The Story of Polish “Orientalness” – Researching Islam in Poland
Abstract
Polish academia has a long tradition of studies on the Middle East, Islam and its heritage. Oriental studies have been part of university curricula in Kraków, Lvov (today in Ukraine) and Vilno (today Vilnius is the capital of Lithuania), later expanding also in such cities as today’s capital Warsaw [1]. The Oriental studies concentrated on the MiddleEastduetocontactsPolandhashadwiththeregion.Oneofthemostinteresting ideas brought up by researchers is based on the observations of cultural encounters throughout the turbulent history of the country leading some to coin terms such as Polish “Orientalness”. This term denotes a set of identity and cultural characteristics and can beopposed to the widely debated “Orientalism”, as defined by the renowned Palestinian intellectual and academic Edward Said in his seminal book from 1979, due to different experiences of relations with Muslim communities. Today’s Poland due to several, mainly historical factors, is one of the most homogenous nations of the entire world so it seems crucial to look upon patterns of multicultural existence which were once experienced on a daily basis.
Keywords: Orientalness, Islam, Poland, borderland
References
[1] The Oriental languages program began expanding at Jagiellonian University since the XIX century, although the history of teaching e.g. Hebrew was much longer
[2] Said, E. (1979), Orientalism, New York: Vintage Books, p. 31-35
[3] The full title of the book is Covering Islam: How the Media and the Experts Determine how We See the Rest of the World. It was first published in 1981
[4] Later also American Orientalism
[5] Kieniewicz, J. (1984), PolishOrientalness, Acta PoloniaeHistorica, vol. 49, p. 67-68
[6] Ibid., p. 67
[7] Ibid. 77
[8] Ibid., p. 67
[9] Ibid, p. 68
[10] The other name used is KresyWschodnie (Eastern Borderland)
[11] Sources for Oriental Studies. The other founder was Joseph von HammerPurgstall, one of the foremost Austrian orientalists, more in: Reychman J. (1972). PodróżnicypolscynaBliskimWschodzie w XIX wieku (Polish travellers in the Middle East in the XIXth century), Warsaw: PIW, p. 95
[12] The English translation: Concerning the Horses of the Orient and Those Originating from Oriental Breeds
[13] Today Lviv is one of Ukraine’s largest cities. At the time of his birth Lviv was part of the Austro-Hungarian empire, before the partition it was part of Polish terrirtories
[14] Asad in Arabic means lion
[15] Asad, M. (reprint 2004), The Road to Mecca, New Delhi, p. 306
[16] Nawwāb, I. (2002), Berlin to Makkah, Saudi Aramco World, vol. 53, nr. 1/02, p. 11