„Bo to jest idealna praca dla mnie!” – motywy aktywizacji zawodowej kobiet poprzez agroturystykę

Author(s): Magdalena Kubal-Czerwińska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 160/2020

The subject of this study is the process of women’s professional activation, which takes place as a result of undertaking agritourism activities on farms in rural areas of the Polish Carpathians. The main purpose of the article was to determine the motives of women to undertake professional activity in rural tourism. The study included a sample of 70 agritourism farms run or co-run by women in Carpathian rural tourist communes in the Lesser Poland (Małopolska) Voivodeship. Three groups of motives, which guided women while choosing their path of professional activation in agritourism, were distinguished. The basis for undertaking agritourism activities are expected economic benefits and factors arising from the spatial environment of farms such as local hospitality traditions, the level of tourism development, the presence of attractive values for leisure, the traditional village life, and the “internal” factors associated with household and agricultural resources. Equally mportant are the “individualistic” motifs of psychological and social nature – the need to contact other people or be “needed” in the family. The female professional activation in agritourism has not only an economic but also a social and cultural dimension.

„Dar książki dla Wrocławia i Śląska” – powojenne akcje społeczne na rzecz polskich bibliotek w Okręgu II Dolny Śląsk z lat 1945-1948 w świetle wybranych źródeł

Author(s): Aneta Firlej-Buzon / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2021

Poles displaced to the so-called Recovered Territories, organizing here the social life, struggled with the lack of Polish books. An acute shortage was felt by the entire community, especially by children, pupils and students from Wrocław universities rebuild from the ruins. In order to satisfy the hunger for the Polish word and Polish books, there were organized numerous of social campaigns, both nationwide, regional and local. The authors of this campaigns were the central authorities and representatives of the Lower Silesian administration, as well as associations established in the District II, and finally private persons acting in the field of education, culture or entertainment. Books obtained thanks to social campaigns were the beginning of libraries book collections.

„Lietuvos vietovardžių žodynas“. 1 tomas: A–B

Author(s): Vytautas Antanas Vitkauskas / Language(s): Lithuanian Issue: 60/2009

Review of: „Lietuvos vietovardžių žodynas“. Volume 1: A-B1. Vilnius: Lietuvių kalbos institutas, 2009. ISBN 978-9955-704-70-6 (1 tomas), 978-9955-704-71-3 (bendras). Review by: Vytautas Antanas Vitkauskas

„Miasto, w którym los pozwolił mi znaleźć przystań…”. Spacer z pochodniami, 6 czerwca 2018

Author(s): Author Not Specified / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1-2/2019

„Nowa” tożsamość miejsca 1 w poprzemysłowej Łodzi

Author(s): Jan Wrana / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2010

Łódź owes its development in the XIX century and the fall in the XX century to great industry. The period of transformations in the political system, after the year 1989, was the time of daring attempts to revitalize large buildings providing the chance for reviving the life of the postindustrial city. Architects, the creators of changes in these very buildings, have intuitively preserved the modern context and the observance of the heritage assigned to the place, creating, at the same time, “new” identity of the places.

„Polak w Afryce” o młodych i najmłodszych uchodźcach polskich z ZSRR w Afryce w latach 1943-1945

Author(s): Marek Ney-Krwawicz / Language(s): Polish Issue: 4/2020

The purpose of the article is to present what and in what form the Polish newspaper Polak w Afryce (Pole in Africa) appearing in Africa in 1943-45 published about the young and youngest Polish refugees from the USSR who reached the African continent. These refugees were located in the countries of British East Africa (i.e. Kenya, Tanganyika, and Uganda), in Norther Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia as well as in the Union of South Africa. Almost half of the inhabitants of the Polish settlements were young and the youngest children, often orphans or half-orphans, and due to this fact the Polish paper devoted a lot of space to them.

„Pravi dinarci“. Crnogorci, „dalmatinski Zagorci“ i Ličani u antropogeografiji Jovana Cvijića

Author(s): Višeslav Aralica / Language(s): Croatian Issue: 7/2020

Jovan Cvijić was a Serbian scientist specialized in geology, today famous for his book „the Balkan Peninsula“ written and published in French in 1918. That book has been for decades one of the pivotal books for many historians, ethnographers and ideologists not only among Serbs, but also among other southern Slav’s intellectuals. Key role in „the Balkan Peninsula“ was given to the so called „Dinaric psychic type“, a term forged and used by Cvijić to denote the population of the Dinaric Alps. There have been many critics, particularly those from Croatia, who had emphasized the idealization of those so called „Dinarics“ in Cvijić’s work. The reason for such idealization was seen by those critics in the ideology that served as a foundation for Cvijić’s scientific system. And that ideology was regularly identified as a form of Serbian nationalism, disguised as Yugoslav nationalism. The proof for that was Cvijić’s description and idealization of „Shumadia type/group“, that is the population of the Kingdom of Serbia, in his books in which he presented his anthropology. Those were described by Cvijić as „the best“ among the „Dinaric psychic types“, a type which was seen as „the best“ of all other psychic types of the Southern Slavs. That criticism falls short of truly presenting the complex nature of Cvijić work. Indeed, there is a clear ideological fundament in his scientific system. But to say that his work simply presents the population of the Kingdom of Serbia as „the best of the best“ is oversimplification. The idealization of „Dinarics“ is produced by the reader of Cvijić’s anthropology due to his intentional choice of epic style in describing the „Dinaric psychic type“. But — and here’s the problem for his critics, but also a problem for Cvijić himself — this idealization via epic style is not the same in all of the groups belonging to the „Dinaric psychic type“. That epic style is prevalent in the description of the groups of Old Montenegro, Lika and Dalmatian Hinterland (Zagora), and for the reader of his „the Balkan Peninsula“ they are clearly „the best of the best“ — that is, the groups that present the „Dinaric psychic type“ in its clearest form.

„Sztuka parkowania” – wykorzystanie parkingów Kampusu 600-lecia Odnowienia Uniwersytetu Jagiellońskiego w kontekście polityki zrównoważonej mobilności

Author(s): Grzegorz Bubak,Andrzej Jabłoński,Jakub Biesaga / Language(s): Polish Issue: 163/2020

Sustainable mobility is one of the most current challenges of contemporary spatial planning, which focuses also on parking policy. Keeping balance between the demand and supply of parking space as well as using those in public space is under debate in many cities. The goal of the research was to evaluate the efficiency of parking policy on the 3rd Jagiellonian University Campus in Krakow. For five days, at three fixed times, the occupancy level of parking spaces was measured, and the obtained results were analyzed, which helped Authors to propose a number of spatial and organizational solutions. For a better understanding of the source of the problems, photographical documentation was made and unstructured interviewing was conducted. The Authors came to a conclusion that the parking space resources are used ineffectively despite the fact that the number of parking spots exceeds the demand of users. The obtain ed results were discussed in relation to the experiences of other universities in the country and in the world. The main idea of the article is to look at the university as an institution with special social responsibility in the implementation of solutions ensuring sustainable mobility.

„Tak oto ożywamy, tak, tak, tak”. Szkic o Agacie Harz

Author(s): Justyna Szklarczyk / Language(s): Polish Issue: 02/2021

A biographical outline devoted to the urban traditional singer Agata Harz. The text is an attempt to answer the questions: How is it possible that a singer with proper anthropological sensitivity undertakes the performance of traditional songs, in which misogyny and xenophobia are omnipresent? How does she define the songs? What strategies does she adopt towards them? To what extent does she transform them? How does she understand the gesture of performing traditional songs today? And can Agata Harz’s work and practice have a transgressive potential? The text also constitutes a missing element of the history of Polish traditional music circles, and more broadly, of the history of past and present traditional singers.

„Ten biedny Itek! Taki zblazowany! Pozuje!” Gombrowicz jako pozer

Author(s): Ewa Kobyłecka-Piwońska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 6/2020

Kobyłecka-Piwońska discusses Argentinian interpretations of Gombrowicz’s work that refer to notions of posing. She begins by outlining the history of simulation as an illness and as a strategy of assimilation applied by immigrants in Argentina. Next she analyses passages in the Diary, using the notion of the pose as an attitude to life and as a narrative strategy. The article concludes with an analysis of Gombrowicz’s Wędrówki po Argentynie[Travels in Argentina], where both Polish and Argentine nationality, presented throughthe lens of exotism, appear as a pose.

„Trzy kobiety i biblioteka”. Warszawska Biblioteka Wzorowa dla dzieci i jej kierowniczki (1927-2004)

Author(s): Grażyna Lewandowicz-Nosal / Language(s): English,Polish Issue: 2/2020

The Warsaw Model Library for Children, opened in Warsaw in November 1927, is one of the best-known institutions of this type in Poland. Its organization and methods of work have served, according to the name, as an organizational model of other children’s libraries. However, the library is not only a place and collections but also people – librarians. The article presents the characters of three managers of this library and their contribution to the development of such a single institution and its impact on the nationwide network of public libraries for children. The character and activity of the organizer and the first manager of the library Maria Gutry, then Zofia Wędrychowska-Papuzińska, and Sława Łabanowska, a long-time first post-war library manager, will be discussed. The fate of the library itself is the background to present their activity. The available biographical materials and archival documents collected in the library will be referred to.

„WALKA Z TERRORYZMEM”. DOŚWIADCZENIE PRAKTYK PAŃSTWOWYCH W REPUBLICE DAGESTANU W LATACH 2005-2014

Author(s): Iwona Kaliszewska / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2015

Daghestan is the most unstable republic in the North Caucasus, Russian Federation. There is an ongoing conflict between power structures who aim to ‘fight terrorism’ and Islamic militants who strive to create an Islamic State in the North Caucasus. What is the local meaning of the term ‘fighting terrorism’? Who are the local ‘Wahhabis’? How do Daghestani inhabitants experience state practices disguised under the official ‘fighting terrorism’? What is their perception of the state dealings? I show how the meanings of the terms ‘fighting terrorism’ and ‘Wahhabis’ have changed throughout the last decade in Daghestan. From my research I conclude that after 2009 the local ‘fighting terrorism’ has been perceived as the source of violence, while a ‘Wahhabi’ has become a scapegoat, persecuted for a certain set of features. I also analyse the relation between experiences of the local state practices and the more general perceptions of the state dealings. While the local ‘fighting terrorism’ has been criticised and deconstructed, the same cannot be said about its media representation. The ‘rational’ dimension of the state has been locally deconstructed, while the ‘magical’ mode remained persuasive and did not seem to be threatened by the deconstruction.

„Warszawa jest przecież tęczowa”. Obraz przestrzeni miasta w autodziecięcych tekstach kultury nagrodzonych w konkursie varsavianistycznym Muzeum Warszawy

Author(s): Grzegorz Leszczyński / Language(s): Polish Issue: 1/2021

The analysis of works submitted by elementary and secondary school students to the writing competition organised by the Museum of Warsaw shows that child authors reproduce schematic depictions of the city space, present in guidebooks and on the internet, while avoiding everything that is oriented towards its young and youngest inhabitants and tourists. This results, on the one hand, from the fact that Warsaw inhabitants themselves have no knowledge of places attractive to children and, on the other, from the desire of child authors to adjust their works to the hypothetical expectations of the adult jury. This second reason also results in an overload of facts as well as historical and topographical details. Child authors are not inspired by contemporary literature directed at them, by writers who want to grow up not to be their readers’ teachers, but to be children.

№105. A Synergy for Black Sea Regional Cooperation:

Guidelines for an EU Initiative

Author(s): Fabrizio Tassinari / Language(s): English

This study advocates that the EU support a comprehensive, multi-stakeholder initiative to achieve synergy from regional cooperation in the wider Black Sea area. The background for this initiative is first provided through an overview of the challenges, recent developments and EU interests in this region. Different models of regionalism have been promoted by the EU in the European periphery, and these are schematised with a focus on their respective advantages and disadvantages. Finally guidelines for an EU initiative are set out under: 1) objectives and sector-specific actions, 2) its scope in terms of variable geographic geometries of desirable cooperation in the region and 3) a Framework of institutional and financial arrangements to support the process. An overarching mechanism is required to give political cohesion, ownership, visibility and strategic purpose to the process, and this could well be based on an annual, high-level meeting, drawing on the model of the Black Sea Forum Summit in Bucharest on 5 June 2006.

№109. 'Outsourcing’ de facto Statehood. Russia and the Secessionist Entities in Georgia and Moldova

Author(s): Nicu Popescu / Language(s): English

The international community has been increasingly concerned with the secessionist conflicts that have marked the dissolution of the Soviet Union. The conflicts in the Transnistrian region of Moldova, South Ossetia and Abkhazia in Georgia, and Nagorno-Karabakh in Azerbaijan are no longer ‘internal affairs’ of the successor states of the former Soviet Union. The EU and NATO enlargements have brought these organisations closer to the conflict areas and have increased their interest in promoting solutions to these conflicts. In the context of the international fight against terrorism, there are fears that the existence of failed states or uncontrolled areas can have repercussions far beyond their respective regions. The relative stabilisation of the Balkans will allow the EU and NATO to pay more attention to conflicts that are further away from their neighbourhood.

№112. What should the European Union do next in the Middle East?

Author(s): Michael Emerson,Natalie Tocci / Language(s): English

It is urgent that the EU should follow up on UN Resolution 1701 and the deployment of member states’ troops to Lebanon with a strategic diplomatic initiative aimed at the fundamental problem, namely the lack of an agreed resolution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict. The reasons for this are a mix of old and new; reasons which are rooted in the international, European and Middle Eastern domains.

№120. The Presevo Valley of Southern Serbia alongside Kosovo. The Case for Decentralisation and Minority Protection

Author(s): Beáta Huszka / Language(s): English

Presevo Valley gained international attention mostly due to the insurgency of local Albanians in 2000, which was also a key factor destabilising Macedonia in 2001. Situated in southern Serbia and bordering on Macedonia and Kosovo, Presevo Valley is home to Serbia’s Albanian minority. Although the Valley has been calm in the last few years and the resurgence of armed conflict is unlikely at the moment, the situation is still fragile and continues to pose a potential security threat for the wider region. As the solution to Kosovo’s status is approaching, the problems of Albanians in Presevo Valley deserve serious attention. There are two main sources of security threats: one is the potential influx of Serbian refugees, the other is Kosovo’s (hypothetical) partition. The latter could potentially lead to the outbreak of violence, as Albanians of the Valley recently declared their intention to be united with Kosovo if the Serbian villages in the North of Kosovo would join Serbia. This Policy Brief argues, however, that the Serbian government could reduce the chances of conflict by addressing some everyday problems faced by the Albanian minority, which could take the wind out of the sails of potential irredentists. Albanian grievances centre on issues such as their weak presence in the public sector, high unemployment, limited implementation of their language rights and the lack of economic development. Some of these problems could be effectively addressed through strengthening local autonomy, which could be part of the solution. It is argued here that continuation with the Covic plan, which combines decentralisation and demilitarisation, could bring about the desired stability for the region, which needs continued attention and assistance from international bodies, among them the European Union.

№127. The EU and Kazakhstan. Balancing Economic Cooperation and Aiding Democratic Reforms in the Central Asian region

Author(s): Bhavna Dave / Language(s): English

Kazakhstan’s continuing socioeconomic and political stability, a formal commitment to political reforms and an unambiguously pro-Western orientation make it the EU’s most reliable partner in the Central Asian region. Its rising oil exports – almost 80% of EU imports from Kazakhstan consist of fuel and geostrategic location make a close and continuing partnership with the EU inevitable. Recognising that Kazakhstan is favourably placed to be the foremost player in the region, this analysis advocates that the EU should 1) develop an internally differentiated strategy towards Central Asia with Kazakhstan as a strategic anchor in the region, and 2) prioritise the promotion of democratic reforms and transparency of political and economic processes which can turn Kazakhstan into a more effective and reliable partner of the EU and a positive engine for reform in the broader region.

№128. The European Union’s Strategic Role in Central Asia

Author(s): Neil Melvin / Language(s): English

For the first time since the collapse of communism, the EU is facing a strategic challenge in its external policies. The rise of Russia and China as international actors – with India close behind – and the growing confidence of some leading regional powers, such as Iran, are creating a serious threat to the EU’s ambition to apply external policies that reflect European values. Against this background, the employment of the democracy – promotion agenda developed during the 1990s is unlikely to be effective and may even serve to weaken the position of the EU in key regions. This situation demands an urgent and far-reaching rethink of the approach the Union takes to external relations. If the EU is to remain a serious global actor, it will have to find ways to reconcile the imperative of engaging in difficult regions beyond the immediate European neighbourhood while also remaining true to the values of the Union.

№129. Turkmenistan in transition. A window for EU engagement?

Author(s): Michael Denison / Language(s): English

The sudden death of President Saparmurat Niyazov on 21 December 2006 has opened a window for engagement between the European Union (EU) and Turkmenistan. There appears to be a realisation across the Turkmen political elite that Niyazov’s style of policy micro-management was unsustainable and undesirable, both in terms of its immediate outcomes, and for its broader impact on political and social cohesion. Accordingly, a more balanced and collegiate form of governance is likely to develop under the new regime, with power effectively centred on a ‘junta’ of influential security officials from different clans/regions. Although formal democratisation remains a distant prospect, a sequence of economic and social changes, initiated both from above and below is likely to occur. The principal objectives of these will be to reverse Niyazov’s most idiosyncratic and unambiguously damaging policies, and to commence a process of cautious re-engagement with the outside world. What is the aim of these changes, repairing the damage of the Niazov years or something more ambitious? These reforms have the potential to be simultaneously emancipating and destabilising. Using a fusion of traditional Turkmen and Soviet techniques, paid for by gas rents, Niyazov managed to create a regime that, for over two decades, rather effectively neutralised any actual or potential sources of opposition to his rule. Without that primitive overlay, the multiplication of political actors, combined with necessary reforms to increase the role of the private sector, is likely to test the state’s institutional strength, and open new internal commercial pressures for engagement in and beyond the region.