the private space that usually undergoes numerous restrictions, control and social selection. Shopping malls usurp the right to “be the centre”, are a simulation of “the city in the city”. This way, they turn away a cultural code of the urban area — a traditional centre stops to exist or is the one only by name whereas the outskirts become “the centre”. In other words — a social life moves into the outskirts of the city. Such a situation is observed in Mysłowice — the city which was the subject of observations and inquiries. The opening of the Real hypermarket seven years ago has decreased the attractiveness of the city centre, especially the square market, as a trade, service, recreational or even cultural space. Real made, so to speak, an important reevaluation of an urban space of Mysłowice, decomposing its functional and symbolic dimension and determining human relations and behaviors in a direct way.

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Science and knowledge in a ludic performance in the spaces of a contemporary city

Nauka i wiedza w ludycznym spektaklu w przestrzeniach współczesnego miasta

Author(s): Ryszard Kantor / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

A contemporary consumption society has become the society of fun, which means that fun and entertainment are playing a more and more important role in its culture. A social range and availability of forms of fun broaden. A number of its forms and places of realization grows. Fun is given more and more time, especially in city conglomerations. Among the areas of a socio cultural life one can also find the ones that, as some researchers believe, are strongly placed in the sphere of seriousness. These cover science and knowledge. According to the author, also these spheres of life are not free from the ludic pressure. Innumerable festivals, fairs, science fairs and days, taking place in closed spaces, but also in the open air of a contemporary university city, compete with one another in a ludic presentation of science and knowledge. A symbiosis of fun, science and knowledge seems to be a perfect realization of the idea: to teach entertaining, to entertain teaching. However, it raises certain doubts. The author of the article quotes the warnings, among others, by Neil Postman, who believes that such a light, easy and pleasurable ludic education does not give a reliable and deep knowledge. The education, and knowledge gain should not be an entertainment, but also a hard work. A belief becoming more and more common in the society that everything that is worth familiarising with may or even should take on the form of entertainment, is disastrous and typical of the times when the sphere of seriousness and fun intermingled almost completely.

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A city as a real and autotelic value on the basis of Żarki in Myszków county

Miasto jako wartość rzeczywista i autoteliczna na przykładzie Żarek w powiecie myszkowskim

Author(s): Maria Żarska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

Żarki is a city which until the beginning of the World War II was inhabited and cocreated by two nationalities, that of Poles and Jews. A joint business allowed for easing arising conflicts and fostering its development. An agreeable co existence of the community in Żarki was based on following certain rules of behaviour. Contemporary inhabitants of Żarki connected to the city for generations show a strong identification with many areas of the city space. The knowledge of the city and its inhabitants is transmitted in families. A family tradition allows for moving in familiar spaces. Only a person having multi generational origins in the city knows its all areas and understands proper names, as well as differentiates the nicknames and street names which do not exist any longer. A special behaviour of people generationally connected to the city is observed in such places as church and cemetery, where certain groups were given an allocated space. The incoming people constitute a different category in the process of identification with the city. They came here in search of work and treated the city in an instrumental way. The process of becoming settled into the city was not easy. The incoming people were often isolated. The integration was difficult and slow. New inhabitants contribute to the creation of several estates where they built their own houses, which gives them the sense of self value. Currently, certain differences in behaviour between people coming from Żarki and those incoming are still visible. However, living next to one another extorts joint actions, such as the restoration of a historic barn. The very enterprise is called “Kupiecki Sąsiek” and gathers local artists on market days.

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The forgotten "sacrum" - cemeteries of German and Jewish people as a socio-cultural problem of the contemporary town

Zapomniane "sacrum" - cmentarze ludności niemieckiej i żydowskiej jako problem społeczno-kulturowy współczesnego miasta

Author(s): Jacek Grzywa / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

In the Christian culture, a cemetery is a special place, a memory place of those who died, a place symbolically marked with specific forms of small architecture, sculpture, engraved in the stone of an often poetical informative documentary transcription. It is a unique place, protected with a centuries old tradition and common respect, but also law agreements. The landscape of Polish cities involves historical necropolis of other beliefs or ethnic minorities. The centuries old tradition of Polish tolerance facilitated the creation of a special cultural symbiosis based on the co existence of ethnic minorities or ethnic groups in the space of the Polish cities. They left precious monuments of the material and sacred culture. The process of social and cultural spacious changes in the contemporary Polish cities also concerns the small cemetery architecture. On the one hand, one can observe its enrichment, and, on the other hand, destruction, especially in old, less known cemetery spaces. Many monuments, including cemeteries, have not survive up till now. The very article is documentary in nature and presents the author’s observations on the cemeteries of German and Jewish people within the period of a few last years, their history and the current state, situated in the landscape of Polish cities. The studies covered some of the places in the Silesian, Lower Silesian, Małopolska, Świętokrzyskie, Lubuskie and Zachodniopomorskie voivodship.

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Rustic elements in the space of the city - the faithfulness of tradition or commercial actions of the free market?

Elementy rustykalne w przestrzeni miasta - wierność tradycji czy komercyjne działania wolnego rynku?

Author(s): Barbara Pabian / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The subject of reflection constitutes the condition of the traditional heritage of the peasant’s culture and its place in the contemporary culture of Częstochowa. In the space of this city, the trend for the folk character, going beyond not only the sphere of the advertisement of public life, but also permeating into the family tradition and traditional behaviours has been recently recognised. For example, The Days of The European Folk Culture connected with Jasna Góra Harvest Festival, the National Farm Exhibition, the National Contest of the Folk Art, presentation of the national and foreign folk bands, shows of the works of folk authors, taking into account the “dying professions”, as well as a sale of regional products, the agricultural produce, farm preserves, take place during the first September weekend from the initiative of the Gaude Mater Culture Promotion Centre. A large popularity in the urban environment is ascribed to the so called peasant (homemade) buffets prepared for the second day of the wedding, Fresh pickled cucumbers with a dill, lard with pork scratchings, a traditional ham with a bone, rural paste, brawn, black, a round loaf of bread and even spirit samogon are served at that time. Decorations of the surrounding are made of the attributes commonly associated with a village, such as a plait of garlic or onion, a cluster of dried herbs and mushrooms. Also, the appropriate containers in the form of stone small barrels, clay bowls and plates, ceramic containers, wooden scoops and chopping boards are used. The inhabitants of the city, used to live in rural conditions, are willing to go to distant places, folk stylized hotels and restaurants in which they can find a substitute of ruralness. Waiters wearing pseudo folk clothes serve there the dishes of regional cuisine. Everything takes place in rustic interiors, the sounds of melody and folk songs recorded or played alive by the folk bands and groups. The very stylizations are usually the effect of the owner’s or designer’s vision. They most often constitute a mixture of the elements borrowed from the culture of different regions (most often from Podhale) or the adaptation of the elements of the culture of another, often distant, region. In such a situation the questions on the nature of such actions arise. Is the permeation of given rustic elements into the urban space the result of the dynamics of the social awareness, filled with values deeply rooted in the culture of the countryside, also the attempt to continue the tradition or the a reflection of a temporary trend promoted on the series of commercial actions? The author of the article made an attempt to analyse the place of the urban cultural heritage in the contemporary urban environment.

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Between the shopping arcade, town hall and basilica. Characteristic places of Silesian city centres in the social perception

Między galerią handlową, ratuszem i bazyliką. Miejsca charakterystyczne centrów śląskich miast w percepcji społecznej

Author(s): Krzysztof Bierwiaczonek / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The centre can be considered one of the most universal categories in human thought. In the context of the city one can say that the centre is one of the spacious archetypes. In European cities of a long duration, centres have been determined by market squares, being economically and symbolically significant, as well as connected with power. Among those who paid attention to it were Aleksander Wallis, Bohdan Jałowiecki, Charles Landry, Leon Dyczewski, whose conceptions constitute a theoretical basis of this article. The empirical part of the text presents selected findings of sociological studies conducted in five Silesian cities, both those having a traditional central space with the market square (Rybnik, Bytom) and the ones which do not have such a centre (Tychy, Ruda Śląska). The attention was focused on those elements of the centre which in a social perception are regarded to be important. The studies show that the repertoire of places important in the centre of various cities is very similar. What dominates are places connected with the sacred, power and new spaces of the sacred and entertainment. What differs, however, is the quality of these places. Market squares still play an important part in the social perception. The market square and its closest surroundings in Rybnik are an example of a cultural area in the sense given to it by Aleksander Wallis. The cities which do not have market squares, on the other hand, are clearly deprived of attractive public spaces.

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Keeping a TV remote control or embracing a bicycle handlebar? Ways of spending leisure time in the space of the late-modern city on e.g. of Katowice

Trzymając telewizyjnego pilota czy ściskając kierownicę roweru? Sposoby spędzania czasu wolnego w przestrzeni miasta późnonowoczesnego n.p. Katowic

Author(s): Andrzej Górny / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The present time can be defined by means of the epoch of choices. The contemporary reality is amazingly pluralist in all practical dimensions of life. In modern societies we also deal with a particular paradox with respect to time — on the one hand, it is organized according to an objective academic model and, on the other, it splits into different time cultures every day. A new selected sphere of human time, leisure time, undergoes division. What appears are new needs and, at the same time, institutions which satisfy them in a different way: a service, educational and recreational one. The former homogenous human action is being split into many separated and isolated “times”. Considering the issue of free time from the sociological perspective, it is legitimate to assume that ways of spending leisure time are inscribed into fairly visible cultural patterns which within years are subject to dynamics. It is their identification in reference to the social space of Katowice that became the subject matter of the very article. It presents the results of the studies conducted in July and August 2007 on the sample of 492 adult inhabitants of Katowice. In the context of the issues dealt with, several questions arise: How do inhabitants of Katowice use their free time? Do the forms connected with the physical activity or rather passive rest dominate? How much time do they devote to the Internet and television? What is the activeness of the respondents in their free time when it comes to culture? As a predominant analytical perspective served an attempt to answer the question if the changes connected with a more and more common trend on the so called healthy lifestyle or a growing pressure on the creation of the cultural wealth, also affect the ways of spending leisure time. In view of a big social, economic and spacious diversification, the area of Katowice is extremely interesting research area of the very problem among the contemporary inhabitants of a big city.

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Stigmas of marginalization and exclusion in the environment of a big city

Stygmaty marginalizacji i wykluczenia w środowisku wielkiego miasta - na przykładzie Katowic

Author(s): Maria Świątkiewicz-Mośny / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

Stigmas are clear, irrational, emotional, provoking signs also thought of as a taint. People are marked with it. They mark the space. The source of stigma may be, according to Goffman, the origins, features of character or looks. The taint is not always connected with a deviant action, rule abuse and norm violation. Not each difference causes rejection; only the one which is noticed and unaccepted by the social audience. The mechanism of stigmatization in the big city environment goes from the space to its inhabitants. A marked space, forbidden district mark the inhabitants, sentencing them to rejection. Richness ghettos are formed next to poverty ghettos. This space marks as well. The very article discusses stigmas of the cultural foreignness, origins, differences because of illness or life style. The author makes an attempt to answer the question of the features the stigma must have to exist as such in the social awareness, especially among the inhabitants of the contemporary city. The results of the sociological studies conducted in Katowice allow for making a statement that the exclusion of marked people from city celebration, its conveniences and entertainments causes marginalization of individuals and whole groups. The big city space excludes the poor, the unemployed, the homeless, the sick, people of different looks, customs, traditions, natures. They become marked with the tint of otherness. What is also marked is the space of the part of the city inhabited by them in the awareness of its other inhabitants.

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A cultural and social space of the city as a research problem

Przestrzeń kulturowa i społeczna miasta jako problem badawczy

Author(s): Irena Bukowska-Floreńska / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

Mass migrations to industrial cities progressing with the development of different categories of industries in Polish cities, an extensive development of Silesian mines, steelworks and industrial production connected to them, made the rural people, coming here after the World War II with their own cultural baggage become labour workers, gain qualifications, take on and create new cultural patterns. The situation of the countryside so far investigated by the ethnologists was changing that is why the beginnings of the Polish ethnological studies on the cultural and social space of the city, already started in the 1960s, concern the observation of the process of its urbanization and history of rural people settling in cities. The researchers first started to observe the change of migrants; cultural patterns and the attitude of the city to ruralness and the other way round. They examined, above all, the culture of labour communities which absorbed the groups of newcomers or held their own folk industrial culture created in the course of the development of urban tecgnical civilization. Such stud¬ies were conducted in Upper Silesia, Lodz, Zyrardów, Warsaw, Konin and other cities. With time, the studies on the cultural and social problems of the cities spread, deepen and specify. What caused that constituted, above all, the studies conducted in Lodz, where the researchers aimed at defining the subject and methodological assumptions of the studies on big city commu¬nity. As a result, the knowledge on the cultural tradition of labourers from Lodz and their families was collected. Hierarchies of values, social life in a given space of living (a tenement), which is an intermediary space for man, between a social wide and the place of his/her own existence. The cities and suburban areas, with a created cultural specificity, were dealt with by Silesian researchers who extended the very subject matter by the notions within the scope of the ecology of culture. The proc¬esses of cultural adaptation to the conditions formed in the former rural environment, in villages around industrial factories, determined here not only the subject matter, but also a research strategy, going beyond the method of a monographic and integrative description traditional for ethnologists. Thus, remaining it initially, it was gradually enriched by a multiaspectual and diagnostic way of inquir¬ies, allowing for not only getting to know the origins of the reality examined and its classification, but also its importance for the existence and needs of the city community, for shaping the way and life style, social norms, for the system of values, mechanisms of the functioning of the contemporary city.

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Legnica - the theatre of the city, the theatre of the place

Legnica - teatr miasta, teatr miejsca

Author(s): Violetta Sajkiewicz / Language(s): Polish / Issue: 10/2010

The adaptations of industrial halls, power stations, boiler houses or mines into cultural spaces are almost the obvious thing to do. However, even against the background of more and more numerous initiatives, aiming at the activization of neglected city communities, the activity of Modrzejewska Theatre is unusual. The stage in Legnica, directed by Jacek Głomb since the 1990s, shows real stories in real places consistently inscribing into the trend of the so called local theatre, directed, above all, at the inhabitants of a given place or district. In Legnica, the whole city was the stage. The spectacles were played in the rooms of the former tank factory and barracks, in Mary’s Church, discotheque, at the yard of a store hall and in the hall of a closed textile factory. In the beginning, the exit into the spaces theatrically unaccustomed, served Legnica the purpose of, above all, encouragement of people who had not experienced it before, but, with time, the social issues connected with a revitalization of deserted or neglected city spaces became more and more important. While for many directors the city space is just the background of plays, in Legnica it is their integral element. The theatre goes beyond the borderlines of art and becomes an element of life of a local community. It shapes the image of the place in which it lives, builds the citizenship society, aware of history and tradition, knowing its own place in the contemporary world. A pragmatic attitude o art, inscribed into Dewey’s life rhythm, has brought about a social effect. The theatre has changed unto agora whereas Legnica has become similar to the ancient polis the ultimate sense and aim of which was providing life to the community according to its imagination on happiness and good co operation.

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