Quarterly 2013, No. 6 (99) edited by Joanna Piechowiak-Lamparska ACADEMIC COUNCIL Jerzy Hauziński (Słupsk, Poland), Miao Huashou (China), Liu Jian (China), Mart-Jan de Jong (the Netherlands), Stanisław Juszczyk (Katowice, Poland), Daniel Kawa (Toruń, Poland), Mike Keen (the USA), Jerzy Krzyszkowski (Łódź, Poland), Ivan Kusy (Slovakia), Joanna Marszałek-Kawa (Toruń, Poland), Tadeusz Lewowicki (Warszawa, Poland), Josef Malach (the Czech Republic), Maria Mendel (Gdańsk, Poland), Janusz Mucha (Kraków, Poland), Pavol Odaloš (Slovakia), Jarosław Piątek (Szczecin, Poland), Donald Pienkos (the USA), Renata Podgórzańska (Szczecin, Poland), Bronisław Siemieniecki (Toruń, Poland), Marzena Sobczak-Michałowska (Bydgoszcz, Poland), Włodzimierz Sperański (Russia), Klaus-Heinrich Standke (Germany), Konrad W. Studnicki-Gizbert (Canada), Tomasz Szlendak (Toruń, Poland), Pál Tamás (Hungary), Włodzimierz Tyburski (Toruń, Poland), Jaroslav Uhel (Slovakia), Petr Vorel (the Czech Republic), Bartosz Wojciechowski (Łódź, Poland) EDITORS Ryszard Borowicz – Editor in Chief He Yaomin – Deputy Editor Adam Grzeliński, Agnieszka Jeran, Arkadiusz Karwacki, Maria Nawojczyk SECRETARIES Justyna Brylewska, Joanna Piechowiak-Lamparska, Arleta Hrehorowicz, Jia Hanjun TECHNICAL EDITING Iwona Banasiak PROOFREADING Andrew Haggard, Karolina Kukowska COVER DESIGN www.bluz.pl Co-publishing: Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, Wydawnictwo Naukowe GRADO and China Renmin University Press © Copyright by Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek © Copyright by Wydawnictwo Naukowe GRADO Toruń 2013 ISSN 1230-266X Institutional subscription can be ordered in the sections of Kolporter S.A. throughout Poland. Information at infoline number 801 40 40 44 or on website http://sa.kolporter.com.pl/ „Kultura i Edukacja”, ul. Lubicka 44, 87-100 Toruń, tel. 56 660 81 60, 664 22 35, 664 22 36 w. 25, e-mail: info@kultura-i-edukacja.pl, Internet: www.kultura-i-edukacja.pl Wydawnictwo Adam Marszałek, ul. Lubicka 44, 87-100 Toruń, tel./fax 56 648 50 70 Internet: http://www.marszalek.com.pl, e-mail: info@marszalek.com.pl Drukarnia nr 2, ul. Warszawska 52, 87-148 Łysomice, tel. 56 678 34 78 Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) ISSN 1230-266X CONTENTS ARTICLES–STUDIES GREGORY KRÓLICZ AK Praxis in Let-Handers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 IZ ABELL A BUKRABARYLSKA Culture: Meanings and Values or a Multisensory Orgy? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 P R Z E M Y S Ł AW W E W I Ó R Montesquieu’s Attempt to Establish History as Science . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 COMMUNICATES–RELATIONS B E ATA B O N NA Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s heory of Music Learning in the Music Education in Poland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66 MARCELA KOŚCIAŃCZUK Problems of the Application of Visual Anthropology in Palestinian Gender Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88 JOANNA CUKRASSTELĄGOWSKA, JAKUB STELĄGOWSKI “And Is It Really in Lubawka?” Young People and Wanted and Unwanted Cultural Heritage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111 SPECIAL COMMUNICATES Welfare State MARIUSZ BARANOWSKI Towards the Welfare State Sociology. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135 4 Contents JACEK TIT TENBRUN he Welfare State in a State of Crisis? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149 CARL MARKLUND Why Do We Expect More from Politics at a Time When It Is Supposedly Able to Do Less? Comparing Interwar Crisis Economics and Post-War Welfare Politics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 GEORGIOS MICHALOPOULOS “I Couldn’t Wait to Get away from My Village”: Re-examining Childtowns in Postwar Greece . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191 E WA D U D A  M I K U L I N Citizenship in Action? A Case Study of Polish Migrant Women Moving between Poland and the UK . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 205 REVIEWS–REPORTS Iwona Galewska (rev.): Pamięć jako kategoria rzeczywistości kulturalnej [Memory as a Category of Cultural Reality], J. Adamowski, M. Wójcicka (eds.), Lublin 2012 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 225 Joanna Marszałek-Kawa: A report from VII International Academic Conference “Asia in the 21st Century: Challenges, Dilemmas, Perspectives: Debating Economics, Politics, Security, Culture, and Education in Contemporary Asia,” Toruń, 16–17 May 2013 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 230 Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 233 Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) ISSN 1230-266X ARTICLES–STUDIES Gregory Króliczak Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland PRAXIS IN LEFT-HANDERS ABSTRACT Neuropsychological and neuroimaging evidence convincingly implicates the let cerebral hemisphere in the representation of skilled movements (praxis) in right-handers. Compelling and consistent data on the organization of praxis in let-handed individuals has only recently started to emerge. his new evidence, again both from neuropsychology and neuroimaging, supports the notion that in let-handers the neural substrate of praxis skills is less asymmetric, i.e., it is more bilaterally organized. Up until recently, though, the neuropsychological literature on brain-damaged let-handers was oten dominated by descriptions of more or less atypical cases and dissociations of functions observed in such individuals. Associations of deficits, linked to anatomic proximity rather than to a common cerebral specialization, were rarely found worth publishing and/or in-depth discussions. his paper first reviews some of the most relevant and/or well-known reports on representations of different categories of skilled manual gestures in right- and let-handers, with a view to support the idea that these skills are mediated by a common system. hen, based on neuroimaging evidence from healthy subjects, a few individuals with unusual organization of praxis are discussed. hese disparate cases quite likely represent natural variation in functional asymmetries. It is yet to be determined whether the effect of a more bilateral organization of cognitive skills in this population is just due to a much higher incidence of atypical representations of functions or rather a general tendency for all let-handers to have their brains less asymmetrically organized. 6 Gregory Króliczak Key words: communicative gestures, gesture planning, neural representations, asymmetries, dissociations 1. Introduction It has been long argued that performance of skilled movements depends not only on the integrity of brain circuits involved in the low level, direct control of action execution, but also on regions engaged in higher-order movement (praxis) representations, e.g., the areas encoding internal models of skilled motor acts. Put differently, although the contribution of the contralateral primary sensory-motor systems in the actual performance of simple manual tasks is no doubt essential1, more cognitive aspects of complex movements, such as sequencing and timing of finger/hand/arm configurations, and their functionally appropriate orientation or position, are controlled by the dominant let hemisphere2. Such let-lateralized cerebral specialization for praxis is evident in nearly all right-handers, irrespective of the hands that they use in the tasks. herefore, although implemented primarily in the let inferior parietal, premotor, prefrontal, and caudal temporal areas, this specialization underlies hand-independent mechanisms selective to disparate cognitive requirements for different manual actions3. 1 H. Liepmann, Apraxia, “Ergebn. Ges. Med.” 1920, No. 1, pp. 516–543; J. Brinkman, H.G. Kuypers, Splitbrain Monkeys: Cerebral Control of Ipsilateral and Contralateral Arm, Hand, and Finger Movements, “Science” 1972, No. 176(34), pp. 536 – 539; J. Brinkman, H.G. Kuypers, Cerebral Control of Contralateral and Ipsilateral Arm, Hand and Finger Movements in the Split-brain Rhesus Monkey, “Brain” 1973, No. 96(4), pp. 653 – 674. 2 E.g. H. Liepmann, Apraxia, op.cit.; H. Goodglass, E. Kaplan, Disturbance of Gesture and Pantomime in Aphasia, “Brain” 1963, No. 86, pp. 703 – 720; D. Kimura, Y. Archibald, Motor Functions of the Let Hemisphere, “Brain” 1974, No. 97(2), pp. 337–350. For reviews, see K. Haaland, D.L. Harrington, Hemispheric Asymmetry of Movement, “Curr Opin Neurobiol” 1996, No. 6(6), pp. 796–800; R. Leiguarda, Apraxias as Traditionally Defined [in:] Higher-Order Motor Disorders: From Neuroanatomy and Neurobiology to Clinical Neurology, H.-J. Freund, M. Jeannerod, M. Hallett, R. Leiguarda (eds.), Oxford 2005, pp. 303–338; a Polish reader is also referred to a review on praxis by G. Króliczak, Reprezentacja praksji u osób prawo- i leworęcznych [Representation of Praxis in Right- and Let-Handed Individuals] [in:] Na ścieżkach neuronauki [On Paths of Neuroscience], P. Francuz (ed.), Lublin 2010, pp. 173 – 189; cf. G. Króliczak, C. Cavina-Pratesi, D.A. Goodman, J.C. Culham, What Does the Brain Do when You Fake It? An FMRI Study of Pantomimed and Real Grasping, “Journal of Neurophysiology” 2007, No. 97(3), pp. 2410 – 2422; see also G. Króliczak, C. Cavina Pratesi, M.E. Large, Object Perception versus Target-Directed Manual Actions [in:] Neuroadaptive Systems: heory and Applications, M. Fafrowicz, T. Marek, W. Karwowski, D. Schmorrow (eds.), Bosa Roca 2012, pp. 69 – 95. 3 K. Haaland, D.L. Harrington, Hemispheric Asymmetry of Movement,“Curr Opin Neurobiol” 1996, No. 6(6), pp. 796–800; R. Leiguarda, Limb Apraxia: Cortical or Subcortical,“Neuroimage” 2001, No. 14(1), pp. 137–141; S. Johnson-Frey, he Neural Bases of Complex Tool Use in Humans, “Trends Cogn Sci” 2004, No. 8(2), pp. 71–78; S. Frey, M.G. Funnell, V.E. Gerry, M.S. Gazzaniga, A Dissociation between the Praxis in Left-Handers 7 he actual neural underpinning of praxic skills, such as det control of the hand for simulated use of tools and utensils (transitive actions; e.g. cutting, stirring, painting), and for conventionalized manual signals and signs that do not require objects (intransitive actions; e.g. beckoning, waving, scolding) – has been extensively studied in patients with brain injuries since the turn of the 20th century4. Right from the start, different kinds of apraxia – i.e., an inability to perform skilled movements in the absence of primary sensory, lower-level motor, and linguistic deficits – have been distinguished and related to disparate lesion locations. hus, the most basic praxic disorder, such as an inability to make precise movements of individual fingers – referred to as limb-kinetic apraxia – has been linked primarily5, but not always6 to contralateral lesions of the primary sensory-motor system, and sometimes7 to lesions of the premotor cortices (PMC). In sharp contrast, an inability to properly time and spatially organize more complex gestural movements – called ideomotor apraxia – observed despite seemingly intact movement representations8 occurs primarily following lesions to the let posterior parietal cortex Representation of Tool-Use Skills and Hand Dominance: Insights from Let- and Right-Handed Callosotomy Patients, “J Cogn Neurosci” 2005, No. 17(2), pp. 262–272; S. Frey, What Puts the how in where? Tool Use and the Divided Visual Streams Hypothesis, “Cortex” 2007, No. 43(3), pp. 368–375; G. Króliczak, S.H. Frey, A Common Network in the Let Cerebral Hemisphere Represents Planning of Tool Use Pantomimes and Familiar Intransitive Gestures at the Hand-Independent Level, “Cereb Cortex” 2009, No. 19(10), pp. 2396–2410; see also G. Króliczak, D.A. Westwood, M.A. Goodale, Differential Effects of Advance Semantic Cues on Grasping, Naming, and Manual Estimation, “Experimental Brain Research” 2006, No. 175(1), pp. 139–152; G. Króliczak, C. Cavina Pratesi, M.E. Large, op.cit. 4 E. g. H. Liepmann, Das Krankheitshild der Apraxie (Motorischen/Asymbolie), “ Monatschrit fur Psychiatrie und Neurologie” 1900, No. 8, pp. 15 – 44, 102 – 132, 182 – 197; H. Liepmann, Apraxia, op.cit.; N. Geschwind, E. Kaplan, A Human Cerebral Deconnection Syndrome. A Preliminary Report, “Neurology” 1962, No. 12, pp. 675 – 685; H. Goodglass, E. Kaplan, op.cit.; E. Roy, P. Square-Storer, S. Hogg, S. Adams, Analysis of Task Demands in Apraxia, “Int J Neurosci” 1991, No. 56(1 – 4), pp. 177 – 186; K. Heilman, R.T. Watson, L.G. Rothi, Limb Apraxias: Disorders of Skilled Movements [in:] Behavioural Neurology and Neuropsychology, T.E. Feinberg, M.J. Farah (eds.), New York 1997; B. Hanna-Pladdy, S.K. Daniels, M.A. Fieselman, K. Thompson, J.J. Vasterling, K.M. Heilman, A.L. Foundas, Praxis Lateralization: Errors in Right and Let Hemisphere Stroke, “Cortex” 2001, No. 37(2), pp. 219 – 230; K. Heilman, L.J. Rothi, Apraxia [in:] Clinical Neuropsychology, K.M. Heilman, E. Valenstein (eds.), New York 2003, pp. 215 – 135; R. Leiguarda, Apraxias as Traditionally…, op.cit.; for one of the most recent attempts to look for cases of their dissociations see also V. Stamenova, E.A. Roy, S.E. Black, Associations and Dissociations of Transitive and Intransitive Gestures in Let and Right Hemisphere Stroke Patients, “Brain & Cognition” 2010, No. 72(3), pp. 483 – 490. 5 H. Liepmann, Apraxia, op.cit. 6 K. Heilman, K.J. Meador, D.W. Loring, Hemispheric Asymmetries of Limb-Kinetic Apraxia: A Loss of Detness, “Neurology” 2000, No. 55(4), pp. 523 – 526. 7 H. Freund, H. Hummelsheim, Lesions of Premotor Cortex in Man, “Brain” 1985, No. 108, pp. 697 – 733. 8 E. g. H. Liepmann, Apraxia, op.cit.; L. Rothi, C. Ochipa, K.M. Heilman, A Cognitive Neuropsychological Model of Limb Praxis, “Cognitive Neuropsychology” 1991, No. 8(6), pp. 443 – 458. 8 Gregory Króliczak (PPC), less frequently PMC, supplementary motor area (SMA), and lateral prefrontal cortex9. Finally, an inability to conceptualize proper movements for simulated (i.e., gestured) use of an imagined object – referred to as ideational apraxia – typically follows let parieto-occipital and parieto-temporal lesions10. Yet, similar movement disturbances have been also observed ater let frontal and fronto-temporal lesions11. hese and other subtypes of apraxia have been described and debated in the neuropsychological literature, both in the context of tool use pantomimes and intransitive gestures12. he overall patterns of findings have, of course, differed depending on the task employed, e.g., whether the tested gestures were performed on verbal command, imitated, or were triggered by the object or a related picture, and have, no doubt, been contingent upon how praxis and language were represented in the patient’s brain13. It should be added, though, that some of the most intriguing patterns of deficits in limb praxis come from studies of patients with callosal infarction and/or surgical sectioning of the corpus callosum, which are referred to as the callosal disconnection syndrome. hese cases indicate that – at least in right-handers – the laterality of praxis representation to the dominant let hemisphere is not always complete14 and, unlike pantomiming to verbal command, imitation and actual object use can be also mediated by the right hemisphere. Some up to date support for these observations comes from reports of gradual changes in the hemispheric control of praxic skills over the time of recovery, in which the 9 It is worth mentioning that ideomotor apraxia is oten accompanied by damage to the intrahemispheric white matter connecting these areas; R. Leiguarda, C.D. Marsden, Limb Apraxias: Higher-Order Disorders of Sensorimotor Integration, “Brain” 2000, No. 123, pp. 860 – 879; R. Leiguarda, Apraxias as Traditionally…, op.cit. 10 E.g. H. Liepmann, Apraxia, op.cit.; H. Freund, he Apraxias [in:] Diseases of the Nervous System. Clinical Neurobiology, A.K. Asbury, G.M. McKhann, W.J. McDonald (eds.), Philadelphia 1992, pp. 751 – 767. 11 E.g. E. De Renzi, F. Lucchelli, Ideational Apraxia, “Brain” 1988, No. 111, pp. 1173 – 1185; K. Heilman, L.M. Maher, M.L. Greenwald, L.J. Rothi, Conceptual Apraxia from Lateralized Lesions, “Neurology” 1997, No. 49(2), pp. 457 – 464. 12 For a review, see R. Leiguarda, Apraxias as Traditionally…, op.cit. 13 E.g. H. Liepmann, O. Mass, Fall von linksseitiger Agraphie und Apraxie bei rechsseitiger Lahmung, “Zeitschrit fur Psychologie und Neurologie” 1907, No. 10, pp. 214 – 227; N. Geschwind, E. Kaplan, op.cit.; K. Heilman, L.J. Rothi, E. Valenstein, Two Forms of Ideomotor Apraxia, “Neurology” 1982, No. 32(4), pp. 342 – 346; R. Watson, K.M. Heilman, Callosal Apraxia, “Brain” 1983, No. 106, pp. 391 – 403; L. Rothi, K.M. Heilman, R.T. Watson, Pantomime Comprehension and Ideomotor Apraxia, “J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry” 1985, No. 48(3), pp. 207 – 210; V. Stamenova, E.A. Roy, S.E. Black, op.cit. 14 N. Geschwind, E. Kaplan, op.cit.; M. Gazzaniga, J.E. Bogen, R.W. Sperry, Dyspraxia following Division of the Cerebral Commissures, “Arch Neurol” 1967, No. 16(6), pp. 606 – 612. Praxis in Left-Handers 9 acute stage of deficits still suggests the initial lateralization of praxis to the let hemisphere15. More recent patient data strengthen the idea of let cerebral asymmetry in praxis representation. For example, Haaland and collaborators16 showed that the areas of maximal lesion overlap in patients who were impaired in gesture imitation – most severely for the imitation of tool use gestures- are located primarily within and around the let intraparietal sulcus (IPS), and in the let middle frontal gyrus (MFG). In contrast, Goldenberg and collaborators17 indicated that the areas of maximum difference between lesions in patients with impaired and normal pantomiming of tool use are located in the let inferior frontal gyrus (IFG), with the lesions extending both to the precentral gyrus (i.e., the ventral premotor cortex) and medially to the insular cortex. hese results nicely converge with the outcomes of fMRI research showing that preparation and/or execution of tool use pantomimes leads to increased neural activity within and along IPS (oten extending both to the inferior and superior parietal lobes; IPL and SPL), as well as in the let premotor and/or prefrontal cortex, including MFG18. Importantly, most of 15 R. Watson, K.M. Heilman, Callosal Apraxia, op.cit. K. Haaland, D.L. Harrington, R.T. Knight, Neural Representations of Skilled Movement, “Brain” 2000, No. 123, pp. 2306 – 2313. 17 G. Goldenberg, J. Hermsdorfer, R. Glindemann, C. Rorden, H.O. Karnath, Pantomime of Tool Use Depends on Integrity of Left Inferior Frontal Cortex, “Cereb Cortex” 2007, No. 17(12), pp. 2769 – 2776. 18 J. Moll, R. de Oliveira-Souza, L.J. Passman, F.C. Cunha, F. Souza-Lima, P.A. Andreiuolo, Functional MRI Correlates of Real and Imagined Tool-Use Pantomimes, “Neurology” 2000, No. 54(6), pp. 1331–1336; S. Choi, D.L. Na, E. Kang, K.M. Lee, S.W. Lee, D.G. Na, Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging during Pantomiming Tool-Use Gestures, “Exp Brain Res” 2001, No. 139(3), pp. 311 – 317; Y. Ohgami, K. Matsuo, N. Uchida, T. Nakai, An fMRI Study of Tool-Use Gestures: Body Part as Object and Pantomime, “Neuroreport” 2004, No. 15(12), pp. 1903 – 1906; R. Rumiati, P.H. Weiss, T. Shallice, G. Ottoboni, J. Noth, K. Zilles, G.R. Fink, Neural Basis of Pantomiming the Use of Visually Presented Objects, “Neuroimage” 2004, No. 21(4), pp. 1224 – 1231; S. Johnson-Frey, R. Newman-Norlund, S.T. Graton, A Distributed Let Hemisphere Network Active during Planning of Everyday Tool Use Skills, “Cereb Cortex” 2005, No. 15(6), pp. 681 – 695; E. Fridman, I. Immisch, T. Hanakawa, S. Bohlhalter, D. Waldvogel, K. Kansaku, L. Wheaton, T. Wu, M. Hallett, he Role of the Dorsal Stream for Gesture Production, “Neuroimage” 2006, No. 29(2), pp. 417–428; G. Vingerhoets, Knowing about Tools: Neural Correlates of Tool Familiarity and Experience, “Neuroimage” 2008, No. 40(3), pp. 1380 – 1391; G. Króliczak, S.H. Frey, A Common Network…, op.cit.; S. Bohlhalter, N. Hattori, L. Wheaton, E. Fridman, E.A. Shamim, G. Garraux, M. Hallett, Gesture Subtype-Dependent Let Lateralization of Praxis Planning: An Event-Related fMRI Study, “Cereb Cortex” 2009, No. 19(6), pp. 1256 – 1262; G. Vingerhoets, F. Acke, P. Vandemaele, E. Achten, Tool Responsive Regions in the Posterior Parietal Cortex: Effect of Differences in Motor Goal and Target Object During Imagined Transitive Movements, “Neuroimage” 2009, No. 47(4), pp. 1832 – 1843; G. Vingerhoets, E. Vandekerckhove, P. Honore, P. Vandemaele, E. Achten, Neural Correlates of Pantomiming Familiar and Unfamiliar Tools: Action Semantics versus Mechanical Problem Solving?, “Human Brain Mapping” 2011, No. 32(6), pp. 905 – 918. 16 10 Gregory Króliczak these neuroimaging studies also demonstrate that the observed increases of activation in the let parieto-frontal network are hand independent. A much more contentious issue is whether or not the neural underpinning of intransitive gestures (including manual emblems, as compared to transitive skills) is also the same, or rather depends on dissociable, or at least partially different neural networks19. Ater all, since the time of Morlass (1928) it has been argued that the ability to perform and/or understand conventionalized intransitive gestures, while relying on basic praxis representations, may also call for mechanisms related to social skills and, therefore, be implemented in different brain areas (e.g., in the right hemisphere). Supported by at least two more contemporary, and in fact very famous, cases of let-hemisphere damages leading to no obvious impairments in intransitive gestures but very profound inability to pantomime the use of tools20, this idea has prominently figured in modern theories of praxis21. Yet, some reports indicate that performance of intransitive gestures can be equally disrupted by damage to either cerebral hemisphere22, suggesting that there might be either higher degree of individual variability in the lateralization of intransitive skills or that the mechanisms involved in activating manual emblems may be distributed across both hemispheres. In sharp contrast, a very similar argument – that some aspects of programming limb configurations and their timing may depend on bilateral representations – has been also put forward in the context of tool use pantomimes23. he gist of the discussion on cerebral lateralization (the laterality of neural representations) of transitive and intransitive skills is shown in a schematic form in Figure 1. 19 See V. Stamenova, E.A. Roy, S.E. Black, op.cit. for one of the most recent neuropsychological reports on this topic; cf. F. Binkofski, L.J. Buxbaum, Two Action Systems in the Human Brain, “Brain and Language” 2012. 20 S. Rapcsak, C. Ochipa, P.M. Beeson, A.B. Rubens, Praxis and the Right Hemisphere, “Brain Cogn” 1993, No. 23(2), pp. 181 – 202; C. Dumont, B. Ska, A. Schiavetto, Selective Impairment of Transitive Gestures: An Unusual Case of Apraxia, “Neurocase” 1999, No. 5, pp. 447 – 458. 21 L. Rothi, C. Ochipa, K.M. Heilman, A Cognitive…, op.cit.; R. Cubelli, C. Marchetti, G. Boscolo, S. Della Sala, Cognition in Action: Testing a Model of Limb Apraxia, “Brain Cogn” 2000, No. 44(2), pp. 144 – 165; L. Buxbaum, Ideomotor Apraxia: A Call to Action, “Neurocase” 2001, No. 7(6), pp. 445 – 458. 22 M. Heath, E.A. Roy, S.E. Black, D.A. Westwood, Intransitive Limb Gestures and Apraxia Following Unilateral Stroke, “J Clin Exp Neuropsychol” 2001, No. 23(5), pp. 628 – 642; see also V. Stamenova, E.A. Roy, S.E. Black, op.cit. 23 B. Hanna-Pladdy, S.K. Daniels, M.A. Fieselman, K. hompson, J.J. Vasterling, K.M. Heilman, A.L. Foundas, op.cit. Praxis in Left-Handers 11 Figure 1. Gesture laterality at a glance. here is a general agreement in the neuropsychological and neuroimaging literature that transitive gestures (tool use pantomimes) are represented in the let hemisphere, independent of the hand used. he topic of an ongoing discussion is whether or not intransitive gestures are mediated by the same or dissociable system. here is some evidence that these conventionalized gestures (that can be also used instead of speech) may rely more on the right hemisphere. However, let-hemisphere damages can also affect their performance. Population, landmark and surface-based atlas (PALs) of Van Essen24 has been used in the background to represent the let and right hemispheres in their slightly inflated form (shown on the let and right side, respectively). In one of the most recent reports on this topic25, a few cases representing selective dissociations between intransitive and transitive skills have been shown either for imitation and/or pantomime of these gestures. Interestingly, deficient imitation of intransitive gestures (without deficits in their pantomimes, and no deficits whatsoever for transitive skills) was as likely to occur following damages to the right hemisphere (2 cases) or the let hemisphere (2 cases). Quite surprisingly, deficient pantomimes – i.e., verbally cued performance – of intransitive gestures (without problems with their imitation and no deficits in tests of transitive skills) have been linked only to right-hemisphere damages (another 2 cases). As can be seen, then, these very intriguing cases represent configurations of spared and/or lost abilities that would be very difficult to interpret within a general model, as the one presented above. A full appreciation of the observed patterns of acquired deficits will therefore depend on our understanding of the underlying causes for such striking 24 D. Van Essen, A Population-Average, Landmark- and Surface-Based (PALS) Atlas of Human Cerebral Cortex, “Neuroimage” 2005, No. 28(3), pp. 635 – 662. 25 V. Stamenova, E.A. Roy, S.E. Black, op.cit. 12 Gregory Króliczak individual differences. As put elsewhere, “…in addition to detailed knowledge on lesion location, one would need to know whether the observed patterns result from visual recognition versus visuo-spatial deficits. Moreover, it should be explained why representations underlying these disparate (i.e., perceptual vs. spatial) skills would be selectively lateralized to one of the two hemispheres just for one gesture category”26. Nonetheless, it is worth emphasizing that the group data from the paper by Stamenova and collaborators27 are quite coherent with earlier neuropsychological reports on apraxia of tool use and intransitive gestures. Consistent with reports that apraxic patients with let-hemisphere lesions are oten less impaired when they perform familiar intransitive gestures28, Króliczak and Frey have recently demonstrated using fMRI that a common network located in the let cerebral hemisphere is taxed less by intransitive gestures. Yet, this letlateralized network really represents both planning of transitive (tool use) and intransitive gestures at the hand-independent level. hey presented at least three pieces of evidence to make their case. A direct contrast of activity related to planning tool use pantomimes (vs. intransitive gestures) was indeed associated with greater activation within and around let IPS, primary sensory-motor, and dorsal premotor (PMd) cortices. But this was the case only when the dominant right hand was involved. he inverse contrast (for intransitive vs. transitive gesture planning) yielded no significant results. Similarly, no significant difference between activation for planning of tool use pantomimes and intransitive gestures was observed when participants used their non-dominant let hands. hus, also consistent with behavioral outcomes from healthy individuals, who under time pressure commit more errors during performance of transitive gestures29, these results strongly suggest that the difficulties many apraxic patients have during pantomiming the use of tools (but little or no problems with intransitive skills) can be accounted for by an assumption that transitive gestures are simply harder to plan and/or execute than intransitive gestures. Yet, even such unidirectional differences in verbally cued planning of these skills are still consistent with the idea that both gesture categories 26 G. Króliczak, Representations of Transitive and Intransitive Gestures: Perception and Imitation, “Journal of Neuroscience and Neuroengineering” 2013, No. 2(3), pp. 195 – 210. 27 V. Stamenova, E.A. Roy, S.E. Black, op.cit. 28 E. g. E. Roy, P. Square-Storer, S. Hogg, S. Adams, op.cit.; A. Foundas, B.L. Macauley, A.M. Raymer, L.M. Maher, L.J. Rothi, K.M. Heilman, Ideomotor Apraxia in Alzheimer Disease and Let Hemisphere Stroke: Limb Transitive and Intransitive Movements, “Neuropsychiatry Neuropsychol Behav Neurol” 1999, No. 12(3), pp. 161 – 166; K. Haaland, D.L. Harrington, R.T. Knight, op.cit. 29 J. Carmo, R.I. Rumiati, Imitation of Transitive and Intransitive Actions in Healthy Individuals, “Brain Cogn” 2009, No. 69(3), pp. 460 – 64. Praxis in Left-Handers 13 capitalize on common neural mechanisms and processes forming the so-called praxis representation network or PRN30. he outcomes from fMRI studies on the recognition31 and imitation32 of these two gesture categories are also consistent with the idea of a common system, i.e., the praxis representation network, involved in processing and guidance of these skills. he study by Króliczak extends this notion to perceptual processing of the two gesture categories (or at least to watching them with the intention to imitate), and also to their subsequent, shortly delayed imitation. Consistent with Króliczak and Frey, this report nicely showed that transitive gestures, as having more complex movement kinematics, less oten seen in real life, and clearly less oten used (as compared to intransitive skills), are more difficult to retrieve and, subsequently, to imitate. In fact, this effect can be observed well before the retrieval of the to-beperformed (gesture) kinematics because even simple visual processing of these actions, in addition to visuomotor regions, strongly engages several lower-level and higher-order visual areas. Moreover, the need for deeper processing of transitive gestures also extends beyond the stage of their retrieval because, similarly to verbally cued pantomimes33, the actual imitation of simulated tool use movements also leads to greater engagement of premotor and motor cortices on the let. Nevertheless, a case for dissociation has been also made because the actual imitation of intransitive gestures was accompanied by modulations of higher-order (parietal, and medial frontal) areas located outside of the let-lateralized praxis representation network34. It should be emphasized, though, that virtually none of these regions was involved when gesture-related activity (either watching or imitation) was measured versus resting baseline. hus, the revealed clusters most likely reflect some differences in the suppression of brain activity (or perhaps even deactivation) and, therefore, their actual role or contribution is hard to interpret. In summary, damage to the dominant let hemisphere in right-handers can lead to impairments in some but not all tests of apraxia. Apraxic patients can have no difficulty handling real objects and may find common, conventionalized gestures easier, especially on imitation35. his may in turn suggest the existence of some 30 G. Króliczak, S.H. Frey, A Common Network…, op.cit. M. Villarreal, E.A. Fridman, A. Amengual, G. Falasco, E.R. Gerscovich, E.R. Ulloa, R.C. Leiguarda, he Neural Substrate of Gesture Recognition, “Neuropsychologia” 2008, No. 46(9), pp. 2371 – 2382; G. Króliczak, Representations of Transitive…, op.cit. 32 G. Króliczak, Representations of…, op.cit. 33 G. Króliczak, S.H. Frey, A Common Network…, op.cit. 34 G. Króliczak, Representations of Transitive…, op.cit. 35 E. g. H. Goodglass, E. Kaplan, op.cit. 31 14 Gregory Króliczak praxic mechanisms within the non-dominant hemisphere. Indeed, right-hand dominant individuals can experience apraxia as a result of damage to their right hemispheres, too36. hus, despite the consensus that the vast majority of apraxic deficits in right-handers are associated with damage to the let hemisphere, praxis lateralization does not seem to be fully determined by hand preference, or vice versa, and may depend on multiple factors. his hypothesis gains further support from reports of apraxia in let-handed patients. 2. Praxis representation in left-handed individuals It has been oten assumed that hand preference might be one of the most reliable behavioral indicators of hemispheric specialization for praxis in humans37. If this were the case and, hypothetically speaking, the cerebral representation of praxis was always contralateral to the dominant hand then the pattern of lesions and the related praxis deficits in let- and right-handers should be mirror images of each other. Although such a case has indeed been reported38, this is not what has been typically observed in the apraxia literature. In fact, there is much less agreement on the lateralization of the control of more complex movements required for praxic skills in let-handed individuals, in part because extensive and systematic studies have been scarce until recently39. 36 E.g. S. Rapcsak, L.J. Gonzalez Rothi, K.M. Heilman, Apraxia in a Patient with Atypical Cerebral Dominance, “Brain Cogn” 1987, No. 6(4), pp. 450–463; B. Hanna-Pladdy, S.K. Daniels, M.A. Fieselman, K. hompson, J.J. Vasterling, K.M. Heilman, A.L. Foundas, op.cit.; V. Stamenova, E.A. Roy, S.E. Black, op.cit.; cf. A. Falchook, D.B. Burtis, L.M. Acosta, L. Salazar, V.S. Hedna, A.Y. Khanna, K.M. Heilman, Praxis and Writing in a Right-Hander with Crossed Aphasia, “Neurocase” 2013, where right-hemisphere lesion in a right-hander resulted only in deficient selection of the praxis programs, and a perseverative agraphia, but the praxic system seemed largely intact. 37 Cf. K. Haaland, D.L. Harrington, op.cit.; see also J. Volkmann, A. Schnitzler, O.W. Witte, H. Freund, Handedness and Asymmetry of Hand Representation in Human Motor Cortex, “J Neurophysiol” 1998, No. 79(4), pp. 2149 – 2154. 38 E.g. D. Delis, R.T. Knight, G. Simpson, Reversed Hemispheric Organization in a Let-Hander, “Neuropsychologia” 1983, No. 21(1), pp. 13–24; but cf. R. Fischer, M.P. Alexander, C. Gabriel, E. Gould, J. Milione, Reversed Lateralization of Cognitive Functions in Right Handers. Exceptions to Classical Aphasiology, “Brain” 1991, No. 114, pp. 245 – 261. 39 M. Rocca, A. Falini, G. Comi, G. Scotti, M. Filippi, he Mirror-Neuron System and Handedness: A „Right” World?, “Human Brain Mapping” 2008, No. 29(11), pp. 1243 – 1254; G. Króliczak, B.J. Piper, S.H. Frey, Atypical Lateralization of Language Predicts Cerebral Asymmetries in Parietal Gesture Representations, “Neuropsychologia” 2011, No. 49(7), pp. 1698 – 1702; G. Vingerhoets, A.S. Alderweireldt, P. Vandemaele, Q. Cai, L. Van der Haegen, M. Brysbaert, E. Achten, Praxis and Language Are Linked: Evidence from Co-lateralization in Individuals with Atypical Language Dominance, “Cortex” 2013, No. 49, pp. 172–183; G. Goldenberg, Apraxia in Let-Handers, “Brain” 2013, No. 136(8), pp. 2592–2601. Praxis in Left-Handers 15 Even if the relative incidence of apraxia among let-handers is comparable to that of right-handers40, the probability of finding such patients is several times smaller because their population is much smaller. Moreover, most of the so-called let-handed individuals also exhibit some degree of ambidexterity. Even furthermore, in the past many sinistrals had their writing switched to their right hands, either by their parents or teachers. his fact alone may still considerably affect the outcomes of tests from the population of let-handed patients studied today. Indeed, the last two factors could contribute to a lower probability of finding a lethander who – in terms of hemispheric specialization – would be a mirror image of a typical right-hander. Put another way, being somewhat ambidextrous, or having ones writing successfully switched could depend on, or be accompanied by, a different, more balanced representation of praxic skills. Two further hypotheses are also worth considering here. he control of praxis could be strongly let lateralized only in people with very consistent hand preference, whether such individuals are right-, or let-handed. Alternatively, or in addition, the lateralization of praxis may on top follow the neuronal mechanisms devoted to the lateralization of language41. he consequences of such relationships would be clear cut, then, because in the majority of let-handed individuals language is still lateralized to the let hemisphere42. Any atypical case should then have both language and praxis atypically lateralized. Early evidence that praxis representation in let-handers could follow the lateralization of language skills was mixed. One of the first, but relatively little known modern case of a let-handed patient described by Poeck and Kerschensteiner had the right-hemispheric lesion which resulted in let hemiplegia and right-hand apraxia. Because the two impairments were also accompanied by aphasia, in this particular case the right hemisphere mediated both praxis and language. his is somewhat different from what was reported a few years later in two quite famous 40 D. Kimura, Speech Representation in an Unbiased Sample of Let-Handers, “Hum Neurobiol” 1983, No. 2(3), pp. 147 – 154. 41 Cf. K. Meador, D.W. Loring, K. Lee, M. Hughes, G. Lee, M. Nichols, K.M. Heilman, Cerebral Lateralization: Relationship of Language and Ideomotor Praxis, “Neurology” 1999, No. 53(9), pp. 2028 – 2031. 42 Indeed, Kimura’s findings seem to indicate that the right hemisphere almost never participates in language functions in let-handers unless there is an incidence of some kind of early let-hemisphere damage. D. Kimura, op.cit.; see also S. Knecht, B. Drager, M. Deppe, L. Bobe, H. Lohmann, A. Floel, E.B. Ringelstein, H. Henningsen, Handedness and Hemispheric Language Dominance in Healthy Humans, “Brain” 2000, No. 123, pp. 2512 – 2518. 16 Gregory Króliczak studies that revealed rather clear dissociations. Heilman and collaborators43 described two let-handed patients who, as a result of right hemisphere lesions, became apraxic and even showed apraxic agraphia but nonetheless did not have aphasia. hus, it was inferred that in these two cases language skills were indeed lateralized to their let hemispheres but higher-order movement representations must have been stored in their right hemispheres. Notably, Heilman and colleagues44 have also revived a description of an interesting let-handed case, a woman described earlier by Dejerine and André-homas. heir patient had a massive infarction of almost the whole right hemisphere and, therefore, developed severe let hemiplegia. Yet, she was also diagnosed with aphasia, but, notably, with comprehension deficits limited merely to written language. In other words, the processing of spoken language was basically intact in her. Interestingly, during the course of her recovery from the acute phase, the impaired language functions started to return. Although this process must have been mediated by the intact, let hemisphere, she still showed agraphia while using her right hand (which was controlled primarily by this same, intact hemisphere). his suggests that the representation of praxis in this particular patient was localized to the right hemisphere but her language skills must have had a more balanced representation. Yet another atypical let-handed patient, following a right-hemisphere infarction, lost his knowledge of tool functions (i.e., was diagnosed with ideational apraxia), but these difficulties were not accompanied by agnosia and language comprehension deficits45. His problems with using tools, both in the experimental and natural settings, and a Broca’s type aphasia (i.e., non-fluent speech), suggest that at least some critical aspects of his knowledge of tools, as well as his language skills, must have been mediated by the right hemisphere. However, his ability to name tools or point to tools in response to their names (as opposed to their functional descriptions), must have depended on his intact let hemisphere46. In sum, this case is yet another example of a partial dissociation where a general language competence mediated by the let-hemisphere is accompanied by the specialization for manual praxis and speech represented in the right-hemisphere. 43 K. Heilman, J.M. Coyle, E.F. Gonyea, N. Geschwind, Apraxia and Agraphia in a Let-Hander, “Brain” 1973, No. 96(1), pp. 21 – 28; E. Valenstein, K.M. Heilman, Apraxic Agraphia with Neglect-Induced Paragraphia, “Arch Neurol” 1979, No. 36(8), pp. 506 – 508. 44 K. Heilman, J.M. Coyle, E.F. Gonyea, N. Geschwind, op.cit. 45 C. Ochipa, L.J. Rothi, K.M. Heilman, Ideational Apraxia: A Deficit in Tool Selection and Use, “Ann Neurol” 1989, No. 25(2), pp. 190 – 193. 46 Cf. a complementary case described by D. Roeltgen, K.M. Heilman, Apractic Agraphia in a Patient with Normal Praxis, “Brain Lang” 1983, No. 18(1), pp. 35 – 46. Praxis in Left-Handers 17 Two more recent reports are in some opposition to all of the above-mentioned cases because their let-handed patients seemed to have both praxis and language lateralized similarly to typical right-handed individuals. A patient described by Lausberg and collaborators47 had an ischemic infarction that caused selective damage nearly along the entire corpus callosum but did not affect much of the neighboring tissue and gray matter. What we have here is a rather unusual case of an almost complete callosal disconnection syndrome in which a let-handed individual shows a pattern of deficits similar to the ones observed in right-handed callosotomy patients. Apraxia was evident when he used his let, but not right, hand and both on verbal command and on imitation. His problems were not apparent, though, when routine motor tasks when performed spontaneously. Moreover, this patient was not able either to read words or name visual stimuli when they were presented to his let hemifield. Finally, the tests also revealed let hand agraphia. A very similar pattern of deficits and spared abilities was also described in a callosotomy patient studied by Frey and colleagues48. His patient (V.J.) also revealed a profound let hemispheric dominance for tool-use skills despite the fact that she acquired them and then continued to perform these skills with her dominant let hand. Both her pre-surgical Wada testing (i.e., the intracarotid sodium amobarbital procedure or ISAP introduced by Wada) and post-surgical tests indicated that she was also let-hemisphere dominant for language. As the report shows, however, the observed praxis deficits were not caused by simple verbal-motor disconnection because they were evident also when tool use pantomimes were cued with nonverbal stimuli. All in all, based on symptoms observed in both of these patients it becomes clear that, despite let-handedness – i.e., right hemisphere dominance for simple motor skills – the let hemisphere can still dominate in representing praxis and language. In other words, hand dominance can be dissociated from praxis representation, which in turn seems to be related more to language representation. his potentially close relationship of praxis and language warrants more attention. As it turns out, atypical language dominance can be oten linked to more bilaterally organized praxic skills. here is also strong evidence indicating that handedness is irrelevant in such cases. hat is, right-handers with atypical language dominance seem to show patterns of praxis deficits similar to those of let-handers with atypical language dominance. Not surprisingly, then, let-handed individuals 47 H. Lausberg, R. Gottert, U. Munssinger, F. Boegner, P. Marx, Callosal Disconnection Syndrome in a Let-Handed Patient due to Infarction of the Total Length of the Corpus Callosum, “Neuropsychologia” 1999, No. 37(3), pp. 253 – 265. 48 S. Frey, M.G. Funnell, V.E. Gerry, M.S. Gazzaniga, op.cit. 18 Gregory Króliczak with language lateralized to the let hemisphere oten show praxis deficits comparable to those observed in typical right-handers who have language strongly let lateralized49. In view of that, one of the remaining questions is what pattern of language-praxic dominance is typical in lethanders? Ater all, studying a few cases, although quite informative, may not reflect what really happens at the population level. Moreover, patients, whether with prior medical problems (e.g., intractable seizures from early childhood) or not, may show higher incidence of anomalous hemispheric specialization due to the ongoing functional reorganization. Finally, the rather rare right hemispheric dominance for language in let-handers that oten seemed to be related to an early incidence of let-hemisphere damage50 may in fact reflect one of the default patterns of hemispheric specialization that is expected to appear in the population51. he most extensive and up to date report on relationships between praxis, language, and handedness, based on studies in a rather large population of let-handed patients (N = 50, who were subsequently compared to a similar sample of righthanded patients) has been recently published by Goldenberg. For the sake of argument, substantial emphasis was put in this report on a few cases of clear dissociations and the relevant associations. In three patients, associations of aphasia with apraxia were observed as a result of let-sided lesions, which in let-handed individuals constitute clear dissociations of apraxia from handedness (which should be predominantly controlled by the right hemisphere). In another three patients, apraxia was closely associated with defective hand dominance mechanisms, i.e., resulted from right-hemisphere lesions, and clearly dissociated from the control of language (i.e., these are cases of dissociation of apraxia from aphasia). Interestingly, apraxia of simulated tool use, as well as defective tool use was rarely observed without aphasia (following different patterns of lesions). In sharp contrast, deficient imitation of hand postures was more common following righthemisphere lesions, and was clearly associated with hemi-neglect. hese particular problems with imitation may, therefore, have much less to do with deficient control of either handedness or praxis skills, and could be more closely related to impaired visuo-spatial processing, characteristic for the right hemisphere. When directly contrasted with properly matched group of right-handed patients, no differences in the severity of imitation problems were observed. It was 49 K. Meador, D.W. Loring, K. Lee, M. Hughes, G. Lee, M. Nichols, K.M. Heilman, op.cit.; S. Frey, M.G. Funnell, V.E. Gerry, M.S. Gazzaniga, op.cit. 50 D. Kimura, op.cit. 51 Cf. S. Knecht, A. Jansen, A. Frank, J. van Randenborgh, J. Sommer, M. Kanowski, H.J. Heinze, How Atypical is Atypical Language Dominance?, “Neuroimage” 2003, No. 18(4), pp. 917 – 927. Praxis in Left-Handers 19 a weaker impairment on pantomime of tool use, and in fact milder aphasia (at least fewer cases of global aphasia) that was characteristic for let-handed apraxic patients. his in turn suggests that both praxis and language are more bilaterally represented in the majority of let-handed individuals52. Alternatively, the number of atypical cases of praxis and language laterality among let-handers is high enough to considerably bias the group data. In other words, a substantial number of let-handers could still be quite indistinguishable from right-handers in terms of their cerebral organization and praxis and language. 3. Dissociations of transitive and intransitive gesture representations in healthy left-handed individuals Given the importance of dissociations in neuropsychology, and the fact that atypical organization of brain functions is most oten seen in let-handers, this paper will be concluded with detailed, and yet unpublished, analyses of atypical cases reported earlier by Króliczak and collaborators53. Of course, the emphasis will be put on the most striking differences in the lateralization of brain activity, i.e., putative cases of dissociations between the two studied gesture categories at the individual subject level. Following a method described previously54, the laterality of signal modulation during the planning of tool use pantomimes (transitive), and intransitive gestures was assessed. hese methods will be briefly summarized here. 4. Methods Upon collection and full processing of the fMRI data with FSL55, the lateralization of activity related to planning tool use pantomimes or intransitive gestures in individual participants was assessed in Brodmann Area [BA] 40. his area – crucial for praxis skills – was delineated in standard neuroimaging space (Montreal Neurological Institute template) with two cytoarchitectonic maps marking the most 52 G. Goldenberg, Apraxia in Let-handers, “Brain” 2013, No. 136(8), pp. 2592 – 2601. G. Króliczak, B.J. Piper, S.H. Frey, Atypical Lateralization…, op.cit. 54 Ibidem. 55 FMRIB Sotware Library, http://www.fmrib.ox.ac.uk/fsl/; see G. Króliczak, B.J. Piper, S.H. Frey, Atypical Lateralization…, op.cit.; cf. G. Króliczak, S.H. Frey, A Common Network…, op.cit. if any further details are needed. 53 20 Gregory Króliczak relevant divisions of the inferior parietal lobule: PF and PFm56. To avoid overlap with neighboring cytoarchitectonic areas, the original maps (taken from the Juelish histological atlas implemented in FSL) were first thresholded at the 50th percentile probability value57. he specific method of calculating lateralization indices (LIs) – also described by Króliczak and collaborators – was the following. he assessment of spatial extent of activation in the let and right hemisphere BA40 was performed by counting the number of voxels whose activity exceeded six prespecified percentage of maximum (POM) activation thresholds, namely 90, 80, 70, 60, 50 and 40% of maximum z-value58. By utilizing several thresholds to activity maps with all activated voxels (i.e., having positive z-values), we guard against the possibility of biasing the results by choosing just one, arbitrary threshold59. Indeed, an average of LIs from several thresholds gives more stable and reproducible outcomes60. For each participant, LIs were calculated using the formula: [(L−R)/(L + R)]×100; where L (let) and R (right) are then substituted by the number of suprathreshold voxels in the respective ROIs. Such LIs can range from +100 to −100, with 0 signifying an equal number of voxels exceeding the chosen activity threshold. As in our earlier work, the values of +100 through +33.3 are thought to reflect a strong to weak let-hemispheric dominance, and −33.3 through −100 are thought to indicate a weak to strong right-hemispheric dominance61. 5. Results In general, among the 15 healthy let-handed subjects tested in this study, and who showed significant correlations between the laterality of praxis and language62, there were five participants who demonstrated clear but only partial – hand-de56 S. Caspers, S. Geyer, A. Schleicher, H. Mohlberg, K. Amunts, K. Zilles, he Human Inferior Parietal Cortex: Cytoarchitectonic Parcellation and Interindividual Variability, “Neuroimage” 2006, No. 33(2), pp. 430 – 448; G. Króliczak, B.J. Piper, S.H. Frey, Atypical Lateralization…, op.cit. 57 S.B. Eickhoff, T. Paus, S. Caspers, M.H. Grosbras, A.C. Evans, K. Zilles, K. Amunts, Assignment of Functional Activations to Probabilistic Cytoarchitectonic Areas Revisited, “Neuroimage” 2007, No. 36(3), pp. 511 – 521. 58 P. Chlebus, M. Mikl, M. Brazdil, M. Pazourkova, P. Krupa, I. Rektor, fMRI Evaluation of Hemispheric Language Dominance Using Various Methods of Laterality Index Calculation, “Exp Brain Res” 2007, No. 179(3), pp. 365 – 374. 59 G. Króliczak, B.J. Piper, S.H. Frey, Atypical Lateralization…, op.cit. 60 P. Chlebus, M. Mikl, M. Brazdil, M. Pazourkova, P. Krupa, I. Rektor, op.cit.; G. Króliczak, B.J. Piper, S.H. Frey, Atypical Lateralization…, op.cit. 61 G. Króliczak, B.J. Piper, S.H. Frey, Atypical Lateralization…, op.cit. 62 Ibidem. Praxis in Left-Handers 21 pendent – dissociations of tool use pantomimes and intransitive gesture representations. Notably, only one of these individuals, i.e., case 1 (C1) shown in Figure 2, had atypical, i.e., right-hemispheric lateralization of language as assessed earlier in Brodmann Area 44/45 (typically associated with the Broca’s area63). hree of the remaining participants (C3, C4, C5 in Fig. 2) had language strongly let lateralized, and in one case (C2) a weaker but still let-hemispheric representation of language was observed. In these latter four subjects, planning related activity was differently lateralized for transitive and intransitive gestures when their dominant let hands were used. Specifically, participants C4 and C5, and to some degree C2 (shown in Fig. 2A) showed effects consistent with patient data suggesting that representations of transitive actions are let lateralized, and intransitive actions have either right-hemispheric (C4) or bilateral (C5 and C2) representations. One participant (C3) showed an unexpected, reversed pattern. he lateralization indices for gesture planning with the dominant let hand, supplemented with the laterality indices for language, are shown for these participants in Fig. 2A. Individual cases showing different, hand-dependent neural representations of transitive and intransitive gestures, as well as praxis representations (irrespective of gesture type). here were five participants who demonstrated hand-dependent dissociations of tool use pantomimes and intransitive gesture representations, but only one (C1) had atypical, right-hemispheric lateralization of language in BA 44/45. (A) Planning transitive and intransitive gestures with the let hand. Participants C4 and C5, and to some degree C2 had let-lateralized representations of transitive gestures and right-hemispheric (C4) or bilateral (C5 and C2) representations of intransitive gestures. Participant C3 showed an unexpected, reversed pattern. (B) Planning transitive and intransitive gestures with the right hand. Participant C4 had now bilateral representation of transitive gestures, and strongly let-hemispheric lateralization of intransitive gestures. Participant C1 have shown a similar effect. (C) Praxis planning irrespective of gesture type. Participants C1 showed the right-hemispheric control of the let hand, and let-hemisphere advantage in the control of the right hand. Participant C2 showed nearly the opposite effect, with the right hand being controlled predominantly by the right hemisphere and the let hand controlled predominantly by the let hemisphere. *** When the right hand was used for gesture planning, one of these four participants (C4) showed a very different pattern, i.e., the bilateral representation of tran63 Ibidem. Figure 2. Praxis in Left-Handers 23 sitive gestures, and strongly let-hemispheric lateralization of intransitive gestures. Moreover, case C1 who did not show evidence of dissociable neural substrate for the two gesture types when they were planned with the let hand has now shown a similar effect (bilaterally represented transitive and let lateralized intransitive gesture planning). hese lateralization indices, for gesture preparation with the non-dominant right hand, together with the laterality indices for language, are shown in Fig. 2B. Finally, it is worth emphasizing that cases C1 and C2 demonstrate quite different, hand-depended effects of the lateralization of praxis planning (irrespective of gesture type). C1 shows an effect consistent with a common intuition that, even for skilled gestures, the let hand is under the control of the right hemisphere, and the right hand is under the control of the let hemisphere. (In fact, in C1 there is only a small advantage of let-hemisphere control.) Participant C2 is nearly the opposite of what some might expect, with the right hand controlled predominantly by the right hemisphere and the let hand controlled predominantly by the let hemisphere. hese cases are depicted in Fig. 2C. 6. Discussion A higher incidence of atypical lateralization of functions in let-handers was a driving force behind this attempt to look for dissociations between the neural substrate of tool use (transitive) pantomimes and familiar intransitive gestures in this cohort of participants. Yet, because only a third of these individuals typically have somewhat unusual organization of higher-order cognitive skills64, a conventional fMRI approach of presenting group averages is not an optimal strategy for tackling this issue. Moreover, given that relevant neuropsychological cases have been typically evaluated based on performance with ipsilesional hands, traditional patient-based views on the neural underpinnings of higher-order motor skills should be confronted with evidence from the control of either hand. An assessment of the extent of fMRI activity in the let and right supramarginal gyrus indeed revealed a few cases with atypical organization of the two gesture categories. here were three participants with different lateralization of transitive and intransitive skills when these gestures were planned with the let hand. Two cases were in the predicted direction, showing let-hemisphere representa64 S. Knecht, B. Drager, M. Deppe, L. Bobe, H. Lohmann, A. Floel, E.B. Ringelstein, H. Henningsen, op.cit.; G. Króliczak, B.J. Piper, S.H. Frey, Atypical Lateralization…, op.cit. 24 Gregory Króliczak tions of transitive, and right-sided or bilateral representations of intransitive gestures65. Yet, one participant revealed a reversed pattern, difficult to reconcile with the classic neuropsychological findings and models66. Indeed, two individuals, including one with the expected dissociation for the let hand, and one with atypically represented language, demonstrated the reversed organization of these gesture categories when they used their right hands. hese findings corroborate an earlier prediction that let hemisphere injuries could sometimes differentially affect the control of transitive vs. intransitive gestures, but this fact would become apparent only if it was possible to assess performance of the right hand67. Moreover, these and earlier results68 strongly indicate that it should be much easier to find individuals with atypically lateralized praxis (gestures) than atypically represented language skills69, although they also envisage different configurations of such impairments70. Interestingly, when collapsed across hands and gesture types, the laterality indices for praxis reveal a clear link with language lateralization71, consistent with related outcomes from a report by Vingerhoets and collaborators72 and neuropsychological findings of Goldenberg. However, the strength of this association clearly varies, and in some individuals is quite loose when analyzed for a particular hand or gesture type. Overall, these outcomes are consistent with case reports of partial dissociations between transitive and intransitive skills73 but also call for cautiousness when drawing inferences based on testing a single hand. A recent fMRI report indicates that representations of tool-use gestures in right- and let-handers are quite similarly organized, differing only in the strength 65 E.g. S. Rapcsak, C. Ochipa, P.M. Beeson, A.B. Rubens, op.cit.; M. Heath, E.A. Roy, D. Westwood, S.E. Black, Patterns of Apraxia Associated with the Production of Intransitive Limb Gestures Following Let and Right Hemisphere Stroke, “Brain Cogn” 2001, No. 46(1 – 2), pp. 165 – 169. 66 But see B. Hanna-Pladdy, S.K. Daniels, M.A. Fieselman, K. Thompson, J.J. Vasterling, K.M. Heilman, A.L. Foundas, op.cit.; V. Stamenova, E.A. Roy, S.E. Black, op.cit. 67 G. Króliczak, S.H. Frey, A Common Network…, op.cit. 68 G. Króliczak, B.J. Piper, S.H. Frey, Atypical Lateralization…, op.cit. 69 K. Heilman, J.M. Coyle, E.F. Gonyea, N. Geschwind, op.cit.; D. Margolin, Right Hemisphere Dominance for Praxis and Let Hemisphere Dominance for Speech in a Let-Hander, “Neuropsychologia” 1980, No. 18(6), pp. 715 – 719. 70 K. Poeck, M. Kerschensteiner, Ideomotor Apraxia Following Right-Sided Cerebral Lesion in a Let-Handed Subject, “Neuropsychologia” 1971, No. 9(3), pp. 359 – 361; E. Valenstein, K.M. Heilman, op.cit.; S. Frey, M.G. Funnell, V.E. Gerry, M.S. Gazzaniga, op.cit. 71 G. Króliczak, B.J. Piper, S.H. Frey, Atypical Lateralization…, op.cit. 72 G. Vingerhoets, A.S. Alderweireldt, P. Vandemaele, Q. Cai, L. Van der Haegen, M. Brysbaert, E. Achten, Praxis and Language…, op.cit. 73 V. Stamenova, E.A. Roy, S.E. Black, op.cit. Praxis in Left-Handers 25 of this lateralization74. While consistent with these outcomes, these and previous results75 extend this notion to both gesture planning, and intransitive skills76. Moreover, these findings also point to important hand-dependent and hand-independent differences77. Such effects are worth further and systematic investigations given that no apparent differences in performance were noticed by Goldenberg (2013), even though some of his apraxic patients did use their right hands. Further tests could, for example, determine whether the greater involvement of the inferior parietal lobule of the right hemisphere reflects higher demands on attentional processes or rather demands on motor cognition in the hemisphere that happens to control the dominant, let hand78. 7. Summary he outcomes of a few recent studies79 are consistent with the idea that a common network of areas mediates praxis skills (here: the planning of tool use pantomimes and intransitive gestures) regardless of the hand and, more importantly, handedness. he oten observed, greater hand-dependent involvement of motor, or sensorymotor, and premotor cortices for transitive gestures indicates that these skills are more difficult to plan or execute (pantomime, imitate) than intransitive gestures. Notably, consistent with earlier reports in brain-damaged patients, this project shows that it is not difficult to find a healthy let-handed individual who demonstrates an unexpected organization of transitive and intransitive skills. Nevertheless, although the actual patterns of brain activity for gesture planning can vary quite dramatically in these subjects, at a population level their lateraliza- 74 G. Vingerhoets, F. Acke, A.S. Alderweireldt, J. Nys, P. Vandemaele, E. Achten, Cerebral Lateralization of Praxis in Right- and Let-Handedness: Same Pattern, Different Strength, “Human Brain Mapping” 2012, No. 33(4), pp. 763 – 777; for related neuropsychological evidence see also G. Goldenberg, Apraxia in Let-Handers, “Brain” 2013, No. 136(8), pp. 2592 – 2601. 75 G. Króliczak, B.J. Piper, S.H. Frey, Atypical Lateralization…, op.cit. 76 Not tested in G. Vingerhoets, F. Acke, A.S. Alderweireldt, J. Nys, P. Vandemaele, E. Achten, Cerebral Lateralization…, op.cit.; collapsed with tools use gestures in G. Goldenberg, Apraxia in LetHanders, “Brain” 2013, No. 136(8), pp. 2592 – 2601. 77 Cf. K. Martin, S. Jacobs, S.H. Frey, Handedness-Dependent and-Independent Cerebral Asymmetries in the Anterior Intraparietal Sulcus and Ventral Premotor Cortex During Grasp Planning, “Neuroimage” 2011, No. 57(2), pp. 502 – 512. 78 Ibidem. 79 Including G. Króliczak, S.H. Frey, A Common Network…, op.cit.; G. Króliczak, B.J. Piper, S.H. Frey, Atypical Lateralization…, op.cit. 26 Gregory Króliczak tion typically follows the laterality of language80. It would be of great interest not only to know whether in some Chinese ethnic groups (e.g., the Han) the lower prevalence of aphasia in right-handers (dextrals) following let-hemisphere lesions81 is also associated with a lower incidence of apraxia, but whether similar patterns can be observed in their let-handers (sinistrals). Indeed, would the Hans also show the close links between language and praxis regardless of handedness and the dominant hemisphere? Finally, although not directly contrasted with righthanded individuals in this project, this and earlier reports82 indicate that during different gesture tasks sinistrals (no doubts the individuals with atypically represented functions, but also as a group) engage subdivisions of the right parietal cortex more than dextrals. his observation is consistent with the idea that praxis, as well as language skills in let-handers are more symmetrically represented83. he remaining question is whether or not this is also the case in groups using nonphonetic or “ideographical” languages? REFERENCES Binkofski F., Buxbaum L.J., Two Action Systems in the Human Brain, “Brain and Language” 2012. Bohlhalter S., Hattori N., Wheaton L., Fridman E., Shamim E.A., Garraux G., Hallett M., Gesture Subtype-Dependent Let Lateralization of Praxis Planning: An Event-Related fMRI Study, “Cereb Cortex” 2009, No. 19(6). 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ABSTRACT he article presents a unusual take on the subject of culture not from the point of view its internal, abstract, immeasurable, yet accessible to cognition content, but from the point of view of its vehicles, or artifacts. he author of the text placed language among the most important external manifestations of culture and focused on how the relationship between language and culture works in practice. he article is divided into three parts, each focused on a different aspect of this relationship. he first one presents a series of theories on meaning and the material and immaterial manifestations of culture as discussed in the humanities. he second one is devoted to physical and corporeal meanings of language. he author presents observations in the field of semiotics which were initiated in the classical era and experimentally confirmed in twentieth-century studies. he third part of the article focuses on the issue of meaning as a biological phenomenon. he author deliberates on the meanings in language that stem from the sounds of words, articulation, and their psychological dimension. Key words: culture, language, egocephallocentrism, noscorpocircularism, linguistic studies Culture: Meanings and Values or a Multisensory Orgy? 33 1. Humanities: from egocephallocentrism to noscorpocircularism In social sciences and humanities culture is most frequently defined in terms of abstract meanings and values, for which observable material objects or physical behaviours are merely insignificant vehicles for what is the most important – the readable and comprehensible content. A few reasons can be indicated for such a state of affairs. One of them is the prevalence of the phenomenalistic approach, sanctioned especially by neopositivism1, which eliminated the previously basic concept of substance from many sciences. As early as 1921, Czesław Znamierowski lamented over this fact, writing: “physics without the matter, psychology without the soul, sociology as science not of the society, but rather of social phenomena” – these are manifestations of the same trend, disturbing and strange (he added), for in each occurrence there must be something that occurs, and in each change something that changes…2 In sociology, the validity of the anti-materialistic approach was substantiated by Durkheim, who, having returned from Germany, eventually abandoned the recognition of determinism of “material social facts” in favour of “spiritualist” treatment of social life in all its manifestations3. “Social life consists essentially of ideas”, he wrote in his “Suicide”4. Also, culture studies (both in their American version – for instance cognitive anthropology, and the European symbolic anthropology), despite a number of significant differences in their basic assumptions, stressed the importance of ideational order, minimizing the significance of artifacts. hese currents recognized culture in terms of a system of collective symbols present in individual minds, and thus reduced it to mental facts subordinated to rational procedures such as understanding or interpreting. Apart from neopositivism in natural science or Cartesian dualism in philosophy, Ferdinand de Saussure’s linguistic theory also significantly influenced the shape of the discussed fields. Consistent elimination of both actual signified, as well as any material qualities of the sign itself through the reduction of what is signified, that is signifie, not to an object, but to its “concept” (idee), and the signifier not to the sound, but the “idea of a sound-image” (image acoustique), deprived the language of any physical references, basing its semantic value solely on an abstract relation to other signs5 (de Saussure 1991) – a relation additionally ex1 G. Lukacs, Introduction to the Ontology of Social Being, Warszawa 1982. Cz. Znamierowski, An Object and Social Fact [in:] A Hundred Years of Polish Sociology, J. Szacki (ed.), Warszawa 1995, p. 560. 3 S. Lukes, Durkheim, Warszawa 2012. 4 E. Durkheim, Suicide, Warszawa 2006, p. 393. 5 F. de Saussure, Course in General Linguistics, Warszawa 1991. 2 34 Izabella Bukraba-Rylska tracted from intellectually and not sensorily recognizable binary oppositions of features considered to be significant. All these trends led to the consolidation of the approach named by Jean-Claude Kauffman “egocephallocentrism”, understood as replacement of social and cultural reality with essence contained in the subjective consciousness of individuals – single entities, whose sole attribute is a mind endowed with the ability to reflect, but not a body equipped with senses6. he assumptions, which transformed not only that which is social and cultural, but also the entire being and the entire world into “a sense of being and a sense of the world” 7 necessitated the application of specific research approaches in the fields of sociology and anthropology. In sociology, this resulted in a concentration of attention on the knowledge, views, and opinions of respondents. Secondarily, on the basis of the content found in their consciousness, were the shape of social being or cultural patterns reconstructed, recognized no longer directly and objectively, but always with a humanistic coefficient (and thus in a manner relevant to a certain group), or in a fairly subjective manner. he process was accompanied by a conviction, perhaps the most clearly expressed by Peter Winch, that social relations resemble relations between concepts, thus one must abandon causal explanation and replace it with understanding. As a result, instead of naturalistically understood deterministic correlations, the researcher receives logical relations of sense as basis of social life ontology8. Also, anthropologists using a broad interpretation of culture were willing to reduce the phenomena that interested them to “increasingly disembodied continents of Meaning”9 – to a pattern of symbols absolutely unsusceptible to naturalistic analysis, but such that call for interpretation, which in turn, according to them, begins with the recognition of the postulate that it is by no means the physical shelter, clothing or sustenance decides on human existence, as a layman would be inclined to think, but instead – exclusively webs of meaning do so. Finally, the traditionally oriented sociology of culture, having restrictively narrowed its field of interest with the help of three criteria: semioticity, axiology and the autotelic quality10 to a sphere of disinterestedly contemplated phenomena in the field of “high” art, treated the processes of its social function as equivalent to purely cognitive decoding of meanings. he basic term serving as description of so intellectualistically understood participation in culture was the 6 J.-C. Kauffman, Ego. Sociology of the Individual, Warszawa 2004. J. Tischner, hinking in Values, Kraków 1982, p. 22. 8 P. Winch he Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy, Warszawa 1995. 9 C. Geertz, hick Description: Toward an Interpretive heory of Culture [in:] Culture Studies, E. Nowicka, M. Kempny (eds.), Warszawa 2003. 10 A. Kłoskowska, Sociology of Culture, Warszawa 1981. 7 Culture: Meanings and Values or a Multisensory Orgy? 35 notion of “competence” reduced to most erudite possible knowledge of works from national, European or world canon and corresponding to decidedly elitist criteria of education and standards of taste11. Against the loss of the sense of objective existence, material reality and the inordinate prevalence of the understanding approach, which in social sciences and humanities resulted in the focusing of attention on texts, discourses, narratives and representations, increasingly loud voices of protest have been heard for at least two decades. Instead of remaining satisfied with the “boring formula” that everything is a language, that the subject always creates the object, and that culture is firstly “written’, and then “read”, historians are beginning to demand that the silent, but tangible, things be noticed, that the brutal trivialities of the practical world be recognized, and for it to be accepted that objects do not need to be constantly constructed and deconstructed by man, but they in themselves display a considerable “executive power”12. Correspondingly, sociologists dejected by the condition of the “labyrinth researcher”13 lost in the fluid post-modernity have expressed a longing for tangible reality and declared the need to include in their research “organic” subjects – remaining not only in intellectual, but also emotional and corporeal relation with the world14. Even anthropologists, for whom culture is primarily an intricately and densely woven “web of meanings”, have begun to notice that analysis carried out in such a way loses connection with “biological and physical needs of man” and the “hard surface of life”, and they advocate the practice of “behavioural hermeneutics”15. Finally, culture sociologists in their analyses dispense with mentalistically understood concept of “participation” in favour of the category of “cultural practices”, which do not involve the passive reception of cognized contents, but rather active co-shaping and experiencing the contents that can be felt with the senses. Common to the authors, questioning the adequacy of the existing paradigm is the resistance to the dominant logocentrism, which they term a “linguistic perversion”. In their assessment, the meanings that function in social life and in culture cannot be reduced to language, however, individual researchers vary of course in 11 M. Czerwiński, Contributions in Contemporary Anthropology, Warszawa 1988. B. Olsen, Material Culture ater Text [in:] heory of Knowledge of the Past, E. Domańska (ed.), Poznań 2010. 13 A. Zybertowicz, Labyrinth Researcher [in:] Histories: One World Too Far, E. Domańska (ed.), Poznań 1997. 14 A. Wyka, Sociologist and Experience, Warszawa 1993. 15 C. Geertz, Making Experience, Authorizing Selves [in:] he Anthropology of Experience, V. Turner, E. Bruner (eds.), Kraków 2011. 12 36 Izabella Bukraba-Rylska the degree of radicalism of their views. he furthest in this respect are philosophers who, like Richard Rorty, emphasize strongly the non-verbal character of the “brutal” phenomena, such as hunger or violence16. Similarly, heodor Adorno very strongly expressed the belief that generally accepted conventional means of expression cannot do justice to the experiences of a “wounded life” (by which he meant not only spiritual dilemmas, but primarily physical pain). “he somatic stratum of life, distanced from reason, is the scene of suffering, which in the camps without a word of comfort burnt out all relieving aspects of the spirit and culture as its objectivization”, he wrote in “Negative Dialectics”17. Also anthropologists are skeptical as to the possibility of expressing in language all human experiences, especially extreme ones. So does Kirsten Hastrup, who, while writing of a virtual “ontological gap”, formulates the postulate for “ethics of inarticulatedness”. he author claims even that purely human “truth” lies decidedly beyond the dictionary of social sciences, and concepts used there do not allow one to relate the experiences that people go through. As evidence she gives examples of situations wherein the experience of permanent hunger or pain, with which victims of violence or members of marginalized social groups come into contact, is neutralized, or even repressed by linguistic conventions imposed on them from outside, which “play their games” on the surface of the phenomenon18. he issue of meaning, only partially communicated by language, is in turn interestingly developed by Paul Willis, whose proposal goes beyond the banal statement that “the tongue gives lie to the voice, and the voice gives lie to the thought”. He argues that “the meaning embodied in physical form frequently is not reflected in language, and sometimes it is even arranged so as to oppose language”19. To confirm his thesis, the author proposes an analysis of the biker culture (that of young motorcyclists) based on the homology principle. Between the choice of a brand and such procedures as the removal of the silencer from the exhaust pipe, the addition of chrome elements, mounting a steering wheel in the shape of cattle horns, etc. and the identity of bikers – “thick-skinned, self-confident, raw and masculine”20 the researcher would notice “similarities”, “correspondence” and “transitivity” that he termed as homology. All actions, even unconscious, carried out by users on the material form of the given object were for him manifestations of 16 17 18 19 20 R. Rorty, Objectivity, Relativism and Truth, Warszawa 1999. T. Adorno, Negative Dialectics, Warszawa 1986, p. 513. K. Hastrup, A Passage to Anthropology, Kraków 2008. P. Willis, he Ethnographic Imagination, Kraków 2005, p. 47. Ibidem, p. 49. Culture: Meanings and Values or a Multisensory Orgy? 37 “bottom-up creation of meaning”, a practice universal especially in disadvantaged groups, where – in view of poor language competence (with the so-called limited code at their disposal) – expressing one’s views or displaying one’s identity is realized in expressive behaviour rather than in taking up discussion with a far more eloquent interlocutor. Such groups, according to the author, “do not verbalize their resistance against the content that is being impressed on them, but rather express their stubborn disobedience physically in a studied manner”21. Recognizing the existence of equivalent “physical” and “corporeal” meanings, their presence in language the researcher is willing to treat merely as “a part of the continuum which consists of various ways in which man creates meaning”22. he essence of this continuum – and this seems to be particularly important – is expressed in mutual translatability of the material, somatic, behavioural, and symbolic dimensions. For Willis, drawing attention precisely to the usually underestimated materiality of culture is a chance of making up for deficits of the narrowly discursive approach. “his materiality seems obvious”, he writes, “when it comes to material culture, clothing, interior decoration, etc. However, it is to a similar extent distinctive in relation to forms the materiality of which seems less obvious, such as music, in which the practice of expression, irreducible to notation, possesses a purely physical dimension – beginning with the vibrations of the eardrum and the cochlea in the ear, through the movement of the chest and the rhythmic movement of the whole body in dance”23.Yet another case, which illustrates well the importance of the physical meaning of the words used, are swearwords as discussed by Paul Willis. “In many languages – quite possibly commonly – swearing is usually combined with granting the uttered word a physical and corporeal dimension, which leads to non-encoded moments of physical expression corresponding to spitting. “We spit out curse words”, explains Willis, “by touching our teeth or lips with our tongue as we pronounce the fricative ‘f ’ and ‘k’. Fuck is quite possibly the archetypal swearword. Cursing is frequently accompanied by an expressive body movement and tone of voice. Violent confrontations reveal the extent to which the continuity between linguistic and physical systems of meanings is unavoidable, when raised fists and the threat: ‘I’ll blow your fucking head off ’ function interchangeably”24. 21 22 23 24 Ibidem, p. 35. Ibidem. Ibidem, p. 47. Ibidem, p. 57. 38 Izabella Bukraba-Rylska he examples that the British explorer shows prove how many meanings are contained in the seemingly transparent and irrelevant material side of cultural products. Even in the case of such a developed and conventionalized semiotic system as language, which signs seem to have no “natural” correlation to what they denote, sensual features of the message do not remain irrelevant. hey are capable of enhancing the sense of an utterance, they add new content, or even deny the verbally articulated meanings. A further couple of examples will allow to better justify this opinion. hey show that the ability of non-reflective, yet effective use of the possibilities inherent in the linguistic material and its modes of use is quite a common skill. Most people use it spontaneously to differentiate the mood of an utterance, of giving it a subtle “meaning”, emphasizing social distances or increasing the bluntness of their reaction. hese colloquial stylistics cover almost all the means mentioned in textbooks on speech: the tonal organization of words, their instrumentation, rhythm and intonation, the choice of vocabulary and the pattern of larger systems, as phrases or sentences. A good example of such abilities is, for instance, the description of amateur singing manners found in English pubs, thoroughly analyzed by Richard Hoggart: “he manner of singing is traditional and displays permanent characteristics”, wrote the researcher. “It is to embody the intensity of feeling, it is emotional, but in these circumstances drawing a thick line is in order, a simplification boldly turning into a caricature of emotions. In such a way the ‘visceral’ style of singing used by folk artists is achieved. Here the voice soars and falls rapidly, and each emotional phrase is drawn out and prolonged. he effect is further increased by nasality – a feature most easily recognized is the drawing out of the ‘r’ (aa) sound and its emotional role, which comes from, in my opinion, partly the need of squeezing every bit of emotion from the waves of rhythm, and partly from the desire to emphasize the pattern of emotional declaration”25. he studies of ethnomusicologists likewise show that the performance mode is extremely significant, and to an at least the same extent certifies the identity of the artists through the repertoire (themes, vocabulary, and musical motives). “Using traditionally established tempi, volume, vocal registration and manners influencing the vocal colour or the modes of communication (phrasing, accenting) seems best to express the identity of a particular group”, writes Anna Czekanowska, “although without always achieving the rank of stereotype. heir effect functions more in the 25 R. Hoggart, Uses of Literacy, 1976, pp. 200 – 201. Culture: Meanings and Values or a Multisensory Orgy? 39 realm of feelings rather than fully conscious experiences”26. Only the form further clarifies the meaning of an utterance, and that is why the analysis of linguistic practices does not grant one the access to volatile, yet highly significant physical meaning, which is irreducible to grammatical and lexical one. “he form of utterance is the most local and hermetic vehicle of meaning”, confirms Ewa Klekot27. Edward Wilson, who focused his attention on the title of Nabokov’s “paedophile” novel, provides other evidence of the intervention of the material, physical meaning of language. In the word “Lo-li-ta”, as he writes, the mere way of articulation suggests certain content (“the tip of the tongue descends in three footfalls along the palate, so as to touch the teeth on ‘three’”) and thereby “by using anatomical precision, the alliteration of repetitive ‘l’ sounds and the poetic meter, Nabokov immediately permeates the character’s name, the title of the book and the main theme with an aura of sensuality”28. At times, the ability to properly use non-verbal linguistic elements would become part of good manners, instilled in young people from the upper classes. Erving Goffman quotes parts of a nineteenth century manual on etiquette, where precisely these nuances are pointed out: “Commands should be given gently, with dignity and reserve. he voice should be composed, and friendly or familiar tone are to be avoided. When addressing them, it is better to speak with a raised intonation and by no means lower it at the close of a sentence. he most well-bread people would always address the servants with expressions like: ‘I’d be much obliged in you did this and that’, ‘If you would be so kind as to’ in a gentle voice, but with a very high intonation. he excellence of manners in this respect consists in conveying in the words that the task to be performed is a courtesy, and in the intonation – that it is a duty”29. However, sometimes it happens as well that particular intonation is chosen unconsciously and can serve as an indicator of certain processes taking place in society. Jeremy Rikin points to such a case in he Age of Access: “Among the rich youth in industrialized countries there can be observed more and more frequently an interesting phenomenon. he tone of voice used by teenagers is almost always rising and suggests that what they say is a question rather than a statement, as if to try it out. Psychologists and sociologists are intrigued by this widespread habit and they wonder whether it is not a symptom of 26 A. Czekanowska, he Act of Musical Performance and Ethnic Identity [in:] Musicologist and the Musical Work, M. Woźna, Z. Fabiański (eds.), Kraków 1999, p. 396. 27 E. Klekot, Ethnography and the Nikiform. A Sketch [in:] he Humanities and Domination, T. Rakowski, A. Malewska-Szałygin (eds.), Warszawa 2011, p. 143. 28 E. Wilson, Consilience, Poznań 2002, p. 336. 29 E. Goffman, Interaction Ritual, Warszawa 2006, p. 63. 40 Izabella Bukraba-Rylska a change in personality, from autonomous to relational. he open and conditional nature of this new way of talking suggests that one’s own thoughts remain in a constant correlation with other members of society who certify their meaning. A declarative sentence, so characteristic of the autonomous nature, seems to subside before the question asked by a more relative self ”30. Descriptions pointed out by different authors indicating the importance of “physical” or “corporeal” meaning (as Willis calls it) should be the subject of further reflection, as treated not simply as insightful observations, but in a far more serious sense – as evidence of a new way of thinking of culture and society – they can contribute to the formation of a paradigm in the humanities that could rival “egocephallocentrism”. In contrast to the approach focused on abstract meanings and values contemplated by individual minds, “noscorpocircularism” that is being advocated here would assume that culture and society are primarily various things and bodies circulating around, which communicate to each other material and somatic meanings, only sometimes expressing them in discursive form. Such perspective seems to be interesting not only from a purely theoretical point of view, as a counterbalance to previous assumptions that leave more and more doubt in their wake, but also in view of its empirical accuracy. As indeed for a long time researchers have been suggesting that in a globalized world the flow of people, goods, and symbols leads to a process of hybridization of meanings given to objects in an absolutely arbitrary and uncontrolled way. If one adds to this the well-known phenomenon of dramatically low cultural competence in a considerable number of members of contemporary societies, one can reasonably ask: what exactly are the elements of cultural communication that are actually received by today’s consumer of the broadly understood culture? Is it really possible to continue to maintain that they know how to properly decode the message of the symbol reaching them from a distant time or space, if their knowledge of their nearest, local, or national heritage reveals most embarrassing shortcomings? If one was to give up the idealistic beliefs (the social function of which, among others, is masking the ambitions of elites as to the hegemony that they are allegedly entitled to, or to holding a “government of souls”) cherished by traditional humanities, it turns out that the only layer of a presented object accessible to an ordinary recipient are its organoleptic features (and hence its physical meanings). he average man in the street will react somatically to them (that is, he will emit corporeal meanings), meanwhile the intelligible content requiring interpretation will go over his head. Of exactly such reactions (physiological, not mental) wrote 30 J. Rikin, he Age of Access, Wrocław 2003, p. 221. Culture: Meanings and Values or a Multisensory Orgy? 41 Edmund Leach while reflecting on the specific perception of an object completely culturally foreign. In his opinion the recipient is experiencing “specific experiences related to biological, animal aspect of human nature”, and those experiences are “an answer to a mixture of messages consisting of tactile stimuli, fragrance, movement, taste and visual aspects”31. 2. Physical and corporeal meanings of language To examine the prevalence of physical and corporeal meanings in the following sections of this paper, arguments that have been long since used in the dispute over natural or conventional nature of language will be called forth – the most important medium of social life and at the same time a matrix frequently used in studies of other semiotic systems. Due to the point of view chosen in these considerations, their main advantage is a clear indication of the interdependence of sound, the physiological side of articulation of sounds, and sense given to the words that they form. hose observations made first in the ancient times, considered through modern rhetoric, but also experimentally confirmed in twentieth-century studies, appear to be consistent with the classical theories in the field of semiotics. What is more, analyses of these theories made by the most perceptive commentators create the premises to regard them in the context of the biological understanding of the process of semiosis, and thus the whole culture – an approach that is growing popular once more. his all makes the well-known concepts a certain new entity, worthy of re-thinking and use in the current discussion on the limitations of traditional humanities. Variation between the idea of physei and thesei (nature and convention) has accompanied the reflection on language from its beginning. As early as in the first European treatise on linguistics – Plato’s Cratylus – the sophistic thesis of agreement as the basis for the giving of names is brought into doubt. Hermogenes speaks in favour of it, explaining his position as follows: “I cannot believe that there is other principle of naming other than convention and agreement. It seems to me to be that if someone gives a name to something, it is correct, and if someone changes it to another, the other is no less valid than the first. Just like when we change the names of our servants, the second ones are not worse than the ones originally granted. As it is not from nature that a name arises, but by the law and 31 E. Leach, Levels of Communication and the Problem of Taboo in the Reception and Understanding of Primitive Art, „Polish Folk Art” 1986, No. 3 – 4, p. 163. 42 Izabella Bukraba-Rylska custom of those, who usually give names”32. he eponymous Cratylus is of a different mind, and he is the one to confront the sophistic belief that the link between the word and the object is arbitrary with arguments which are to prove the correlation between the sound of words and their meaning. According to this notion the vibrating and expressing movement sound “r” (“rho”) is present in such words as rhein – to swim, rhoe – current, or tromos – tremor by no coincidence, “as the giver of names noticed that in the case of this consonant the tongue rests the least and vibrates the most (p. 44), whereas the consonant “l” (“lambda”), during the articulation of which the tongue as if slithers, is present in the words: leia – that, which is smooth, liperon – oily, kollodos – sticky. As one can see, Plato’s interpretation goes beyond ascribing the function of evoking particular sensual impressions to the tonal values of language and he reaches far deeper, that is to their articulatory substructure (“iota” is convenient for “determining all things light, which are able to penetrate everything”, as it is pronounced with a strong aspiration; “delta” and “tau”, pronounced by compressing and squeezing the tongue, were used in the words “bonds” and “rest”). It in fact generates the “sound sense” of individual sounds and then creates clear suggestion concerning the meaning of words that contain those sounds. he “principle” of names, consisting in this precisely, means that the phonemic and phonetic properties of sounds are a kind of reflection of the mechanics of the external world (p. 44), and this – the confirmation of the prevailing order. Even more attention to the sound quality of words was paid in the ancient treatises on style, by which was meant both using the relevant figures (tropes) as well as the esthetic side of the language, perceived by the senses. “Some sounds caress, others tease and embitter, some others, in turn, soothe” – explained Dionysius, and therefore from different sounds “sot and coarse, smooth and rough voices are created, which fill our ears with sweetness or bitterness, they make us mourn or rejoice”33. It is difficult to think of a more accurate way to express the thought that the words we utter affect not only the mind, but also the senses of the listener, they have therefore both a conceptual and a physical meaning, and the latter is conditioned by corporeal attributes of the man capable of articulating different sounds and of their perception (also dependent on the capabilities of the human body). Many interesting observations to this effect were made in the art of pronunciation and a number of specific guidelines were made as to using those non-discursive ways of persuasion. In view of the fact, as was commonly believed, that “a” 32 33 Plato, Cratylus, Lublin 1990, p. 4. hree Greek Styles, M. Madyda (ed.), Wrocław 1953, pp. 199, 208. Culture: Meanings and Values or a Multisensory Orgy? 43 sounds the most pleasantly, especially if pronounced in a prolonged way (“as with this vowel the mouth opens very wide, and the air exhaled rises to the palate” – p. 204), it was recommended to use such nicely sounding phones in words reserved for objects with positive connotations – for instance Aias. In turn, the most unpleasant sounding consonant, that is “r” (which additionally is invested with “the highest energy load – p. 205) is suitable for objects and phenomena with negative connotations – such as “bebroke” (he devoured). In appreciation of this principle of sensual analogy between the sound of a work and its reference, Homer was presented as model, as by using long or short, pretty or ugly sounds “only through their construction he expresses the length of time, the size of the body, excessive agitation, the immobility of a standstill or some other similar phenomenon (p. 209). he same reasons (adapting a link between the qualities of sound, the way it is emitted and the relevant physical-spatial associations) played a role in the characterization of meters, which first and foremost should be suitable to the chosen topic and its importance. An iamb (two syllables: low and high, unstressed and stressed, short and long – according to the ancient principle, or just unstressed and stressed– according to the contemporary standard) was held to be a common measure, appropriate to the spoken language (“most people unwittingly speaks in iambs” – p. 96) and that is why it was suitable for satires or epigrams. A trochee (two syllables: long and short – according to vowel length, or stressed and unstressed – according to the accenting principle) was judged to be “too akin to a wild dance” (p. 27). An anapaest (three syllables: two unstressed and one stressed) was called the Sotadean measure ater a renowned pornographer, Sotades, and therefore it was used to expressing obscene content: because of its “effeminate tempo”, “degenerate pace” and “broken, vile measures” (p. 136). he six-foot hexameter, in turn (first four syllables – dactyls, the fith one – dactyl or spondee, the sixth one spondee or trochee) was held to be the heroic measure, suitable for themes grand and loty – as one cannot write the “Illiad” with Archilochus’ iambs! (p. 83). he idea of hexameter was beautifully explained by Ortega y Gasset: “words are subordinated to discipline and seem to have little to do with banal existence, which they related to in everyday speech. As if a hoist, hexameter holds words upwards, suspended in imaginary air, not letting their feet touch the ground. It is a symbol. Such was the intention of the poet: deliver us from everyday reality. Sentences display a ceremonial character, turns of phrase are loty and somewhat hieratic, and the grammar is ancient”34. 34 J. Ortega y Gasset, Meditations on ‘Don Quixote’, Warszawa 2008, p. 99. 44 Izabella Bukraba-Rylska Due to such major physical, material meaning of language also the ancient rhetoric dealt with the selection of appropriately sounding words (euphony), their intricate system (tropes) and rhythmic course (meters). Not only “figures of thought” (consisting in the relationship of the word with the speaker or the reality – for instance irony, allegory), or “figures of sense” (referring to the meaning relations, for instance metaphor) were analyzed, but also “verbal figures” (based on the sound qualities – for instance “pretty” or “ugly” sounds, short or long, rhythm used, inversion). hat is why out of two principal aspects of pronunciation (ethical and pathetic), the former, ethos, referred to the mores and morality represented by the speaker and shared by the group, whereas the other, pathos, contained elements of persuasion aimed to influence the audience, such as body expression, theatricality of passions and reference to sensual representations. Only a combination of all these elements would justify the conviction expressed by Gorgias: the word is “a great mighty one”, he argued as one of the first great orators, “which with the help of a small and hidden organ (tongue) calls forth things divine. For it is capable of both alleviating fear and chasing concern away, awakening joy and increasing compassion”35. Accordingly, it was assumed that apart from discursive arguments “during speech other factors play a part, such as the voice of the speaker, its volume, tone and rhythm”36. As Roland Barthes wrote, “in ancient times rhetoric included a part that is now forgotten, censored by classical commentators: actio, the system of physical manifestation of discourse; it was about the theatre of expression, about an orator-actor ‘expressing’ his indignation, his compassion, etc.”37. As part of this “entire presence of human mouth” Barthes included the patina of consonants, the wantonness of vowels, the links between body and language (and not only sense and words), therefore the whole materiality and corporeality of pronunciation, along with the sensuality of breath, or even hoarseness. For the ancients the world was “to be heard”, which for twenty-five centuries the Western thought has been trying to forget. he conviction of the dual power of impact of rhetorical oration lead in subsequent centuries of its development to the distinguishing between the logical, rational part in texts, containing the “main ideas” and the emotional, “pathetic” part, containing “additional ideas”, which was to reflect the duality of the heart (Nature) and mind (Reason) and was based on the conviction of the dual nature of language, capable of presenting ideas, but also of expressing emotions and actions. It also 35 36 37 Gorgias, Encomium of Helen, “Humanities Review” 1984, No. 3, p. 35. M. Meyer, M. Carrilho, B. Timmermans, History of Rhetoric, Warszawa 2010, p. 56. R. Barthes, he Pleasure of the Text, Warszawa 1997, p. 97. Culture: Meanings and Values or a Multisensory Orgy? 45 meant for it to be recognized that rhetorical figures are dictated not only by the human mind, but also the human body. In the words quoted by Meyer, Carrilho and Timmermans de la Chambre: “nature, having destined human for civic life, was not satisfied with giving him a tongue, so that he would discover his intentions. It also wanted to emblazon on his face and in his eyes the images of his thoughts, so that when his word was to give lie to his heart, his face could deny his word”38. And it is with this second dimension that the part of rhetoric pertaining to elocution was concerned (clearly distinguished from the rest of its fields called “invention”, “disposition” and “delivery”) and concentrated on such means of expression as pronunciation – that is style – and gestures. Many centuries later this dual sense of the phenomenon of speech the Jansenists of Port-Royal (Antoine Arnauld and Pierre Nicole) contained in the “theory of added significance”. By this they understood the pattern which causes “a word to awake in the mind not only the main idea, considered to be its proper meaning, but also a number of other ideas, which could be termed as added ideas. To these additional ideas no attention is paid, in spite of the fact that they influence the mind”39. he confirmation of the validity of all these observations emerged from the scientific findings from the early twentieth century. hanks to the achievements of psycholinguistics, Roman Jakobson characterized the “symbolic of sounds of speech” and their not only expressive, but also cognitive features of significance – no longer intuitively, but in a systematic and confident way. He emphasized also that the so-called double articulation theory refuses single sounds “their inherent”, “natural” meaning and it ascribes them merely a distinctive function within a given language system, as the ability to construct sense (based now only on convention) it reserves for words and sentences. Meanwhile, according to the researcher, more and more studies seem to confirm the existence of a “direct and independent meaning in the life of a language of units forming the sound shape of words”40. For him as well, the sensory qualities, triggered by the sound of phones, were to be the result of the way they are articulated. herefore, the “bright” vowels (for instance “i”) are suitable for expressing “subtlety, smallness, delicacy, sotness and associate terms” (p. 287), as they are articulated “to the outside of our bodies” (p. 292), whereas vowels such as for instance “a” – articulated “to the inside” – are imagined as “dark”, because “the further you enter the body, the darker it is there (p. 293). Tests 38 M. Meyer, M. Carrilho, B. Timmermans, op.cit., p. 157. Ibidem, p. 187. 40 R. Jakobson, Magic of the Sounds of Speech [in:] In Search of the Essence of Language, Warszawa 1989, p. 282. 39 46 Izabella Bukraba-Rylska conducted with the participation of Hungarian children and adults showed drastically different and shared by the vast majority of respondents qualifications of the sound “i” and “u”: “i” was “faster” than “u” for 94%, “smaller” for 88%, “prettier” for 83%, “friendlier” for 82%, “harder” for 71%, whereas “u” was “thicker” for 98%, “fluffier”, and “darker” for 97%, “sadder” and more “blunt” for the 92%, “more bitter” for 86%, and “stronger” for 80%”. Equally instructive are the answers regarding the symbolic relationship between “r” and “l”: the first was “wild, fighting, male, ongoing and harder”, and the latter “wetter” (p. 295). hese observations, confirmed by tests carried out on the material of different languages,demonstrate the universality of the phenomena, which Jakobson explains by the fact of the existence of rooted oppositions of the kind: light/dark, light/heavy, small/large, etc. in elementary structures of perceptual distinctions available to man, and so – by reductionist reasoning – in his biopsychological equipment. he confirmation of the need to take into account both dimensions of a given object of culture can be found in reflections of Roman Ingarden, who proposed that each work of art be interpreted as a multi-layer product, consisting of formal moments, but also of the qualitatively specified essentials. In the case of music, the philosopher pointed to the presence of structures built from sounds next to purely tonal qualities of those sounds. In literature he distinguished a layer of significance units, a layer of appearances and a layer of objects presented, but also a layer of verbal sounds, present even in a quiet reading (“hearing the words”). In painting he could see coloured patches of a given shape and layout, but he also ascribed an important role to the sensory (visual) qualities of these colors – “clear visibility”, “alignment of pure qualities”41. In order to limit the scope of this article to verbal creations, it is worth noting that Ingarden found a sensory basis and a ground for the instantiation of sound in those material qualities. he researcher emphasized that the phonemic features of words (such as its colour – light or dark, the phones – rough and clean, the language melody, rhythm, tempo, etc.), even though they are devoid of sense, are not indifferent to the meaning they accompany – rather they colour it, and not only emotionally: “significance entireties out of necessity call for linguistic-sound material”42, and sometimes even they are able to completely replace them, constructing certain meanings in themselves. On this basis the philosopher showed a significant different between the original version of the beginning of the invocation in “Pan Tadeusz”, which read: “Homeland, my Lithuania!” and its final version: “Lithuania, my homeland!”. 41 42 R. Ingarden, Studies in Aesthetics, Vol. II, Warszawa 1966. R. Ingarden, he Literary Work of Art, Warszawa 1988, p. 98. Culture: Meanings and Values or a Multisensory Orgy? 47 Ingarden found an interesting, because “marginal case” of a literary work in “Słopiewnie”, and especially in “Mirohłady” by Tuwim, wherein one can in vain search for meaning of words and sense behind sentences, and despite which those “creations posing for words”, devoid of link to reality, exist for their own sake, and their sensory qualities carry a “nebular core of the world” – certain associative content triggered by euphony, rhythm, tone. “Tuwim undoubtedly notices something valid”, observes Ingarden and points to a situation in which even “a ‘normal’ literary work can to a certain extent be transformed into such ‘mirohłady’ when the reader doesn’t know the words that appear in it”43 or when “with an inappropriate attitude of the reader those sounds can ‘cloud’ the remaining content of the work”44. 3. Meaning as a biological phenomenon Reflection listed here on the presence in language of meanings set by the sound of words, that is their phonemic aspect, and the way they are articulated, that is their physiological dimension, constituted a further development and at the same time support of theses formulated today by anthropologists regarding the existence and important role of physical and corporeal meanings. On this basis, it can be assumed that meanings appearing in social life and culture function in varied forms, as by partially preserving, and partially modifying their sense, they move from one medium to the other. A convenient theoretical perspective that contains the assumption of continuity and transformation of meaning is offered by the concept of Charles Peirce, long since appreciated in sociology, as well as its interpretation put forward by Charles Morris (accepted especially in Polish sociology of culture – Kłoskowska). It is therefore worth to recall their most essential assumptions in the context of the analyses being performed. he category of continuity has in Peirce’s line of thought a semiotic reference (the idea of translation of a sign into another sign), a metaphysical one (identical meaning travelling from one medium to another, therefore the ability of physical meanings to turn into emotional or abstract ones), and an epistemological one (practical knowledge is to be subordinated here to the “habits of action” and scientific knowledge to “habits of thought”). If the semiotic aspect authorizes the recognition of meaning as a result of a translation of a sign into an another system 43 44 R. Ingarden, Studies in Aesthetics, Vol. III, Warszawa 1970, p. 179. R. Ingarden, he Literary Work of Art, Warszawa 1988, p. 96. 48 Izabella Bukraba-Rylska of signs, and the metaphysical aspect refers one to the pragmatic interpretation (the meaning of the sign is the action, experience or sensation caused by the sign), it implies that the epistemological dimension assumes the constitutive role of meaning for the intersubjectivity of a community that shares certain habits and uses them as directives for action or learning. Precisely these of Peirce’s lines of thought make it so attractive for sociologists and culture scholars. Namely, it turns out that the dynamic status of the transferred meaning in strings of different signs can be described as a semiosis process synonymous with “life” of the mind on one hand, but on the other it also shows that the activity of a sign is capable of going beyond the realm of thoughts and enter a strictly social sphere of action. What follows is that the universe of thought is capable of influencing the social reality through the directives of acting and thinking coded also somatically or mentally, and what remains identical (despite the change of the way of manifestation) is the meaning freely circulating between objects, bodies, and minds. So although semiosis in the broadest sense can be understood as a trans-epochal and trans-cultural process of exchange of ideas, and the whole world as one big system of signs, which allows one to see in the philosopher the “father of anthropological hermeneutics”45, it does not result from it by any means that the meaning contained in mental concepts should be convicted only to exist in the realm of the intelligible. “We can conceive of a sign so broadly”, claims Peirce, “that its interpretant will be no longer an idea, but an act or experience. We can even expand its understanding so that interpretant of a sign will turn out to be a simple quality of an emotion”46. his is why the philosopher admits the existence of three types of interpretants, understood as the effects of signs circulating in a given community. He clearly distinguishes emotional interpretants (feelings generated by the meanings contained in signs), energy interpretants (such as physical effort necessary in a response activity to a given sign) and only as third he lists the logical interpretant (intellectual sing – in contrast to the other two not an individual but a general one, because it takes on the form of a habit of thought or action shared in a given group). It is only this whole rather complicated and far from clear context and a multitude of distinctions (subordinated to the triadomania characteristic of Peirce’s concept) allows one to fully understand the basic message of his version of prag45 F. Turner, Reflexivity as Evolution in horeau’s Walden [in:] he Anthropology of Experience, V. Turner, E. Bruner (eds.), Kraków 2011, p. 105. 46 Ch. Peirce, A Selection of Papers on Semiotics, Warszawa 1997. Culture: Meanings and Values or a Multisensory Orgy? 49 matism: “words cause physical effects”. his is because the thoughts dressed in words influence the material realm, but one must remember that the matter containing thought also influences the human body and human emotions. If the philosophical conclusion of such a vision of reality can be a final denial of the Cartesian and then Kantian dualism and consequently the overthrow of all barriers between subject and object, then for a sociologist the conclusion from Peirce’s pragmatism has to be as follows: we cannot speak of separation of what is human and what is material in a society. hings and people, subjects and objects are in fact in constant interaction constantly exchanging “meanings” expressed materially, somatically or conceptually and in the same way substantiated in the process of reception. An interesting development of the semiotic concept of pragmatism (or rather: a pragmatic concept of semiotics was made by Charles Morris, heavily influenced by Peirce, but also by George Herbert Mead. From Peirce Morris took over the belief that to determine the meaning of a sign is nothing else than to determine the activity that the sign causes. In turn, he shared the conviction with Mead of the inseparability of the processes of experience, action, and symbolization, and therefore of the necessity to examine the personality, self, and society as a process, and not a separate phenomena. Just as Mead, Morris understood meaning as reaction, an action of the organism rather than a phenomenon associated with reflective consciousness. He was not, on the other hand, interested in the finalistic perspective (close to Mead) of the “universe of conversation” as the broadest, final context of acting and thinking of man in society, nor – what is noticeable in Peirce’s thought – was he interested in the final logical interpretant. Instead of universality of shared reactions Morris dealt more with extemporaneous activities of subjects responding to stimuli in a manner appropriate to all biological organisms. hanks to such attitude, Morris saw the examination of the process of semiosis in terms of a decisively interdisciplinary enterprise. Semiotics was to be a general theory of signs in all their forms and manifestations: animal and human, normal and pathological, linguistic and non-verbal, individual and social. his in turn led him to the conclusion that such a wide range can only be supported by a biological theory, reducing comments about the signs to statements about the behavior of living beings, and more specifically – to statements about muscular and glandular reactions of the sign’s interpreter. It is precisely this aspect of the American researcher’s thought that Janina Kotarbińska points out: “it is therefore about a biological theory of the sign, about biological semiotics, a discipline that would be part of the natural sciences and 50 Izabella Bukraba-Rylska which would permit to explain and predict ‘sign behavior’ basing on general laws governing the behavior of animal organisms. he characteristics of the sign should be formulated in terms describing tendencies of behavior caused by this sign in its interpreters”47. In the case of “communication” understood this way, considering consciousness in the process of transmission or reception of meaning becomes superfluous, which is emphasized by understanding sociology and anthropology based on the interpretative paradigm, and since the operations taking place with the participation of reflection constitute merely the margin of social life, the shape of these disciplines and the entire humanities should be rethought. Voices pointing to such a need have been in any case appearing for a while now. he authors dealing with the philosophy of the social sciences, Ted Benton and Ian Craib, call for realism, or even “critical” naturalism and claim that “non-interpretative anti-positivism, which would be a clear return to a different social ontology, and thus to quite a different concept of the relationships between the natural and social sciences” is feasible and promising48. he current binding vision of social life, according to which the researcher is to take interest only in “sensible, rational, social action, action which the actor gives meaning to and which is directed towards other people in order to achieve practical goals in the world” is, according to them, impossible to maintain49. Key features of society composed of people are in fact completely incomprehensible, “if you do not treat them as physical beings with organic and functional needs and weaknesses. hat is why”, they write, “we are essentially social beings through our physicality, not only because of mental life”50. And because the physical equipment of people determines their essential connection “with other animate and inanimate beings: the physical spaces, materials, tools and machinery, domestic and wild animals or plants, agricultural and semi-natural ecosystems, buildings, highways, etc.” all those elements deserve to be considered as “elements of the overall metabolism of society”51. Also Jurgen Habermas, closely tracking the progress of neuroscience, believes that “the image resurrected these days by the cognitive science of a conscious monad recursively closed in itself, remaining in an unspecified relationship with the organic substrate of its brain, is false”52. herefore he calls for a break with the Cartesian doctrine of two substances and Kant’s idea of two worlds, instead opting 47 48 49 50 51 52 J. Kotarbińska, heory of Science and heory of Language, Warszawa 1990, p. 189. T. Benton, I. Craib, Philosophy of Social Science, Wrocław 2003, p. 154. Ibidem, p. 95. Ibidem, p. 149. Ibidem, p. 150. J. Habermas, Between Naturalism and Religion, Warszawa 2012, p. 18. Culture: Meanings and Values or a Multisensory Orgy? 51 for the concept of agency rooted in the body and the life course. Even if there is some intangible “spirit”, in which humanists believe strongly, it must be embodied in “material substrates of signs perceived acoustically or visually, and so in observable actions and communicative forms of expression, in symbolic objects or artifacts”, writes the philosopher53. Ascertaining the appreciation of the naturalistic theories in contemporary humanities, the author strongly advocates the concept of society is governed by the laws of nature. While ascertaining the appreciation of the naturalistic theories in contemporary humanities, the author strongly advocates the concept of society as governed by the laws of nature. Finally, Doris Bachmann-Medick, who follows subsequent “turns” in culture studies, highlights the need formulated by many researchers to link them with the latest discoveries in the fields of biology and neurophysiology, which may result in a fundamental paradigm shit, that is one which “removes or overcomes the boundaries between cultural studies and natural science framework of reference”54. In this new perspective, “without falling into contradiction, the spirit, consciousness, volition, and freedom to act will be treated as natural processes based on biological processes”, claims the author55. Of course, along with the adoption of the new guidelines, it will be necessary to develop a new conceptual apparatus, where terms such as humanism, individualism, and freedom or the categories of subject, text, and value will completely lose their importance. heir place will probably be taken by terms which already appear in sociology and anthropology. To underline their importance and extensive background in the form of reflection of language, that “heart of cultural life forms”56, as well as classical semiotic theories was the aim of these reflections. Translation: Karolina Sofulak, MA REFERENCES Adorno T., Negative Dialectics, Warszawa 1986. Bachmann-Medick D., Cultural Turns, Warszawa 2012. Barthes R., he Pleasure of the Text, Warszawa 1997. Benton T., Craib I., Philosophy of Social Science, Wrocław 2003. 53 54 55 56 Ibidem, p. 153. D. Bachmann-Medick, Cultural Turns, Warszawa 2012, p. 466. Ibidem, p. 468. J. Habermas, op.cit., p. 153. 52 Izabella Bukraba-Rylska Czekanowska A., he Act of Musical Performance and Ethnic Identity [in:] Musicologist and the Musical Work, M. Woźna, Z. Fabiański (eds.), Kraków 1999. Czerwiński M., Contributions in Contemporary Anthropology, Warszawa 1988. Durkheim E., Suicide, Warszawa 2006. Geertz C., Making Experience, Authorizing Selves [in:] he Anthropology of Experience, V. Turner, E. Bruner (eds.), Kraków 2011. Geertz C., hick Description: Toward an Interpretive heory of Culture [in:] Culture Studies, E. Nowicka, M. Kempny (eds.), Warszawa 2003. Goffman E., Interaction Ritual, Warszawa 2006. Gorgias, Encomium of Helen, “Humanities Review” 1984, No. 3. Habermas J., Between Naturalism and Religion, Warszawa 2012. Hastrup K., A Passage to Anthropology, Kraków 2008. Hoggart R., Uses of Literacy, Warszawa 1976. Ingarden R., Studies in Aesthetics, Vol. II, Warszawa 1966. Ingarden R., Studies in Aesthetics, Vol. III, Warszawa 1970. Ingarden R., he Literary Work of Art, Warszawa 1988. Jakobson R., Magic of the Sounds of Speech [in:] In Search of the Essence of Language, Warszawa 1989. Kauffman J.-C., Ego. Sociology of the Individual, Warszawa 2004. Klekot E., Ethnography and the Nikiform. A Sketch [in:] he Humanities and Domination, T. Rakowski, A. Malewska-Szałygin (eds.), Warszawa 2011. Kłoskowska A., Sociology of Culture, Warszawa 1981. Kotarbińska J., heory of Science and heory of Language, Warszawa 1990. Leach E., Levels of Communication and the Problem of Taboo in the Reception and Understanding of Primitive Art, “Polish Folk Art” 1986, No. 3 – 4. Lukacs G., Introduction to the Ontology of Social Being, Warszawa 1982. Lukes S., Durkheim, Warszawa 2012. Madyda M. (ed.), hree Greek Styles, Wrocław 1953. Meyer M., Carrilho M., Timmermans B., History of Rhetoric, Warszawa 2010. Olsen B., Material Culture ater Text [in:] heory of Knowledge of the Past, E. Domańska (ed.), Poznań 2010. Ortega y Gasset J., Meditations on ‘Don Quixote’, Warszawa 2008. Peirce Ch., A Selection of Papers on Semiotics, Warszawa 1997. Plato, Cratylus, Lublin 1990. Rikin J., he Age of Access, Wrocław 2003. Rorty R., Objectivity, Relativism and Truth, Warszawa 1999. Saussure F. de, Course in General Linguistics, Warszawa 1991. Tischner J., hinking in Values, Kraków 1982. Culture: Meanings and Values or a Multisensory Orgy? 53 Turner F., Reflexivity as Evolution in horeau’s Walden [in:] he Anthropology of Experience, V. Turner, E. Bruner (ed.), Kraków 2011. Willis P., he Ethnographic Imagination, Kraków 2005. Wilson E., Consilience, Poznań 2002. Winch P., he Idea of a Social Science and its Relation to Philosophy, Warszawa 1995. Wyka A., Sociologist and Experience, Warszawa 1993. Znamierowski Cz., An Object and Social Fact [in:] A Hundred Years of Polish Sociology, J. Szacki (ed.), Warszawa 1995. Zybertowicz A., Labyrinth Researcher [in:] Histories: One World Too Far, E. Domańska (ed.), Poznań 1997. Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) ISSN 1230-266X P r z e my s ł a w Wew i ó r University of Wroclaw, Poland MONTESQUIEU’S ATTEMPT TO ESTABLISH HISTORY AS SCIENCE ABSTRACT he essay deals with Montesquieu’s methodology of history. My crucial assumption is that Montesquieu intends to cultivate history as science. In the 18th century this ambition meant that he wanted to use the analytical method in the field of history. His works include many examples of the successful exploitation of analysis. Since the philosopher does not consider his methods, my aim will be to extract from his works the ideas that stand behind his historical investigations. In other words, I am going to answer how history can be practiced as science (in the Enlightenment sense of this term). First of all, I am going to explain why analysis was – and still is – so efficient in a realm of natural phenomena. My point will be that it indicated to early modern scientist how they should conduct their experiments. On the other hand, experiments give advantage to scientists due to the fact that they are able to construct and control their object. To put it differently: analysis and experiments are efficient because truth and action are convertible. Now, my crucial question is: ‘Are historians capable of gaining advantage over their objects as physicists are?’ Giambattista Vico, for example, agrees. According to him, researchers can comprehend historical events because history is man-made. Some parts of Montesquieu’s works indicate that he shares Vico’s assumptions. Hence, historians are able to scrutinize past factors, and they can perform thought experiments. Such experiments are means for validating and abolishing hypotheses by using counterfactuals. Montesquieu’s Attempt to Establish History as Science 55 Key words: Montesquieu, Enlightenment, methodology of history, analysis, thought experiments, counterfactuals, verum-factum principle, Giambattista Vico he aim of the essay is to prove that Montesquieu in his historical studies interposes the principles of the early modern physics: the verum-factum principle, analytic methodology, and experimental practices. Since the philosopher does not consider his methods, I am going to extract from his works the ideas that stand behind his historical investigations. In other words, my purpose is to answer the question: “Is it possible to establish history as science in the Enlightenment sense of this term?” Let us start with a short glimpse at the principles of early modern physics that Montesquieu inherited. 1. Principles of Physics A substitution of the concept of knowledge considered as efficacy for a notion of truth as an object of contemplative investigation was a crucial reason for the scientific revolution in the 17th century. his shit started in the Renaissance, when a new social group of artisans – so called virtuosos – appeared on the stage of history. A reconciliation of physics and mechanical art was an innovation they introduced. Since each technical enterprise poses an experiment, it should be preceded by cautious investigations. Giuseppe Ceredi, for instance, prescribed constructing “a great many models, small and large, adding, changing, and removing various things…”1 Virtuosos’ methodology was fruitful so scientists adopted it. Marin Mersenne, for example, explained the features of sounds by threading two strings on a monochord; the settings of the first one were fixed, while Mersenne modified the qualities – length, weight, and tension – of the second one. His scientific practice inspired him to formulate an epistemological principle: “One is constrained to acknowledge that man is not capable of knowing the reason for anything other than that which he can make, nor other sciences than those of which he makes the principles himself, as one can demonstrate in considering mathematics”2. Later this 1 Quoted in S. Drake, Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Science, Vol. 3, Toronto–Buffalo–London 1999, p. 176. 2 Quoted in A. Crombie, Science, Art. And Nature in Medieval and Modern hought, London 1996, p. 105. 56 Przemysław Wewiór epistemological premise was reformulated by Giambattista Vico: “the true and the made are convertible (verum et factum convertuntur)”3. hus, experiments have become an inevitable part of physics. According to Isaac Newton, each efficient investigation should start with the analysis that “… consist in making experiments and observations, and in drawing general conclusions from them by induction, and admitting of no objections against the conclusions, but such as are taken from experiments, or other certain truths…”4. One should keep in mind that early modern scientist unfolded their methodology against the Aristotelian one. hat is why Newton preceded induction by two practices – i.e. observations and experiments – which form analysis. Aristotelian physics failed because it recklessly based induction only on perceived regularities and similarities without taking conclusions achieved in that way into question by experiments. On the contrary, modern physicists formulated excluding experiments aimed to verify or abolish propositions. If one suspects that some factor F1 causes certain affect E1, the researcher should remove F1 and replace it by other factor F2. If E1 still occurred, this would mean that an initial hypothesis is incorrect. hus observations and experiments points true efficient causes. 2. How is history as science possible? Is it possible, as Montesquieu wishes, to apply the verum-factum principle to history? At the beginning of 18th century, Vico gave a direct and assertive answer to this question. In he New Science he aims at establishing history as science: “We shall reduce these beginnings [of nations] to scientific principles, by which the facts of certain history may be assigned their first origins, on which they rest and by which they are reconciled”5. According to Vico, history is capable of reaching the same level of certainty as mathematics is because in history – as in aproric sciences – knowing subject is a creator of object: In the night of thick darkness enveloping the earliest antiquity, so remote from ourselves, there shines the eternal and never-failing light of a truth beyond all question: that the world of civil society has certainly been made by men, and that its 3 Quoted in R. Miner, Verum-factum and Practical Wisdom in the Early Writings of Giambattista Vico, “Journal of the History of Ideas” 1998, No. 59, p. 53. 4 I. Newton, Optics: or a Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light, London 1730, p. 380. he first edition of the work was published in 1704. 5 G. Vico, he New Science of Giambattista Vico [tr. T. Bergin, M. Fisch], Ithaca 1948, p. 53. Montesquieu’s Attempt to Establish History as Science 57 principles are therefore to be found within the modifications of our own human mind. Whoever reflects on this cannot but marvel that the philosophers should have been bent all their energies to study of the world of nature, which, since God made it, He alone knows; and that they should have neglected the study of the world of nations or civil world, which, since men had made it, men could hope to know6. By comparing an epistemological position of the knowing subject in the field of history with God’s position concerning nature, Vico extended an application of his famous verum-factum principle which he had formulated before he started writing he New Science. Initially, it had pertained only to mathematics, experimental sciences, and ethics. However, in his essential work he defends an ideal of humanistic education against impact of Cartesianism. According to Descartes, knowledge of the facts, and of historical events as well, is not science, because particular facts are not reducible to general laws. Mathematics is a paradigmatic science which grasps constant relations between ideas that are made by mind. Investigations that are not capable of following mathematics are not allowed to assert rights to be science because they cannot reach absolute certainty. By applying the verum-factum principle to history, Vico not only includes history into a realm of science, but also demonstrates its superiority over mathematics: mathematics consider mere phantasms while history deals with things themselves. Montesquieu and Vico share the same ambition to establish history as science and they justify this goal in a similar manner. he French philosopher is aware of the significance of the verum-factum principle. Although On the Spirit of Laws concerns history and politics, Montesquieu starts the first book of his treatment – “On Laws in General” – by recalling the relation between God and nature: “God is related to the universe as creator and preserver; the laws by which he created all things, are those by which he preserves them. He acts according to these rules, because he knows them; he knows them, because he made them…”7. he laws by which God governs the universe consist of the rules of the motions of matter that were discovered by the early modern physicists. Montesquieu was not occupied only with history during his lifetime, but also with natural investigations, to which he devoted some lesser-known writings, among which was a treatise on gravity titled Discours sur la Cause de la Pesanteur des Corps. hose works betray his interest both in the Newtonian science and the mechanist philosophy. By evocating physical issues at the beginning of On the Spirit of Laws, Montesquieu suggests that 6 7 Ibidem, p. 85. Montesquieu, he Spirit of Laws, Vol. 1, Worcester 1802, p. 18. 58 Przemysław Wewiór he intends to mock – to some extend – natural studies in his historical work. herefore, in the following paragraphs he allusively compares men’s relation to history with the God’s one to nature; people know civic laws because they are man-made: “Particular intelligent beings may have laws of their own making…”8. Hence men as the creators of positive laws can grasp them and establish history and politics. Moreover, people understand also natural laws that preceded – in a logical order – positive ones. While the latter are created, the former were …never made. Before there were intelligent beings, they were possible; they had therefore possible relations, and consequently possible laws. Before laws were made, there were relations of possible justice. To say that there is nothing just or unjust but what is commanded or forbidden by positive laws, is the same as saying, that before the describing of a circle, all the radii were not equal9. Montesquieu is in accord with a philosophical tradition that determines ethics as aprioric science. Since positive laws are contingent, and they greatly differ in each society, they may be vague to foreigners at the first glance. However, those rules are still comprehendible because they are based on natural laws which originate from fixed and inevitable relations of men’s mind. Hence, historical and social enquiries imitate two realms of knowledge, i.e. physics and mathematics that involve the verum-factum principle. Apart from the precognition of laws, another crucial set of conditions that make historians capable of conducting investigations, consists of passions. According to Montesquieu, history as science is possible because it poses a creation of people guided by passions: „Modern history furnishes us with an example of what happened at that time [at the time of establishing republican government] in Rome, and this is well worth noting. For the occasions which produce great changes are different, but, since men have had the same passions at all times, the causes are always the same”10 (emphasis mine). Here Montesquieu once again underlines the significance of passions by deriving from them all aspects of human existence: “he passions act with great effect upon us. Life is but a series of passions, sometimes stronger, sometimes weaker; now of one sort, now of another. It cannot be doubt- 8 Ibidem. Ibidem. 10 Montesquieu, Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline [tr. D. Lowenthal], Indianapolis 1999, p. 26. 9 Montesquieu’s Attempt to Establish History as Science 59 ed that the combination of these passions during all of life, and different in every person, is responsible for the great differences among mind”11 (emphasis mine). Hence passions provide both the universal substance for all particular events and a motive force that leads people to them. On the other hand, passions intermediate between knowing subject and its historic object. Montesquieu’s assumption is that one can comprehend the acts of nations because they are men-made, and all people throughout history share the same passions. Past physical objects are not directly accessible to researcher, whereas passions that cause historical events are available in an immediate way. In this case, there is no gap between the ideas of mind and the essences of things due to the fact that passions constitute man’s nature. Since every person has epistemologically privileged access to his or her own ideas, and people share the same biologically based nature, one can conduct fruitful historical studies. herefore Montesquieu underlines in “Preface” to On the Spirit of Laws the role of empathy in historical investigations: “When I have been obliged to look back into antiquity, I have endeavored to assume the spirit of the ancients…”12. By providing means for historical studies, and the substance for acts, passions justify an introduction of the verum-factum principle on the field of history. Although the assertion that human life is reducible to passions can lead to a voluntaristic view on history, Montesquieu avoids this consequence. he equation of life and passions is the first step to provide a deterministic explanatory approach. As other modern philosophers, Montesquieu undermines the significance of agent’s conscious motives. His studies do not betray teleological perspective. Contrary to that, he aims at describing how passions are – as the substance of history – shaped and – as people’s motive force – channeled. For this purpose, Montesquieu impregnably uses the concept of an efficient cause, and tends to explain the variety of modi vivendi by social and natural circumstances in which nations live. he impact of those conditions may be so great that one could suppose that different peoples represent distinct races. Montesquieu describes an impression which Romans’ military success made on his contemporaries: “his calls for reflection; otherwise, we would see events without understanding them, and, by not being aware of the difference in situations, would believe that the men we read about in ancient history are of another breed than ourselves”13. his emphasis on external 11 Montesquieu, An Essay on the Causes hat May Affect Men’s Minds and Characters [tr. M. Richter], “Political heory” 1976, No. 2, p. 145. 12 Montesquieu, he Spirit of Law, Vol. 1, op.cit., p. iii. 13 Montesquieu, Considerations, op.cit., p. 39. 60 Przemysław Wewiór factors, instead of underlining conscious motives, is in accord with his interest in mechanistic philosophy. Montesquieu writes for example: “It is difficult to believe how many things determine the state of our mind. It is not only the alignment of the brain which modifies them, but the whole body. Almost all parts of the body contribute to it, including oten those which are not suspected”14. Nevertheless, Montesquieu does not claim to begin historical studies with physics. He rather seems to recall a solution which was formulated by homas Hobbes. he English philosopher was convinced that politics is a part of a greater system based on physics. Yet, Hobbes had inverted logical order by publishing De Cive before De Homine and De Corpore were finished. Hobbes justified this move by arguing that political philosophers may omit physics because causes, i.e. passions, which rule people’s behavior are well-known by ordinary experience15. On the other hand, personal experience represents the moves of matter in human body. Montesquieu also does not find it is necessary to start on the physical micro level; there is no need for historians to study deeply natural philosophy. Nevertheless, one should keep in mind that mechanistic philosophy constitutes a background of Montesquieu’s explanatory approach, and that he sometimes combines physics and history (as it will be shown below). Since there is no metaphysical difference between the realm of physics and the realm of history, there are no a priori contraindications for applying analytic method to the latter. 3. Application of analytic method to history However, Montesquieu does not forejudge that each historical phenomenon may be scrutinized. Some events are highly determined, while the others are not. Contingency has a significant impact on nations when they are, for example, in their infancy. On the contrary, developed political systems are more or less determined16. It was not possible to predict military success of Rome at the time when the city was a small monarchy. But once Romans established their institutions, their acts became strongly determined and convenient for being grasped by analysis: “If the chance of one battle – that is, a particular cause – has brought a state to ruin, some general cause made it necessary for that state to perish from a single battle. In 14 Montesquieu, An Essay on the Causes…, op.cit., p. 145. See T. Hobbes, De Cive, or the Citizen, New York 1949, pp. 14–15. 16 See P. Schuurman, Determinism and Causal Feedback Loops in Montesquieu’s Explanations for the Military Rise and Fall of Rome, “British Journal for the History of Philosophy” (forthcoming), p. 14. 15 Montesquieu’s Attempt to Establish History as Science 61 a word, the main trend draws with it all particular accidents”17. Due to the heuristic significance of established systems, Montesquieu initially seeks how they come into being. In that point he also follows modern physicists who identify the explanation of natural phenomenon with revealing its origins, i.e. efficient causes. he characters of political systems stem from a cluster of geographical (physical) and social causes which form the passions of nations. hus some affects take advantage on the others; prevailing passions constitute esprit de corps that becomes a major motive force of a nation. Romans, for example, lived in a hostile social habitat so they created military institutions which later informed a warlike mentality of generations to come. For that reason, Rome was guided by the virtue of honour. Moreover, since a historian shares the same nature with Romans, he or she understands passions that did not allow them to perish. When it comes to geographical causes, here Montesquieu also employs a comparative method that sets up basis for the analysis leading to general principles. In “he Book XIV” of On the Spirit of the Laws he compares data on how different nations behave in regard to climate. Noticed regularities and dissimilarities serve as material for inductive generalization, for example: “he inhabitants of warm countries are, like old men, timorous; the people in cold countries are, like young men, brave”18. his explanatory approach is in line with Montesquieu’s heuristic statement in which he favors analysis over synthesis: “I have not drawn my principles from my prejudices, but from the nature of things”19. Furthermore, to explain profoundly social phenomena related to climatic conditions, he does not hesitate to support his point with statements taken from physics and medicine: A cold air constringes the extremities of the external fibres of the body; this increases their elasticity, and favors the return of the blood from the extremities to the heart. It contracts those very fibres; consequently it increases also their force. On the contrary, a warm air relaxes and lengthens the extremes of the fibres; of course it diminishes their force and elasticity20. Now, although historians are not capable of carrying out laboratory, controlled experiments on peoples, history furnishes researchers with so called natural ex- 17 18 19 20 Quoted in ibidem, p. 4. Montesquieu, he Spirit of Laws, Vol. 1, p. 260. Ibidem, Vol. 1, p. iii. Ibidem, Vol. 1, p. 260. 62 Przemysław Wewiór periments21. In order to do that, it changes the historical trajectories of nations by altering initial conditions. Hence, one may observe the various modi vivendi in spite of the common human nature. 4. Pitfalls of analysis and thought experiments Yet, as mentioned before, one should resist temptation to make generalizations too rapidly. he modern methodology was formed in opposition to Aristotelian one, so 18th century analysis consists not only of induction but also of experiments testing general propositions. Montesquieu is aware of the pitfalls of rushed generalization. herefore, the key thing for him is to find a way to validate and abolish preliminary conjectures cornering efficient causes. For this purpose he exploits the concept of experiments. Since it is not possible to perform physical experiments in history, he uses thought ones. he only difference between them lies in the means: instead of manipulating physical factors, Montesquieu uses counterfactuals. According to Paul Schuurman, the characteristic feature of the philosopher’s methodology is that he does not introduce counterfactuals – contrary to most historians – to show that historical events are contingent but he employs them for deterministic aims22. Now, let us suppose that a factor F causes an effect E1. In order to check this supposition, one may pose a different input – i.e. a counterfactual C – and substitute it for F. If E1 still occurs, that means the conjecture is wrong. In that case historian must pose – by analysis – another assumption, and then he should try to abolish it by subsequent thought experiments which employ counterfactuals. On the other hand, if C leads to a different outcome E2, the historian is hot on the trail of true explanation. Hence, experiments on the field of physics and on the realm of history share the same pattern. Montesquieu uses notional experiments, for instance, in order to elucidate how the empires established by Cyrus and Syleucus lost against – respectively – Macedonians and Romans, and he links these events with the fact that the boundaries of these states were overextended. hen Montesquieu imagines what would have happened if the rulers had limited their desire for conquering lands. his thought experiment indicates that the outcome would 21 See “Prologue” to Natural Experiments in History, J. Diamond, J. Robinson (eds.), Cambridge– London 2010, pp. 1–2. 22 See P. Schuurman, Determinism…, op.cit., p. 4. Montesquieu’s Attempt to Establish History as Science 63 have been different. hus Montesquieu formulates the law: “Nature has given states certain limits to mortify the ambition of men”23. To justify this comparison between history and physics, let us consider just one more objection. One may put in question the equation of experiments on these both fields because thought experiments do not provide researchers with empirical tests. But that is not a case. he outcomes of notional experiments are in force in physics as well. Physicists are not always able to manipulate material factors, as, for example, in astronomy. Moreover, sometimes they rely on thought experiments against empirical data. For instance, Galileo Galilei maintained that bodies dropped from a given height fall with the same acceleration and speed no matter of their weights. His adversaries carried such physical experiment out and a result was contrary to Galileo’s prediction: heavier objects reached the ground faster than lighter ones. But even then he insisted on the proposition because the critics had not taken resilience of air into account. Until Robert Boyle constructed an air pomp, it was impossible to remove air by physical means, so Galileo needed to perform a thought experiment. herefore, Montesquieu’s counterfactual methodology remains in force. 5. Actuality of Montesquieu’s methodology Montesquieu’s historical works are a great exemplification of the Enlightenment methodology. According to Ernst Cassirer, Enlightenment tended to embrace all ranges of knowledge by applying analytical approach to them24. In other words, during that period analysis constitutes a horizon of thoughts. Of course, this statement is valid in a case of history as well. However, we usually consider Enlightenment as an epoch blind to historical investigations. his prejudice stems from the romantic movement that identified itself in opposition to the 18th century philosophers. herefore, the members of romanticism claimed rights to establish history as valid knowledge on their own. Since they considered analysis as the method that oversimplifies a complexity of human existence, they overruled and replaced it by interpretation. he clearest justification of this methodological revolt was given by the neo-Kantian philosophers from the Baden School: Wilhelm Windelband and Heinrich Rickert. According to them, nature and spirit (Geist) pose 23 Quoted in ibidem, p. 5. See E. Cassirer, he Philosophy of the Enlightenment [tr. F. Koelln, J. Petegrove], Princenton 1951, pp. 197–199. 24 64 Przemysław Wewiór two completely different objects which require diverse methodological approaches. Hence the neo-Kantians introduced a sharp division between the so-called nomothetic and idiographic sciences. hus, the application of analysis was limited to natural phenomena. hat pattern of thinking is still mirrored by the way in which academic units are organized; while social sciences are sometimes associated with natural ones, history is bound with humanities. One oten overlooks that physical factors also play their role in the field of history and that some historical phenomena may be reduced to general laws, as we have seen it above. However, contemporary historians supply us more and more frequently with studies which intersect history and natural science25. Nowadays, when those researchers understand natural phenomena much more profoundly, and when they employ the sophisticated means of analysis, Montesquieu’s effort to establish history as science and his methodological ideas are more up-to-date than they used to be in the 18th century. REFERENCES Carrithers D., Montesquieu’s Philosophy’s of History, “Journal of the History of Ideas” 1986, No. 47. Cassirer E., he Philosophy of the Enlightenment [tr. F. Koelln, J. Petegrove], Princenton 1951. Crombie A., Science, Art. And Nature in Medieval and Modern hought, London 1996. Descartes R., Meditations on First Philosophy [tr. E. Haldane], Raleigh 1996, EBSCOhost, http://web.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail?sid=29ef59b8-376e-41d7-9484-a316f2a63156 %40sessionmgr10&vid=1&hid=20&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#d b=nlebk&AN=1086191 [Access date: 07.06.13]. Drake S., Essays on Galileo and the History and Philosophy of Science, Toronto–Buffalo– London 1999. Hobbes T., De Cive, or the Citizen, New York 1949, Archive.org, http://archive.org/details/ deciveorcitizen00inhobb [Access date: 08.06.13]. Miner R., Verum-factum and Practical Wisdom in the Early Writings of Giambattista Vico, “Journal of the History of Ideas” 1998, No. 59. 25 See for example Natural Experiments in History, passim. Editors Jared Diamond and James A. Robinson gather together several studies that combine history, economics and natural sciences. Some outcomes of those investigations are even quantified. Montesquieu’s Attempt to Establish History as Science 65 Montesquieu, An Essay on the Causes That May Affect Men’s Minds and Characters [tr. M. Richter], “Political heory” 1976, No. 2, Jstor, http://www.jstor.org/stable/190626 [Access date: 08.10.13]. Montesquieu, Considerations on the Causes of the Greatness of the Romans and their Decline [tr. D. Lowenthal], Indianapolis 1999. Montesquieu, he Spirit of Laws. 2 Vols, Worcester 1802, Hein online, http://www.heinonline.org/HOL/Index?index=cow/spiritlaw&collection=beal [Access date: 14.05.13]. Myers R., Montesquieu on the Causes of Roman Greatness, ”History of Political hought” 1995, No. 16. Natural experiments in History, J. Diamond, J. Robinson (eds.), Cambridge–London 2010. Newton I., Optics: or a Treatise of the Reflections, Refractions, Inflections and Colours of Light, London 1730, Archive.org, http://archive.org/details/opticksortreatis1730newt [Access date: 07.06.13]. Oake R., Montesquieu’s Analysis of Roman History, “Journal of the History of Ideas” 1955, No. 16. Reiss J., Counterfactuals, hought Experiments, and Singular Causal Analysis in History, “Philosophy of Science” 2009, No. 76. Schuurman P., Determinism and Causal Feedback Loops in Montesquieu’s Explanations for the Military Rise and Fall of Rome, “British Journal for the History of Philosophy” (forthcoming). Vico G., he New Science of Giambattista Vico [tr. T. Bergin, M. Fisch], Ithaca 1948, Internet Archive, http://ia600302.us.archive.org/23/items/newscienceofgiam030174mbp/newscienceo fgiam030174mbp.pdf [Access date: 14.05.2013]. Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) ISSN 1230-266X COMMUNICATES–RELATIONS Beata Bonna Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland RESEARCH ON THE APPLICATION OF E.E. GORDON’S THEORY OF MUSIC LEARNING IN THE MUSIC EDUCATION IN POLAND ABSTRACT he purpose of this article is the presentation of the results of the research conducted in Poland on the effectiveness of music education realised in accordance with the assumptions of Edwin Elias Gordon’s heory of Music Learning, which holds an important place in the existing systems of common music education. Gordon pays attention to the need of undertaking the earliest possible music interactions when it comes to children. Some observations conducted among pregnant women and infants during music activities being realised in accordance with the assumptions of Gordon’s theory showed that infants display some reactions indicating the recognition of the music presented before the birth. hey also demonstrated that these children reacted to music earlier than the infants who were not musically stimulated in their prenatal period. he experimental research conducted among children at pre-school age and early-school age proved greater, compared to the traditional methods, effectiveness of the interactions resulting from Gordon’s heory of Music Learning in the development of their music aptitudes and musical achievements1. Moreover, they also 1 Gordon uses the term ‘music aptitudes’ which refers to aptitudes for learning music, however the term ‘musical achievements’ defines the achievements (understood as ‘skills’) which are formed during the process of music learning. A human being is born with an aptitude potential, whereas the skills are acquired. herefore, Gordon uses a clear distinction between these terms (E. Gordon, Teoria uczenia się muzyki [A Music Learning heory] [in:] Podstawy teorii uczenia się muzyki według Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s Theory 67 proved that the stimulation of music aptitudes contributes to the development of children’s perceptive-motor functions especially in the context of developmental shortages compensation. Other research confirmed the validity of E.E. Gordon’s thesis about the existing relation between instrument timbre preference and the achievements in playing them. Key words: E.E. Gordon’s heory of Music Learning, audiation, music aptitudes, musical achievements, effectiveness of music stimulation in prenatal period, effectiveness of music education of children at pre-school and early-school age, instrument timbre preference and the achievements in playing 1. Introduction he results of the research presented in the article and related to the effectiveness of music education, realised according to Edwin Elias Gordon’s concept, seem particularly vital when the fact that the common music education in Poland is neglected is taken into consideration. Despite the constant presence of music in youngsters’ lives, the level of their musical achievements is poor, which negatively influences the cultural competences of the society2. Moreover, there also arises a problem of awakening the need of contact with music of high artistic values, through which complete participation in the music culture is possible, which is an integral part of the broad definition of culture. he participation in the music culture characterised by high artistic values is connected with the need of noticing and comprehending a lot of complex aspects of music, which requires proper aptitudes and adequately shaped musical competences. Considering the lack of interest of the governing bodies in the quality of music education in Poland, it is important to look for some new solutions in this domain, which will optimise children’s musical development. One such solution is the application into the system of common education of E.E. Gordon’s heory of Music Edwina E. Gordona [Basics of Music Learning Theory According to Edwin E. Gordon], E. Zwolińska (ed.), Bydgoszcz 2000, pp. 46 – 47. his article also uses these terms in that meaning. Moreover, with the meaning of the term ‘music aptitude’ another term ‘music ability’ will also be used. 2 A. Weiner, Kompetencje muzyczne dzieci w młodszym wieku szkolnym. Determinanty, zależności, perspektywy rozwoju [Music Competence of Early School Age Children. Determinants, Dependences, Progress Perspectives], Lublin 2010, p. 345. 68 Beata Bonna Learning (GTML) based on the audiation processes – understanding music as an alternative concept of children’s music education. In the pluralistic conception of common music education existing in Poland, the impact of C. Orff ’s, E. Dalcroze’s, Z. Kodaly’s, and J. Mursell’s systems is noticeable. his conception is an effect of common efforts of many Polish educators working under the supervision of M. Przychodzińska, as well as many other authors, including Z. Burowska, Z. Konaszkiewicz, W. Jankowski, and E. Rogalski. It is based on such activities as music perception, singing, playing instruments, movement with music, and the learners’ musical creative activity “being an attempt of joining the ‘traditional’ approaches to music teaching with the ideals of the ‘creativity and expression’ pedagogy”3. he Polish concept emphasizes the creation of musical sensitivity, musicality, and musical culture; it also pays attention to educational functions of music, creating various personality features, as well as perceiving values in music4. his concept, however, does not refer to the sequence being so vital and distinctive of Gordon’s heory of Music Learning, in which music should be learned to be understood well, combining knowledge of sequential music learning with knowledge of musical abilities and audiation5. Presumably, this extremely consistent approach of Gordon’s theory to the process of music learning causes that its popularity in Poland is still increasing. However, Gordon’s concept has been rarely taken up in the Polish scientific discourse, which can prove its high effectiveness in developing children’s aptitudes and forming their musical achievements. Gordon’s heory of Music Learning was first presented Radziejowice, Poland in 1991. he seminar was organized by the Institute of Musical Pedagogy of the former Fryderyk Chopin Musical Academy in Warsaw (now the Fryderyk Chopin 3 A. Białkowski, Polska koncepcja powszechnego wychowania muzycznego a współczesne spory o edukację [Polish Concept of Common Music Education and Contemporary Arguments on Education] [in:] Bliżej muzyki. Bliżej człowieka [Closer to Music. Closer to Man], A. Białkowski, B. Smoleńska-Zielińska (eds.), Lublin 2002, pp. 144, 147. 4 See: M. Przychodzińska-Kaciczak, Polskie koncepcje powszechnego wychowania muzycznego. Tradycje-współczesność [Polish Concepts of Common Music Education. Tradition-Contemporary Times], Warszawa 1987; M. Przychodzińska, Wychowanie muzyczne – idee, treści, kierunki rozwoju [Music Education – Ideas, Contents, Development Directions], Warszawa 1989. 5 E.E. Gordon, Sekwencje uczenia się w muzyce. Umiejętności, zawartość i motywy. Teoria uczenia się muzyki [Learning Sequences in Music Skill, Content, and Patterns. A Music Learning heory, Chicago 1980], Bydgoszcz 1999, p. 50; see also: E.E. Gordon, D.G. Woods, Zanurz się w program nauczania muzyki. Działania w kolejności uczenia się. Podręcznik dla nauczycieli [Jump Right In. he Music Curriculum. Reference Handbook for using Learning Sequence Activities, Chicago 1992], Bydgoszcz 1999; E.E. Gordon, Preparatory Audiation, Audiation, and Music Learning heory, Chicago 2001; B. Bonna, Podstawy Gordonowskiej metody zespołowego nauczania gry na instrumentach muzycznych [Foundations of Gordon’s Method of Team Teaching to Play Musical Instruments], Bydgoszcz 2011. Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s Theory 69 Musical University) headed by Wojciech Jankowski. he next seminars, with the participation of E.E. Gordon, were held on a regular basis in the Polish cities of Krynica (1995), Zamość (1998), Bydgoszcz (2001; 2006), and Ciechocinek (2004). he seminars were led by E.E. Gordon along with R.F. Grunow and Ch. D. Azzara (USA), who are also presently engaged in the popularization of GTML in Poland. he list of foreign guests who propagated E.E. Gordon’s theory in the recent years in the form of lectures, workshops, concerts and performances also included A. Apostoli (Italy) and H. Rodrigues (Portugal). Since 1996, Edwin E. Gordon Association, gathering people interested in GTML and its adaptation to the Polish common music education system, has been acting in Poland. E.E. Gordon’s music aptitude test – Intermediate Measure of Music Audiation (IMMA) – received Polish standardization and also a few of his books were translated. In 2004 the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz launched a specialisation of Early-school Pedagogy and Musical Education according to Edwin E. Gordon in the Faculty of Pedagogy, where the teachers are prepared to develop audiation aptitudes in children and conduct music lessons according to the assumptions of the Music Learning heory. It is worth mentioning that it is the only, for the time being, university in Poland which educates the students in this specialisation. 2. Gordon’s Theory of Music Learning he heory of Music Learning, created ater decades of intense empirical research by American pedagogue and music psychologist E.E. Gordon, is an innovative approach to children’s music education. It holds an important place next to the acknowledged systems of music education by C. Orff, E. Delcroze, and Z. Kodaly. he research verifying the effectiveness of the theory in educational practice, conducted by E.E. Gordon and other scientists, caused the development of knowledge of music aptitudes, audiation, processes of music learning, and musical development of infants and small children6. he author of the concept was the first 6 See: E.E. Gordon, Developmental Music Aptitudes Among Inner-City Primary Grade Children, “Council for Research in Music Education” 1980, No. 63; E.E. Gordon, Research Studies in Audiation, “Council for Research in Music Education” 1985, No. 84; E.E. Gordon, he Importance of Being Able to Audiate “Same” and “Different” for Learning Music, “Music Education for the Handicapped” 1986, Bulletin 2; E.E. Gordon, Preparing Young Children to Improvise at a Later Time, “Early Childhood Connections” 1997, No. 4; E.E. Gordon, Vectors in My Research [in:] he Developmental and Practical Application of Music Learning heory, M. Runfola, C. Crump Taggart (eds.), Chicago 2005; J.M. Feierabend, he Effects of Specific Tonal Pattern Training on Singing and Aural Discrimination Abilities 70 Beata Bonna in the world to create a sequential programme of music education. he heory of Music Learning explains the way in which a child learns music, taking into consideration the rule of an early didactic-educational intervention, which combines the influence of family surroundings with pre-school and school activities7. Gordon puts forward the opinion that possibilities of learning are at their top at the moment of birth. he sooner a child is subjected to music activities, the bigger the chances are for increasing their music aptitude potentials to a level equal to the peak occurring at the moment of birth8. he crucial concept is audiation described as the ability to hear and understand music, even when it is not present in the receiver’s direct surroundings9. “Sound itself is not music. Sound becomes music only through audiation. Audiation take place when we assimilate and generalize in our minds the sound of music we have just heard performed or have heard performed sometime in the past. We also audiate when we assimilate and comprehend in our minds music that we may or may not have heard but are reading in notation or are composing or improvising”10. Audiation constitutes the basis of the music aptitudes and it is as important for music as thinking is important for speech11. Developing audiation abilities causes the development of music language, masters the process of sound perception, optimizes hearing functions, and protects against tone-deafness. It also enables a child to evaluate music and perceive its beauty in accordance with one’s subjective feeling of aesthetics12. of First Grade Children, Dissertation Abstract 1984, ProQuest; L.M. Levinowitz, An Experimental Study of the Comparative Effects of Singing Songs with Words and without Words on Children in Kindergarten and First Grade, Dissertation Abstract 1987, ProQuest; D.S. Blesedell, A Study of the Effects of Two Types of Movement Instruction on the Rhythm Achievement and Developmental Rhythm Aptitude of Preschool Children, Dissertation Abstract 1991, ProQuest; N.C. Cernohorsky, A Study of the Effects of Movement Instruction Adapted from the heories of Rudolf von Laban Upon the Rhythm Performance and Developmental Rhythm Aptitude of Elementary School Children, Dissertation Abstract 1991, ProQuest. 7 E. Zwolińska, Dlaczego propagujemy teorię uczenia się muzyki E.E. Gordona? [Why Do We Propagate E.E. Gordon’s heory of Music Learning?] [in:] Sposoby kierowania rozwojem muzycznym dzieci w wieku przedszkolnym i wczesnoszkolnym [Ways of Directing Music Education of Preschool Children and Elementary School Children], E. Zwolińska (ed.), Bydgoszcz 1997, p. 21. 8 E.E. Gordon, Sekwencje uczenia się…, op.cit. p. 317. 9 E.E. Gordon, Preparatory Audiation…, op.cit., p. 3. 10 E.E. Gordon, he Aural/Visual Experience of Music Literacy, Chicago 2004, p. 1. 11 E.E. Gordon, Preparatory Audiation…, op.cit., p. 3. 12 B. Bonna, Rodzina i przedszkole w kształtowaniu umiejętności muzycznych dzieci. Zastosowanie koncepcji Edwina E. Gordona [Family and Kindergarten in Forming Children’s Musical Skills. he Application of Edwin E. Gordon’s Concept], Bydgoszcz 2005, p. 71. Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s Theory 71 While explaining the process of audiation, Gordon invokes the comparison to language learning. First, a child hears spoken words around it, and, by degrees, it starts to understand their meaning. If the speech which a child hears, is rich, then, with time, the child’s communication facility with the others will be greater. he vocabulary adopted by the child becomes the basis for development of their babble speech, which in time shapes into a form of speech comprehended by the closest ones. In the next phase, having achieved a good command of speech, a child learns to read and then to write. A process analogous to that should take place during music education13. Audiation and activities undertaken for its development cause faster and more conscious acquisition of complex musical competences14. Perceptual musical skills are acquired on the basis of music comprehension. Vocal activities based on tonal patterns expand audiation and shape the ability of singing correctly in terms of intonation. Rhythm pattern recitation forms the skills connected with the sense of meter pulse and tempo changes, as well as the precise performance of songs in terms of rhythm. Facing a child with rich musical experience – singing melodies in various tonalities (major, minor, Dorian, Lydian, and others), presentation of rhythm examples in varied meter (duple, triple, unusual), as well as performing for a child and with a child’s tonal patterns and rhythm patterns causes the formation of improvisation skills in terms of melody and rhythm15. he early interaction of the family environment and kindergarten teachers is connected with preparatory audiation. he types and stages of preparatory audiation are a temporary phase, which prepares for the entrance to the audiation. A child’s ability to enter a particular type or stage of preparatory audiation indicates the child’s music age, but not their calendar age. herefore, an important postulate arises to adjust the interactions to an individual phase of each child’s musical development. Depending on the level of abilities, the level which a child accomplishes during the preparatory audiation determines the way a child will manage during audiation in formal education. Audiation is sequential, which means that each stage is the basis for, and, at the same time, a part of the next stage. Regardless of the level of music aptitude, all 13 E.E. Gordon, Umuzykalnianie niemowląt i małych dzieci [A Music Learning heory for Newborn and Young Children, Chicago 1990], Kraków 1997, p. 8; B. Bonna, Sekwencje w procesie uczenia się muzyki [Sequences in the Process of Music Learning ] [in:] Nowe koncepcje edukacji muzycznej [New Concepts of Music Education], A. Michalski (ed.), Bydgoszcz 2002, p. 13. 14 See: E.E. Gordon, Introduction to Research and the Psychology of Music, Chicago 1998, p. 13. 15 B. Bonna, Sekwencje w procesie…, op.cit., p. 13; B. Bonna, Rodzina i przedszkole…, op.cit., p. 71. 72 Beata Bonna children pass through the same process of music learning, which means that they learn each type of audiation through sequential passing from lower to higher levels16. 3. The application of GTML in aural training activities with pregnant women and infants For a few years, at the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz there were conducted a series of aural training activities realised according to E.E. Gordon’s concepts, whose purpose was developing audiation abilities in infants and small children. he activities were conducted by E.A. Zwolińska and M. Gawryłkiewicz. A group of pregnant women also participated in these meetings, allowing the researchers to observe whether their children reacted differently ater birth to their mother’s singing and to other people conducting the activities than other infants who were not musically stimulated in the prenatal period. It turned out that in all of the cases the babies ater birth showed clear reactions to singing during the classes, seemed to listen with rapt attention, were smiling and calm, showed their satisfaction with movement, looked at the singing people and started to produce their babble music faster than other children in all of the researched cases. he mothers attending the classes also claimed that the music “remembered” by their infants from the prenatal period was calming them ater birth and the mothers used it to put them to sleep. Additionally, it turned out that the unborn children showed their liking for a particular kind of music and they willingly relaxed and fell asleep when listening to it ater birth. According to GTML assumptions, the children and the pregnant women were surrounded with various kinds of music during the activities, the melodies were sung in different tonalities, some rhythmic fragments were performed of a varied meter, and the tonal and rhythm patterns characteristic for preparatory audiation. All of the activities were in a form of a play and were connected with smooth, free movement17. It is worth underlining that 16 B. Bonna, Sekwencje w procesie…, op.cit., p. 14. E. Zwolińska, Naucz swoje dziecko audiować [Teach Your Child to Audiate], Bydgoszcz 2004, pp. 14 – 15; B. Bonna, Prawidłowości rozwoju muzycznego małego dziecka w świetle teorii Edwina E. Gordona [Regularities of Small Child Musical Development in the Light of E.E. Gordon’s heory] [in:] Co oferuje współczesny żłobek? Medyczne, psychologiczne i pedagogiczne aspekty rozwoju dzieci do lat trzech [What Can a Contemporary Nursery Offer? Medical, Psychological, and Pedagogical Aspects of a Child-under-three Development], I. Laskowska, M. Wójtowicz-Dacka (eds.), Bydgoszcz 2011, p. 113. 17 Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s Theory 73 the observations conducted during the activities contribute to the world-wide research on the reactions of foetus and infants to music18. 4. The application of GTML in kindergarten A year-long experimental research, based on a double-group plan with an initial and a final measurement, was carried out by Beata Bonna. 53 children at the age of 6 from two kindergartens in Bydgoszcz took part in it. he purpose of the research was, among other things, to verify the effectiveness of music teaching conducted according to Gordon’s concept among the reschool children. In the course of the experiment19 the focus was put on showing the effectiveness of the undertaken actions when it comes to development of musical, as well as perceptive, executive, and improvisation musical skills in children in natural conditions of a preschool environment. he effectiveness of the experimental method of music education (based on GTML) was compared to the traditional (Polish) conception of the children’s music education. A significant purpose of the research was to 18 See: D.J. Shelter, he Inquiry Into Prenatal Experience: A Report of the Eastman Project 1980 – 1987, “Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health” 1989, No. 3; M.R. Zentner, J. Kagan, Infant’s Perception of Consonanse and Dissonanse in Music, “Infant Behavior and Development, No. 3; G.F. Federico, Music Aids Development in the Womb, “Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health” 2000, No. 1; G.E. Whitwell, An Introduction to Prenatal Sound and Music, “Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health” 2000, No. 1; S.E. Trehub, Music Lessons from Infants [in:] Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology, S. Hallam, I. Cross, M. haut (eds.), Oxford 2009; L.J. Trainor, A. Shahin, L.E. Roberts, Understanding the Benefits of Musical Training: Effects on Oscilatory Brain Activity, “Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences” 2009, No. 1169; S.E. Trehub, E.E. Hannon, Conventional Rhythms Enhance Infants’ and Adults’ Perception of Music, “Cortex” 2009, No. 4; S.E. Trehub, E.E. Hannon, A. Schachner, Perspectives on Music and Affect in the Early Years [in:] Handbook of Music and Emotion: heory, Research, Application, P.N. Juslin, J.A. Sloboda (eds.), Oxford 2010; S.E. Trehub, In the Beginning: A Brief History of Infant Music Perception, “Musicae Scientiae” 2010, special issue; T. Nakata, S. Trehub, Expressive Timing and Dynamics in Infant-directed and Noninfant-directed Singing, “Psychomusicology: Music, Mind & Brain” 2011, No. 1–2; M. Adachi, S.E. Trehub, Musical Lives of Infants [in:] he Oxford Handbook of Music Education, G. McPherson, G. Welch (eds.), New York 2012. 19 he classes lasted 30 minutes and were conducted twice a week in both groups. he pedagogical experiment was supported with the “action research” based on an active participation of a researcher-practitioner (an expert in teaching music according to E.E. Gordon’s theory), who carried out the classes in the experimental group (E). he teacher was both a researcher and a creator, the performer of pedagogical processes (see: D. Skulicz, Badanie w działaniu [Action Research] [in:] Orientacje w metodologii badań pedagogicznych [Sense of Direction in Methodology of Pedagogical Research], S. Palka (ed.), Kraków 1998). In the control group (K) the music classes with children were carried out by a teacher specializing in the traditional (Polish) conception of music education. he same musical skills were developed in both groups, however, in a different manner. 74 Beata Bonna verify the possibilities of adaptation of E.E. Gordon’s theory to the Polish preschool educational system, which was related to the conviction of the necessity to enrich the present methods of supporting children’s musical development. It was assumed that the implementation of the basic elements of the GTML into the aural training classes at kindergartens would cause a measurable increase of the children’s musical aptitudes and achievements. he diagnosis of the children’s developing musical aptitudes was made with the use of Primary Measures of Music Audiation (PMMA) test by E.E. Gordon20, and the level of musical perception skills was verified with the use of the author’s Musical Skills Perception Test. he children’s executive and improvisation skills were assessed on the basis of the prepared Set of Tasks21 aiming at individual sampling and the adopted measures of criteria22. In the course of the experiment, interactions were adjusted to the phase of musical development of a particular child, taking into consideration their music behaviour and the reactions characteristic to a particular type and stage of preparatory audiation, as well as the individual profile of music aptitudes23. he analysis of the research results showed an equal potential of the children’s music aptitudes in the two sampled groups, both in the pre-test and the post-test. Despite the better results in the final research of the children from the experimental group, the Tonal Test, the Rhythm Test, and the total result, the difference between the groups became statistically unimportant. It was proven, however, that the increase of the arithmetic means between the initial and the final test was approximately twice as big in the group covered with the experimental method of music education (experimental: Tonal 4,43, Rhythm 4,11, Total 8,50; control: Tonal 2,30; Rhythm 2,04; Total 4,32). Moreover, it was observed that both the experimental and the traditional classes contributed to positive changes in the aptitude level, mainly increasing the number of the sampled children with high musical abilities. Nevertheless, more advantageous changes happened in the experimental group, where a significantly bigger increase of the children with high aptitudes was noticed in comparison with the control group. In the final test in the experimental group not a single child with a low musical aptitude was found. he distribution of results showed, therefore, 20 See: E.E. Gordon, Introduction to Research…, op.cit., pp. 72 – 75, 120 – 127. See: B. Bonna, Rodzina i przedszkole…, op.cit., pp. 221 – 223. 22 See: E.E. Gordon, Rating Scales and heir Uses for Measuring and Evaluating Achievement in Music Performance, Chicago 2002. 23 See: E.E. Gordon, Umuzykalnianie niemowląt…, op.cit. 21 Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s Theory 75 a greater effectiveness of the teaching based on GTML in developing music aptitudes24 (see: Table 1). Table 1. Level of music aptitudes (number of people) Low PMMA Tonal Medium High Pre-test Post-test Pre-test Post-test Pre-test Post-test E E E E E E K K K K K K 6 1 0 1 18 20 10 13 4 4 18 11 Rhythm 5 1 0 1 21 19 16 13 2 5 12 11 Total 1 0 0 20 21 11 12 2 3 17 13 6 Source: B. Bonna, Rodzina i przedszkole…, op.cit., p. 156. Considering the author’s Musical Skills Perception Test, the analysis resulted in a statistically important difference (5,25) between the average results of both groups in favour of the children from the experimental group. he manifest advantage was noted especially in the initially poor competences, which related to the recognition of song meter, long and short sounds in the rhythm patterns, as well as defining the number of sounds heard in the consonances. Moreover, the children from the experimental group achieved much better results in the tasks involving the differentiation of sound pitch in the high, moderate, and low register, as well as defining the song structure (AB; ABA). Also the results of the individual Set of Tasks in the area of performance and improvisational musical achievements of children turned out to be better in the experimental group and the difference in the average number of points achieved (4,36) was statistically important. he greatest differentiation of the results between the groups in favour of the children included in the experiment was noted in the area of the recitation of a rhythmical text with the changes of tempo, timbre, and dynamics (31%), musical improvisation (28,66%), and the improvisation of a rhythmical accompaniment to a song (23,33%). he most significant improvement in the experimental group referred to the realization of the song rhythm (an increase of 44,66%) and the tonal aspect of singing (an increase of 19,40%). It has to be admitted that the activities undertaken in the experimental group contributed to a remarkable development of musical skills in children, especially those which were related to the tonal and rhythmical music aptitudes, developing 24 B. Bonna, Rodzina i przedszkole…, op.cit., pp. 154 – 156. 76 Beata Bonna intensely in the pre-school period. he purposefully and systematically developed auditory and singing dictionary, as well as the performance of particular tonal and rhythm patterns caused a radical development of improvisation skills in terms of melody and rhythm and the increase of intonational and rhythmical correctness of singing. It may be assumed that these activities started and strengthened the audiation process, optimizing at the same time the auditory functions, which resulted in a significant development of the children’s perception skills25. 5. The application of GTML in primary school he purpose of the experimental research undertaken by E.A. Zwolińska was empirical verification of the hypothesis assuming the possibility of stimulating the development of audiation abilities of younger school children in the natural conditions of a school classroom. he research included 50 pupils attending a primary school in Bydgoszcz between the first and third year. Two curricula were implemented in the course of the 3-year-long research. he first one, based on GTML, was intended for the experimental group, while the other one, being the effect of the assumptions of the Polish conception of music education, was intended for the control group26. he research problems were connected with observation of the development of the children’s tonal and rhythmical aptitudes and the skills to read melody and rhythm as a result of the undertaken experimental activities27. hey were also connected with the observation of the impact of the applied methods (experimental and traditional) on the level of the pupils’ perceptive-motor functions (visual, audible, motor skills) on the basis of measurements repeated four times28. E.E. Gordon’s music aptitudes tests, PMMA and IMMA (Intermediate Measures of Music Audiation), were used in the research. he skill to read melody and rhythm was evaluated on the basis of the accepted criteria. he improvement of pupils’ 25 Ibidem, pp. 151 – 168. In the experimental group (E) music lessons (45 minutes a week) were conducted by a teacher of music education based on the theoretical assumptions of E.E. Gordon’s conception. In the control group (K) a music curriculum was implemented by a teacher of elementary education (2 x 45 minutes a week) (E. Zwolińska Rozwój wyobraźni muzycznej a funkcje percepcyjno-motoryczne w młodszym wieku szkolnym [Development of Musical Imagination and Perceptive-motor Functions at the Early School Age], Bydgoszcz 1997, p. 90). 27 he first 10 minutes of each lesson were intended for a sequential order of learning music according to E.E. Gordon’s assumptions. 28 E. Zwolińska, Rozwój wyobraźni muzycznej…, op.cit., pp. 87 – 89. 26 Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s Theory 77 visual functions was sampled with the test by L. Bender – Graphical Attempt of Perceptive Organisation. M. Stambak’s test – Rhythmical Structures Reconstruction helped to measure the level of pupils’ auditory functions. Another function – pupils’ motor skills was diagnosed with M. Stambak’s test – Lining Attempt29. In the analysis it was claimed that the effectiveness of education connected with the development of music aptitudes of the sampled group depends on the accepted educational concept and music learning, as well as the teacher’s educational experience, especially in relation to pupils achieving the poorest results (sub-group A5, see Table 2). he weakest pupils achieved much better results in the experimental group, which indicates a greater efficiency of teaching and music learning through audiation. In the experimental group there was also a greater impact of the teacher’s didactic experience on the pupils’ music aptitudes development. he tables below include the results of these both tests. Table 2. PMMA test mean results for particular sub-groups30 Subgroups Tonal Measurement 1 E Rhythm Measurement 2 K E 38,4 38,6 K Measurement 1 E Total Measurement 2 Measurement 1 K E K E 33,8 35,8 34,8 70,2 Measurement 2 K E K 74,4 70,4 A1 38 A2 36 36,2 37 36,8 31 30 34,2 32 67 65,8 70,4 68,4 A3 35,8 33,6 36 35,4 27,8 27,6 32 30,2 63 62,2 67,4 66,6 A4 34,2 31,8 33,8 34 25,8 25,6 29,4 28,4 59,2 59 63 63,6 A5 29,2 22,4 30,4 29,8 21,8 22 26,8 23,6 53,2 45,4 58,8 54 38 33 69 Source: E. Zwolińska, Rozwój wyobraźni muzycznej…, op.cit., p. 119. Table 3. IMMA test mean results for particular sub-groups Subgroups Tonal Rhythm Total Measurement 1 Measurement 2 Measurement 1 Measurement 2 Measurement 1 Measurement 2 E E K E K E K E E K K K A1 37,2 37 38 38,4 37,6 35,8 37,4 35,8 73,4 72 74,4 73,8 A2 36 36 36,8 37,6 34,6 33,4 34,6 34,4 70,4 68,6 71 71 29 Ibidem, pp. 90 – 91, 169 – 173. Sub-group A1 included pupils with the highest results, in other sub-groups the number of points was systematically decreasing (E. Zwolińska, Rozwój wyobraźni muzycznej…, op.cit., p. 117). 30 78 Beata Bonna Subgroups Tonal Rhythm Total Measurement 1 Measurement 2 Measurement 1 Measurement 2 Measurement 1 Measurement 2 E E E K E K E K E K K K A3 35,2 35 36 36 33 32,4 33,2 32,4 67,8 67,4 69,4 68 A4 34,4 33,8 35,6 35,6 31,6 31,2 32 30,2 64,8 65,4 67,8 66 A5 32 29 32,8 31 28,2 26,4 29,8 27 63,4 56,6 63,6 59,6 Source: E. Zwolińska, Rozwój wyobraźni muzycznej…, op.cit., p. 126. The author assigned the development of audiation abilities to the higher achievements of the pupils from the experimental group in terms of reading melody and rhythm31. In the context of the impact of the used methods of teaching on the improvement of the pupils’ visual functions, the results indicated once again a statistically greater impact of the educational method and the teacher’s didactic experience in the experimental group. On the basis of the test assessing the level of the pupils’ auditory functions it was indicated that the primary factor responsible for the development of these functions is the teaching method, yet proving the greater effectiveness of music education in accordance with E.E. Gordon’s concept. he research diagnosing the pupils’ motor skills illustrated that in both groups the improvement was witnessed, however, in this case, better results were achieved by the control group, where an immense increase of high results was noted and a larger decrease of medium results32. he author notices the positive direction of changes in the development of audiation aptitudes and perceptive-motor functions in the experimental group, especially in the context of making the developmental deficits even. he integration of these functions occurring though music activity, at the same time supports achieving readiness to read and write. According to E. Zwolińska, the results proved that developing pupils’ audiation aptitudes happens to be a perceptive functions 31 E. Zwolińska, Rozwój wyobraźni muzycznej…, op.cit., pp. 174 – 180. Ibidem, pp. 143 – 166; see also: E. Zwolińska Znaczenie koncepcji E.E. Gordona dla rozwoju funkcji percepcyjno-motorycznych dziecka [Meaning of E.E. Gordon’s Concept for Development of Child’s Perceptive-motor Functions] [in:] Teoria uczenia się muzyki według Edwina E. Gordona [heory of Music Learning According to Edwin E. Gordon], E. Zwolińska, W. Jankowski (eds.), Bydgoszcz–Warszawa 1995, p. 181. 32 Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s Theory 79 training. She also claims that there is a probability of reducing difficulties in school education to a larger scale through shaping and developing audiation aptitudes33. Further experimental research among the primary school pupils was conducted by M. Kołodziejski. his research was connected with a verification of the efficiency of a sequential music education resulting from the assumptions of E.E. Gordon’s conception in shaping aptitudes and perceptional musical skills, as well as vocal competences of pupils in the first year (7-year-olds) and in the fourth year (10-year-olds) from a primary school in Płock. he year-long experiment was based on a double-group plan including an experimental and a control group34. To diagnose the musical aptitude of the 7-year-olds the IMMA test was used, whereas the 10-year-olds were tested with E.E. Gordon’s Musical Aptitude Profile (MAP) test. he level of pupils’ skills in the first and fourth year was verified with the author’s Music Perceptive Skills Test, while the vocal competence was verified with appropriate rating scales35. Tonal and rhythm patterns in their sequential layout were introduced in the first 10 minutes of music education classes in the experimental classes36. he experimental group consisted of 25 pupils both in the first and fourth year, whereas control group consisted of 101 pupils in the first year and 79 pupils in the fourth year. Music education lessons in the control groups were conducted according to the Polish conception of common music education37. he major research problem was the determination whether, and in what scale, the sequential introduction of tonal and rhythm patterns in accordance with E.E. Gordon’s concept would influence the level of music aptitudes and achievements of pupils. In the analysis it was determined that the music aptitudes of the first year pupils did develop in both groups, however, though small, the differences were statistically important, as they indicated greater aptitudes in the experimental group. In the fourth year groups, where the music aptitudes due the 33 E. Zwolińska, Znaczenie koncepcji Edwina E. Gordona…, op.cit., p. 181. he classes were conducted for 25 minutes twice a week in the first experimental group (E1) and for 45 minutes once a week in the fourth experimental group (E4). Lessons in these groups were carried out by a researcher – a music teacher. Music classes in the control group in the first year (K1) were realised according to the teaching timetables based on the binding core curriculum. Music lessons in the fourth year were held once a week for 45 minutes. hey were realised by a music teacher (M. Kołodziejski, Koncepcja Edwina E. Gordona w powszechnej edukacji muzycznej [E.E. Gordon’s Concept in Common Music Education], Płock 2008, p. 120). 35 M. Kołodziejski, op.cit., pp. 117 – 118. 36 See: E.E. Gordon, Jump Right In, he Music Curriculum. Tonal Register. Book One, Chicago 1990; E.E. Gordon, Jump Right In. he Music Curriculum. Rhythm Register. Book One, Chicago 1990. 37 M. Kołodziejski, op.cit., pp. 115, 120, 123 – 125. 34 80 Beata Bonna pupils’ age are already fixed, no statistical differences between the groups were found. he results of both tests are presented in the tables below. Table 4. IMMA test mean results in the first year Year I (IMMA) IMMA Pre-test E1 K1 Tonal 29,8 Rhythm 26,44 Total 56,2 Post-test E1 K1 28,87 32,2 30,87 26,52 29,04 28,18 55,4 61,64 58,96 Source: Original research based on M. Kołodziejski, op.cit., p. 137. Table 5. MAP test mean results in the fourth year Year IV MAP E4 K4 Melody 22,8 24,42 Harmony 20,24 22,28 Overall result part 1 43,04 46,8 Tempo 25,72 25,27 Metre 21,28 22,35 Overall result part 2 47,00 47,62 Phrasing 18,84 15,49 Ending remarks 16,44 16,00 Style 16,08 15,09 Overall result part 3 51,36 46,62 MAP overall result 141,4 141,04 Source: Original research based on M. Kołodziejski, op.cit., p. 142. In the case of vocal competences, the application of tonal and rhythm patterns showed the difference between the pupils from the first year (1,22 points on average) and the fourth year (2,68 points on average) for the benefit of the experimental group. Among the three selected aspects of singing: tonal, rhythmical, and technical, the rhythmical correctness of the song performance was shaped the best. he test results concerning the perceptional musical competences revealed a highly significant difference of the mean number of points (5,78) among the groups also in favour of the pupils from the first year in the research group. he skills mastered Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s Theory 81 to the greatest degree in the first year were connected with recognition of chords (major and minor), defining melody tonality (major and minor), and indentifying the tonal centre, whereas the ones mastered the worst were connected with metre and pitch. he undertaken activities also created the assumed effect in the fourth year because the difference of the arithmetic mean of the number of points (4,18) in favour of the experimental group turned out to be statistically important. he best and the weakest perceptional musical competences turned out to be similar among the pupils of the first and the fourth year38. he implemented experimental conduct indicated that music education resulting from the assumptions of GTML modifies the development of music aptitudes and the achievements of pupils, even though the changes referring to aptitudes are slight39. 6. Research on instrument timbre preference he research connected with GTML include also, however in a context different from the previous one, the research carried out by P.A. Trzos. hey verify the correctness of E.E. Gordon’s thesis on the existing relation of the musical instrument timbre preference with achievements in playing, who made the recognition of this area a vital element of music education. P.A. Trzos tried to answer the question on the dependency between the ascertained preferences of instrumens timbre and the musical abilities of the sampled group and the achievements in learning to play wind instruments in state-run musical schools of the first degree and institutions of ater-school education (musical groups, community centres, etc.), as well as through individual and private teaching. A method of longitudinal comparative research with elements of experimental reasoning, referring to the strategy of experimental research realised according to a three-group plan with the initial and the final measurement was used in the course of the research40. he Instrument Timbre Preference Test (ITPT) and E.E. Gordon’s MAP test41, a self-monitoring check-list, an observation check-list, an interview questionnaire, and an estimation 38 Ibidem, pp. 144 – 164. Ibidem, p. 216. 40 P. Trzos, Preferencje barwy dźwięku i zdolności muzyczne w nauce gry na instrumencie dętym. Badania edukacyjne nad adaptacją Teorii Uczenia się Muzyki E.E. Gordona [Timbre Preferences and Music Aptitudes in Learning to Play a Wind Instrument. Educational Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s heory of Music Learning], Poznań–Kalisz–Konin 2009, pp. 54, 66 – 69, 186. 41 See: E.E. Gordon, Introduction to Research…, op.cit., pp. 162 – 169. 39 82 Beata Bonna scale of the assessment criteria of the level of musical pieces performance were used in the research42. he research including 166 pupils was conducted in several Polish provinces within the period of three years. he analysis of results proved that only 36,7% of the tested students started to learn playing a wind instrument according to timbre preference resulting from the test. It also proved that the pupils in all three groups represented a similar level of a stabilized musical abilities (statistically important differences were not noted), which did not affect their achievements. It was also found that a wind instrument selected properly and in compliance with the preferences of timbre influences the pupil’s achievements in learning to play this instrument. Additionally, the selection of an instrument according to the preferences may therefore, with a proper diagnosis of musical aptitude, raise the effectiveness of music education and increase the pupils’ achievements at the same time. In the group of pupils from musical schools, where playing the instrument was taught in accordance with the preferred timbre, a definitely greater number of the sampled learners (25%) achieved significantly higher results as soon as ater a year of learning compared to those taught contrary to their preferences (3%). Moreover, it was determined that the sampled pupils that have a better developed sound imagination and are made to learn to play a musical instrument contrary to their preference, show a tendency to achieve lower results in playing. he research also revealed that the compliance of the preferences with the timbre of a wind instrument used to learn to play with the place where the process was taking place (the place of formal music education – non-formal music education institutions; private individual teaching) does shape, to some extent, the strength and the direction of the relation between the level of the stabilized musical aptitude and the achievements of pupils in the area of learning to play a musical instrument. People learning outside the formal system of education to play the instrument selected on their own and characterised by a great aptitude achieved slightly higher results than the pupils with lesser aptitude. However, in the sampled group from musical schools taught contrary to the preferences of timbre, it was observed that the higher aptitudes they had, the worse achievements in playing they presented. he proper use of a significant potential of students’ aptitude continues to be a big problem of musical schools in Poland43. On the basis of the research results, P.A. Trzos proved that instrument timbre preference belongs to vital factors in building the students’ motivation to learn to 42 43 See: P. Trzos, op.cit., pp. 213 – 223; see also: E.E. Gordon, Rating Scales…, op.cit. P. Trzos, op.cit., pp. 93 – 101, 187 – 188. Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s Theory 83 play an instrument. Moreover, according to the research author’s opinion, the motivation level determined by the timbre preference and connected with mastering of skills in playing does not unanimously result from the conditions of formal or non-formal music education. he research demonstrated that the dependency between the compliance of the timbre preference with the selection of instrument is not always important because of the place of teaching44. 7. Closing remarks he presented research, mainly experimental and of a pioneering character in Poland, point to arious contexts and areas connected with the application of Gordon’s heory of Music Learning in the Polish educational reality, confirming its high effectiveness in the process of children’s musical development. However, they still constitute only a few initiatives requiring support in the form of a greater number of research confirming (or not) the results achieved thus far, as well as expanding the scope of the undertaken topics. hey do not deplete the multidimensional research goal connected with proving the effectiveness of music education based on E.E. Gordon’s theory in the context of longitudinal research including various age groups with particular consideration of infants and children under three. It would be appropriate to examine the phenomenon of a specific musical thinking transfer shaped on the basis of a sequential music curriculum into other areas of a child’s activity. According to J. Bruner, education cannot be treated just like a typical technical enterprise which operates on the basis of proper management of transforming information. Education should not become merely the issue of the application of ‘learning theory’ in the classroom or teaching focused on test achievements. It needs to be treated as a complex process of adjusting culture to the needs of its members, as well as adjusting its members and their knowledge to the needs of culture45. his is the context in which the presented research on the application of Gordon’s concept to the system of music education in Poland should be considered. 44 Ibidem, pp. 188 – 189. J. Bruner, Kultura edukacji [The Culture of Education, Harvard University Press 1996], Kraków 2006, p. 69. 45 84 Beata Bonna REFERENCES Adachi M., Trehub S.E., Musical Lives of Infants [in:] he Oxford Handbook of Music Education, G. McPherson, G. Welch (eds.), New York 2012. Białkowski A., Polska koncepcja powszechnego wychowania muzycznego a współczesne spory o edukację [Polish Concept of Common Music Education and Contemporary Arguments on Education] [in:] Bliżej muzyki. Bliżej człowieka [Closer to Music. Closer to Man], A. Białkowski, B. Smoleńska-Zielińska (eds.), Lublin 2002. Blesedell D.S., A Study of the Effects of Two Types of Movement Instruction on the Rhythm Achievement and Developmental Rhythm Aptitude of Preschool Children, Dissertation Abstract 1991, ProQuest. Bonna B., Sekwencje w procesie uczenia się muzyki [Sequences in the Process of Music Learning] [in:] Nowe koncepcje edukacji muzycznej [New Concepts of Music Education], A. Michalski (ed.), Bydgoszcz 2002. Bonna B., Rodzina i przedszkole w kształtowaniu umiejętności muzycznych dzieci. Zastosowanie koncepcji Edwina E. Gordona [Family and Kindergarten in Forming Children’s Musical Skills. he Application of Edwin E. Gordon’s Concept], Bydgoszcz 2005. Bonna B., Podstawy Gordonowskiej metody zespołowego nauczania gry na instrumentach muzycznych [Foundations of Gordon’s Method of Team Teaching to Play Musical Instruments], Bydgoszcz 2011. Bonna B., Prawidłowości rozwoju muzycznego małego dziecka w świetle teorii Edwina E. Gordona [Regularities of Small Child Musical development in the Light of E.E. Gordon’s heory] [in:] Co oferuje współczesny żłobek? Medyczne, psychologiczne i pedagogiczne aspekty rozwoju dzieci do lat trzech [What Can a Contemporary Nursery Offer? Medical, Psychological, and Pedagogical Aspects of a Child-Under-hree Development], I. Laskowska, M. Wójtowicz-Dacka (eds.), Bydgoszcz 2011. Bruner J., Kultura edukacji [he Culture of Education, Cambridge 1996], Kraków 2006. Cernohorsky N.C., A Study of the Effects of Movement Instruction Adapted from the heories of Rudolf von Laban Upon the Rhythm Performance and Developmental Rhythm Aptitude of Elementary School Children, Dissertation Abstract 1991, ProQuest. Feierabend J.M., he Effects of Specific Tonal Pattern Training on Singing and Aural Discrimination Abilities of First Grade Children, Dissertation Abstract 1984, ProQuest. Federico G.F., Music Aids Development in the Womb, “Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health” 2000, No. 1. Gordon E.E., Developmental Music Aptitudes Among Inner-City Primary Grade Children, “Council for Research in Music Education” 1980, No. 63. Gordon E.E., Research Studies in Audiation, “Council for Research in Music Education” 1985, No. 84. Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s Theory 85 Gordon E.E., he Importance of Being Able to Audiate “Same” and “Different” for Learning Music, “Music Education for the Handicapped” 1986, Bulletin 2. Gordon E.E., Jump Right In. he Music Curriculum. Tonal Register. Book One, Chicago 1990. Gordon E.E., Jump Right In. he Music Curriculum. Rhythm Register. Book One, Chicago 1990. Gordon E.E., Preparing Young Children to Improvise at a Later Time, “Early Childhood Connections” 1997, No. 4. Gordon E.E., Umuzykalnianie niemowląt i małych dzieci [A Music Learning heory for Newborn and Young Children, Chicago 1990], Kraków 1997. Gordon E.E., Introduction to Research and the Psychology of Music, Chicago 1998. Gordon E.E., Teoria uczenia się muzyki [A Music Learning heory] [in:] Podstawy teorii uczenia się muzyki według Edwina E. Gordona [Basics of Music Learning heory According to Edwin E. Gordon], E. Zwolińska (ed.), Bydgoszcz 2000. Gordon E.E., Preparatory Audiation, Audiation, and Music Learning heory, Chicago 2001. Gordon E.E., Sekwencje uczenia się w muzyce. Umiejętności, zawartość i motywy [Learning Sequences in Music Skill, Content, and Patterns. A Music Learning heory, Chicago 1980], Bydgoszcz 1999. Gordon E.E., Woods D.G., Zanurz się w program nauczania muzyki. Działania w kolejności uczenia się. Podręcznik dla nauczycieli [Jump Right In he Music Curriculum. Reference Handbook for using Learning Sequence Activities, Chicago 1992], Bydgoszcz 1999. Gordon E.E., Preparatory Audiation, Audiation, and Music Learning heory. A Handbook of a Comprehensive Music Learning Sequence, Chicago 2001. Gordon E.E., Rating Scales and heir Uses for Measuring and Evaluating Achievement in Music Performance, Chicago 2002. Gordon E.E., he Aural/Visual Experience of Music Literacy, Chicago 2004. Gordon E.E., Vectors in My Research [in:] he Developmental and Practical Application of Music Learning heory, M. Runfola, C. Crump Taggart (eds.), Chicago 2005. Kołodziejski M., Koncepcja Edwina E. Gordona w powszechnej edukacji muzycznej [E.E. Gordon’s Concept in Common Music Education], Płock 2008. Levinowitz L.M., An Experimental Study of the Comparative Effects of Singing Songs with Words and without Words on Children in Kindergarten and First Grade, Dissertation Abstract 1987, ProQuest. Nakata T., Trehub S., Expressive Timing and Dynamics in Infant-directed and Non-infantdirected Singing, “Psychomusicology: Music, Mind & Brain” 2011, No. 1 – 2. Przychodzińska M., Wychowanie muzyczne – idee, treści, kierunki rozwoju [Music Education – Ideas, Contents, Development Directions], Warszawa 1989. Przychodzińska-Kaciczak M., Polskie koncepcje powszechnego wychowania muzycznego. Tradycje-współczesność [Polish Concepts of Common Music Education. TraditionContemporary Times], Warszawa 1987. 86 Beata Bonna Shelter D.J., The Inquiry into Prenatal Experience: A Report of the Eastman Project 1980 – 1987, “Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health” 1989, No. 3. Skulicz D., Badanie w działaniu [Action Research] [in:] Orientacje w metodologii badań pedagogicznych [Sense of Direction in Methodology of Pedagogical Research], S. Palka (ed.), Kraków 1998. Trainor L.J., Shahin A., Roberts L.E., Understanding the Benefits of Musical Training: Effects on Oscilatory Brain Activity, “Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences” 2009, No. 1169. Trehub S.E., Music Lessons From Infants [in:] Oxford Handbook of Music Psychology, S. Hallam, I. Cross, M. haut (eds.), Oxford 2009. Trehub S.E., Hannon E.E., Conventional Rhythms Enhance Infants’ and Adults’ Perception of Music, “Cortex” 2009, No. 4. Trehub S.E., Hannon E.E., Schachner A., Perspectives on Music and Affect in the Early Years [in:] Handbook of Music and Emotion: heory, Research, Application, P.N. Juslin, J.A. Sloboda (eds.), Oxford 2010. Trehub S.E., In the Beginning: A Brief History of Infant Music Perception, “Musicae Scientiae” 2010, special issue. Trzos P.A., Preferencje barwy dźwięku i zdolności muzyczne w nauce gry na instrumencie dętym. Badania edukacyjne nad adaptacją Teorii Uczenia się Muzyki E.E. Gordona [Timbre Preference and Music Aptitudes in Learning to Play a Wind Instrument. Educational Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s heory of Music Learning], Poznań–Kalisz–Konin 2009. Weiner A., Kompetencje muzyczne dzieci w młodszym wieku szkolnym. Determinanty, zależności perspektywy rozwoju [Music Competence of Early School Age Children. Determinants, Dependences, Progress Perspectives], Lublin 2010. Whitwell G.E., An Introduction to Prenatal Sound and Music, “Journal of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Health” 2000, No. 1. Zentner M.R., Kagan J., Infant’s Perception of Consonanse and Dissonanse in Music, “Infant Behavior and Development” 1998, No. 3. Zwolińska E., Znaczenie koncepcji E.E. Gordona dla rozwoju funkcji percepcyjno-motorycznych dziecka [Meaning of E.E. Gordon’s Concept for Development of Child’s Perceptive-motor Functions] [in:] Teoria uczenia się muzyki według Edwina E. Gordona [heory of Music Learning According to Edwin E. Gordon], E. Zwolińska, W. Jankowski (eds.), Bydgoszcz–Warszawa 1995. Zwolińska E., Dlaczego propagujemy teorię uczenia się muzyki E.E. Gordona? [Why Do We Propagate E.E. Gordon’s heory of Music Learning?] [in:] Sposoby kierowania rozwojem muzycznym dzieci w wieku przedszkolnym i wczesnoszkolnym [Ways of Directing Music Research on the Application of E.E. Gordon’s Theory 87 Education of Pre-school Children and Early-school Children], E. Zwolińska (ed.), Bydgoszcz 1997. Zwolińska E., Rozwój wyobraźni muzycznej a funkcje percepcyjno-motoryczne w młodszym wieku szkolnym [Development of Musical Imagination and Perceptive-motor Functions at the Early School Age], Bydgoszcz 1997. Zwolińska E.A., Naucz swoje dziecko audiować [Teach Your Child to Audiate], Bydgoszcz 2004. Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) ISSN 1230-266X Marcela Kościańczuk Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland PROBLEMS OF THE APPLICATION OF VISUAL ANTHROPOLOGY IN PALESTINIAN GENDER RESEARCH ABSTRACT he article presents the main issues connected with visual anthropology application in research studies carried out in non-European environment. he text is based on author’s research of the Palestinian society. he main topic of the research was connected with the understanding of safety and danger among Palestinian women. he article presents problems, challenges, and chances of using photo-interviews according to the postcolonial and intersectional contexts in social research. Key words: gender, visual anthropology, Palestine, Palestinian women, society 1. Introduction One of the most important things in gender-oriented studies, which have been carried out in the Arabic societies, is moving away from the perspective that there is a centre and periphery (the public sphere, which is a patriarchal, men-oriented area, and the periphery, which is the private sphere, principally women’s domain). In spite of the fact that the Palestinian culture is regarded as extremely traditional Problems of the Application of Visual Anthropology 89 and is based on a binary structure, according to Asma Afsaruddin1 that dualistic perceptions of the Arabic culture may be considered as the implementation of the imaginations of the European people. Gender roles and relationships between men and women in the Arabic culture and religion have been ordered in a completely different way than in the modern European society. Being aware of cultural differences, we have also needed to point out that the structure of patriarchal violence is present in both cultures, but in different ways. It is important to show respect to different researched cultures. he researchers should demonstrate the intersectional structure of multidimensional hierarchy of gender values and dependencies in their papers. Although a researcher should be critical when conducting a research, listening to informers may enable the researcher to appreciate and respect cultural differences. More importantly, local people are likely to be more open to the contemporary dialogical anthropology. Focusing on experience, including body experience, may bring new perspectives and ideas to anthropological work. In this study, the necessity of researchers to push the limit of traditional research approaches has lead me to choose photo-interviews as the research method. his method not only enables me to present the Palestinian culture from the point of view of the community, but also to compare data generated through visual representation with interviews and participating observations. 2. Research description I have interviewed thirty five women who were self-identifying as Palestinian women2. hey were inhabitants of Jerusalem, Beit Sahour, Ramallah, Edna, Bethlehem, and several villages close to the Betlehem and Ramallah area. One of the informers was from Nabus and one from Jericho. Interviewing women of various classes, age groups, regions, and religious backgrounds was crucial because of the intersectional character of this study. Inspired by the influential work of Claudia Mitchell3, in which she used visual anthropology methods to conduct her studies all over the world, I have spoken with each woman before and ater they took 1 A. Afsaruddin, he Hermeneutics of Gendered Space and Discourse [in:] Hermeneutics and Honor. Negotiating Female “Public” Space in Islamic/ate Societies. Cambridge–London 1999, p. 8. 2 he criterium of Palestinian identity was self identification. It was crucial especially in Jerusalem, where the Palestinian people are considered by the authorities to be “Arabic Citizens of the Israel” and not the Palestinian people. 3 C. Mitchell, Doing Visual Research, London 2011. 90 Marcela Kościańczuk photos. I asked every woman to take four photos and answer to four questions related to topics such as personal pride, their views of the life pride of a man from the woman family, safe and unsafe places for the informer. My research studies were focused on the Palestinian women’s understanding of safety and danger. he responses given by the interviewees during the interviews and photos demonstrate the complexity of this topic. Informers were concerned with political, gender, cultural, and social aspects of safety and danger, according to their religious, political, and class (both local and global) situations. he first and second question aim to define crucial values of Palestinian women. Both questions were also designed to explore differences between men and women in terms of culture and whether it was possible to distinguish these differences. 3. Research results Findings of this research suggest that the social construction of a binary opposition between men and women has played an important role in the cultural4 structure of women in the Palestinian society. While I identified myself as a researcher when I was in the field, the informers oten considered me as a specific tourist and behaved in the same way as they saw any other visitors. One of the informers said: Come, come, obviously you would like to see how my old house looks like. You don’t have such houses in Europe. You must be interested in old Palestinian houses (Interview 3). On the one hand, that statement may be understood as an expression of pride. he woman was proud of her family’s tradition and she took care of the house herself in a very difficult political and economic situation5. On the other hand, this woman perceived that my visit was driven by curiosity and I treated the community like a tourist attraction. During the meeting, a lot of Palestinian women asked me about Polish culture and compared their own cultural experiences with mine. We talked about children’s education, cooking, family customs, and religion. hey were satisfied that a person, who from their point of view was from a completely different culture, was interested in their life. During the process, I was becoming a real partner in the dialogue, and not just a spectator, which enabled me to start 4 Cultural structure in my understanding is the structure of values and aims and ways of achieving these goals. 5 Considering the situation connected with Israeli-Palestinian conflict. he woman is also a Christian minority member surrounded by the Muslim majority. Problems of the Application of Visual Anthropology 91 conducting photo-interviews; by adopting this strategy, the relationship between the informants and I became more equal, but consequently, I had to answer a lot of personal questions during that introductory part of interview. Some women withdrew their participation and oten cancelled the meeting at short notice. It was due to the political consequences resulting from their speech and/or photos. Usually, not only the women themselves, but also their brothers, fathers, husbands, and their employer as well were involved in the decision-making process. European employers supported these women by hiring them; however, the employees were made dependant and relied on the opinions of their employers to make decisions. As a result, the employer-employee relationship has been transformed to a colonizer-colonist relationship. One of the Palestinian women told me that her employer took care of her and because of that she had to know everything about the employee’s life. Although she was very interested in participating in my research, I had to contact her employer in advance and ask for permission to interview the woman. However, I was informed by her employer that due to the difficult situation of the woman, it was impossible for me to interview her. I respected that decision in this case; however, that situation has shown that the Palestinian women may be at risk of being treated like an object, not only by the patriarchal structure of Palestinian culture, but also by their European employers. he phenomenon of the Palestinian women being treated as a dependent victims can be explained in different ways. In the case above, the employer wanted to take care of the potential informer. From different conversations with the European employers, I found that there was a pattern in the employer-employee relationship. Employers adopted a parental role and viewed their employees as their children. One of the employers I interviewed told me that the women “behaved like children”, despite the fact that their employees were adults. In this example, caring has made women become dependent. Next, we should understand the ways in which employers in Palestinian shaped their employees’ decisions as a form of oppression against Palestinian woman. In the example above, the woman apparently accepted her employer’s advice uncritically. According to what the worker told me, she believed that her employer was an expert in the working context and therefore able to protect her better then she could do herself. I understand that it was important to take the influence of cultural factors over the woman’s understanding of her agency into consideration. As a researcher, I did not want to adopt a parallel role. Rather, I wanted to understand their world through their experiences. I listened carefully to what the informers said and carefully studied the photos taken by them. For me, the narrations and images produced by Palestinian women were the best sources of knowledge about 92 Marcela Kościańczuk the complex reality of Palestinian women. Some Palestinian women did not agree to take part in the project, because they were afraid that these interviews will be used against them in a political way. hey were especially interested in finding out whether my research was funded by an Israeli institution or not. Also, they showed their concern whether my project supported the “politics of normalization” (the political ideology supported by state which effaces cultural and, especially, national differences between the Israeli and the Palestinians to create a homogenous society). According to Fatma Kassem6, the voice of the Palestinian people have been absent from the discourse of “politics of normalization” in the media and popular science. Instead of Palestinians’s own words, Israeli journalists or writers citied the expressions of Philistines in their writings7. he two descriptions above of the Palestinian people symbolically erased their national identity. Also, they silenced the Palestinian people, which may prevent them from becoming equal conversation partners in the peace process. In Biblical sources (1Sa 17.10-16), a barbaric nation, which was deemed as an enemy of the Israeli people, were described as very dangerous creatures. If we contextualized the expressions of Philistines in this way, we may understand that the ways in which the journalists or writers constructed the Palestinian people as an “enemy” was actually a “historical rhetoric” of the Palestinian people. Nowadays, Palestinian people who live in the state of Israel are no longer considered as the enemy of the Israeli people. Nevertheless, the former are viewed as a non-political group without a national identity. In her doctoral research project, which is about the experiences of “the year 1948” or Nakba (a Palestinian term which means “the day of mourning” or “the day of catastrophe”8) among elderly Palestinian women, Fatma Kassem has shown her struggle with the academic and social aversion towards the term “Palestinian women”. According to most of the Israeli scholars’ point of view, Palestinian women do not even exist. Despite the fact that under the help of her Israeli supervisor, Kassem was finally awarded doctoral degree at Hebrew University her experiences share some features with Gayatri Spivak’s work9. For Spivak, deprivation of the right of speech is one of the most common forms of symbolic violence against minorities. If the discriminated group has been made invisible and 6 F. Kassem, Palestinian Women Narrative Histories and Gendered Memory, London–New York 2011. 7 Ibidem, p.12. 8 his year is celebrated by the Israeli people as a year of happiness, because it is a year when the state of Israel was established. 9 G. Spivak, Can the Subaltern Speak? [in:] Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, C. Nelson, L. Grossberg (eds.), Illnois 1988. Problems of the Application of Visual Anthropology 93 inaudible, the group has been exterminated. I therefore argued that silencing can be understood as a form of hidden oppression. Both caring and controlling system10 may work together deprive women of the right to make their own decisions and/or express their own opinions. Some of the women, currently living in Jerusalem, have told me about their experiences of being socially invisible, about the political and social attempts to include their experiences into the general experience of all of the Jerusalem’s inhabitants (the Jewish state views the “Arabic citizens” from the perspective of identity policy as the Arabic religious minority and not a national minority11). It is important for me to underline the internal differentiation of the examined group (during the study, my goal was to find women interlocutors that would vary in: age, social status, place of origin, and citizenship status). If we were treating the community that is undergoing this study as a monolith, we would be making a error, that was typical for the older anthropological studies, which considered the researcher to be one of the major factors in creating the study’s conditions, as well as the main author of the text describing the explored culture. Of course, this error is mainly related to neocolonialism, which was partially entangled with cultural anthropology. he research approach that I chose draws mainly from the definition of culture by Clifford Geertz, one of the critics of cultural anthropology. Geertz shows that the thick description (or as a more popular translation claims, “thickened description”), which aims at precision in catching the sources of a given community’s behaviours, is a method, which allows a relatively solid reconstruction of the mosaic and network of meaning in a given culture. Geertz took this concept from Gilbert Ryle and used it as a specific distinction in a reference to conducting research in culture-based sciences, as well as in the area of physical anthropology and science. he man who wrote he Interpretation of Cultures points out that his understanding of culture refers to semiotics, and aims at the possibly most complete interpretation of the network of meanings created within the boundaries of a given community. As I found Clifford Geertz’s method of cultural interpretation12 academically close, I was trying to bring it to life in several ways. Not only did I try to contact women that differed in: age, social status, financial or family situation, but I also took the effort to observe their lives as precise as possible. I also tried to use as many communication channels with the examined women as possible, as 10 It is rather difficult to divide these two systems. his is a singular qualification, which does not represent the religious, cultural, and social diversity of the above mentioned group. 12 C. Geertz, Interpretations of Cultures. Selected Essays, New York 1973, pp. 25–30. 11 94 Marcela Kościańczuk well as many ways to reach out to them. In many cases, the conversation, as well as the photographical project, could not take place for various reasons, among which the most frequent were the concerns of the women and of their surroundings. However, in many cases the four questions and the request for four pictures were just the start for long conversations that I had with the respondents. We cooked and cleaned together, I benefited from their hospitality, getting to know the realities of their everyday life “the hard way”. his is crucial as the women that I have met made it very clear, and it was actually them that turned my research from a purely intellectual study into something more of an experience (including the physical experience of the body) that became the key aspect of my work. Because of that, and in those circumstances that surprised me, the interests of the studied group and the research objectives of the anthropological culture ater the breakthroughs (appreciating the personal experience, a perspective previously omitted, the context of the flesh, smell and taste, that of cooperation and not domination) became coincidental and close to each other. When I, as a researcher, tried to remain appropriately distant and, more importantly, listen to the voice of the studied women, trying to see the world through their eyes, my interlocutors had no problem interpreting my world (including my personal world) using their categories. hat gave rise to many matrimonial offers, attempts to talk me into staying in Palestine, and personal questions. he people that underwent the study answered the research questions referring to my contact with them, or, in some cases, asked me the same questions that I just asked them. he later situation gained a specific meaning when I, as a researcher, became a person that was interviewed by the people that I was supposed to study. A peculiar change of places occurred alongside a division of influences. In some way, those people that were undergoing the study and were the so-called “bad actors”13 seized control in their communities and became in some way stronger than the person from the European culture, than the researcher, that could be asked their own questions and, therefore, using a ricochet gesture, gain a specific tactical advantage14 over the representative of an another culture. Despite 13 I am using the term “bad actors” in reference to those women, who took the underprivileged position in the community. hey have no privileges and, as they themselves observed (supplying their observations with examples), their situation in the community is low. It does not, however, mean that the examined women agreed which such a diagnosis and confirm it when referring to themselves. In some regions, the dependence between the auto-interpretation of the studied women and their social reception was inversely proportional (especially in the Bethlehem and Beit Sahour regions). 14 I am referring here to definition of tactics used by Michael de Certeau (M. de Certeau, he Practice of Everyday Life, Berkeley–Los Angeles–London 1984), who pointed out that in contradiction to strategy typical for system thinking, which characterizes leaders and those who are better financially situated, the individuals, who are being oppressed, use different mechanism for showing their resistance. hey use tactics, which create possibilities for using silent, guerrilla-like actions, which are Problems of the Application of Visual Anthropology 95 the fact that I should have predicted such a possibility (that the individuals being questioned might ask me the same questions that I ask them), at first it made me feel uncertain and discomfited. In that moment, when I became the person being examined, I understood the size of the challenge that my interlocutors were facing. At the same time, this moment was the time when I had to give up the scientific distance and replace it with personal reflection that was expected from me by the Palestinian women. I was confronted with my family, life, and work history, which made me understand the real problems of the women that I have been studying and the issues I have been researching. here were times that the individuals being studied treated the answers and the photo shots, as a specific form of therapy, despite the fact that I in no way intended for this to happen. However, it turned out that some of the women, whom I studied, felt greater ease when talking about their problems just because I was a complete stranger for them, in no way connected to their relationship network. One of the women tried to use me to help her adopt a Polish baby. Other women showed their concerns and refused to take part in the study for the very same reasons. I managed to observe that the women, who felt excluded from their community or lacked the feeling of support from the male representatives from their community, were more eager to share their experiences with me. However, some of the women felt obliged to consult their participation in my study with men, and among those women, there was the highest number of refusals to take part in the study, as well the highest number of casual answers. Men oten warned women about the possibility of my studies being politically-oriented and of the possibility of their opinions being used against them. he fact that women decided not to take part in the study because of their husbands, fathers, and brothers points out to a cultural network of dependencies, in which women do not express their opinions, but are dependent on the opinions of the men from their community instead. Women were also treated as ones that are easy to use if one would choose to destroy a political or a national notion, which (according to men) is in their domain. a “silent acts of revolting and resistance” aimed against the system actions. Michel de Certeau pointed to the phenomenon of “la perruque” spread among factory workers, which during their working hours used small pieces of material for developing their creative powers. In the case that I am describing, the women that were studied were using the time devoted to the interview to gain some information about me as a researcher and offer me their way of life, what was a demonstration of their creative powers, as well as an indication that they are not willing to relate to the dominant position of the researcher towards the person being researched. 96 Marcela Kościańczuk 4. Additional circumstances My own gender qualification made it possible for me to finish my project. If I was a man it would be impossible for me to talk with women in such an open way, spend so much time with them, and share so many experiences. Women are very open to meeting other women, they want to have them as guests, and are very open to speaking with them; however, an idea of meeting a man, talking to him, and having him as a guest is potentially dangerous. One of the women asked me to help her find foreigners that would be interested in renting a room in her home. Despite the fact that she was in a very bad financial situation and was desperate to find an another source of income, she made it very clear that she would not rent a room to a man. Because of the social and religious interpretations of contacts between a man and a woman, establishing any relation between the two genders representatives (apart from family relations) is treated as dangerous and indecent. his is changing due to a very high appreciation of education, as well as the strive to provide young people with education. Co-educational universities are changing the view that many Palestinian clans have on principle hierarchy and family structure. For educational facilities do not only have intellectual functions, since they oten replace the institution of matchmakers or arranged weddings. However, the relationships between family members (i.e. between cousins) are held in the highest esteem. 5. Understanding the visualization Every work using visual anthropology is at the same time an interpretation of this relatively young branch of science. his is also such a case. Using the photo-interview, presenting the studied individuals with a simple camera, and asking them to take some pictures encountered resistance among the studied community, and forced me to modify my original plan. In contrast to those researchers, who presented the studied individuals with a disposable cameras asking them to take pictures, the method that I used most frequently was to lend the interviewees my camera and ask them to take pictures with me being present there. hat choice resulted in an immense sense of fear among the studied women caused by the thought of having to take the pictures by themselves, a possibility of understanding the presence of such equipment in their families (especially among men) incorrectly, a fear of not knowing how to take photos, or a general reluctance to photography. Women were very much interested in the study and eager to answer ques- Problems of the Application of Visual Anthropology 97 tions; however, taking photos encountered a huge resistance among them. As a result, some of the vast interviews became even more intensive, as women would talk about the places and objects that they would like to photograph, but refused to actually take any pictures from various reasons. Answers given by some women before the photo shot differed from the ones that they gave ater the photo-interview. his proved that for women from the diverse Palestinian community the word code is coincidental with the visual code. he concern and the feeling of danger accompanying those women on daily basis were also present during our contact, and my request for taking pictures at first only increased those feelings. Women that I studied had a completely different view on presenting their estates than the children studied in a similar way by Marisol Clark-Ibáñez15. She used photo-interview to present the world of Spanish speaking children of emigrants in the USA. In her study students were happy to present the belongings of their family on photographs (a washing machine, a refrigerator or a television set) in order to save them from oblivion, when those objects will be taken away from them (as a result of thievery or repossesion). he fact that children reacted in such way might be connected with them being spontaneous and their belief representing almost magical power. 6. Visual oppression Women that I came across mainly experienced oppression from the camera, video camera, and other various film recording devices. he nature of those oppressions had several levels. Women told me about being monitored by the Israeli forces during their journeys within the boundaries of their own country, or during their trips abroad (there are video cameras in the control points), being photographed could also result in them being victimized by their neighbors and friends, and, in extreme cases, endangering their whole family to lose their honour. Photographs are also used as evidence against women in divorce cases or those connected with family jurisdiction. Knowing all this from the start, I decided to give up on one of the technical methods of photo interview, meaning photographing places suggested by the women being interviewed. Admittedly, some of the women, despite my explanations in English and Arabic, were convinced that I am going to be the 15 M. Clark-Ibáñez, Kadrowanie świata społecznego przy użyciu wywiadu fotograficznego [in:] Badania wizualne w działaniu. Antologia tekstów, M. Frąckowiak, K. Olechnicki (eds.), Warsaw 2011, pp. 60–61. 98 Marcela Kościańczuk one taking photographs and their role will be reduced to being a passive object. During the interview, the women were very active, they were showing initiative, some of them started asking the same questions that I asked them to the other women in order to help me with the survey; however, when I asked for the photos there was only deaf silence, and the women were expecting a specific act of appropriation of their space by me taking photos. Meeting and examining women, and asking them to take photos, was a challenge for me not only one the methodological, but also on the ethical level. I can imagine that almost any researcher deciding to use visual methodology in the non-Western cultures has to meet similar dilemmas. his problem is described by Faye Ginsburg, who considers whether it is possible to say that photographs, movies or any other visual arts created by people of non-Western cultural origins can remain independent, and whether they can describe the world of the given cultural community16. While describing this problem Ginsburg referred to native Australian’s communities. he researcher presents the statements of some activists who claimed that the this community should have its own television channel, which would allow them to emancipate, and also would be a enable the community to show their life from their own perspective17. he scepticism towards those conceptions is of course caused by doubts if using tools typical for the Western culture (especially for the mass culture) will be appropriate for presenting problems and positions of native (non-Western) communities. Ginsburg described media, whose projects were oriented for presenting the interests of minority groups. Having read his text, along with my field experience, allows me to see that matter in a much wider perspective. he above mentioned aversion for visuals among the examined women does not mean that there is no media in their communities. On the contrary. heir relation towards visual media has to be considered on several levels. When viewed through the above mentioned dependencies of postcolonial sensitivity, I can state that oten paradoxical presence of television sets, computers, cellular phones (whit built-in cameras) in households that lacked other European devices (such as showers or toilets) proves the influence of consumerism on the examined community. his is a descriptive, and not a critical statement, a mere remark on the fact that has various causes and refers to dependence networks, in which the male and female members choose to join out of necessity or need. It turns out that for social status vali16 F. Ginsburg, Mediating culture. Indigenous Media, Ethnographic Film and the Production of Identity [in:] Fields of Vision, Essays in Film Studies, Visual Anthropology and Ethnography, L. Devereaux, R. Hillman (eds.), California 1995, p. 256. 17 he opinion that is presented here is stated by the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association. Problems of the Application of Visual Anthropology 99 dation of a family, or in order to feel comfortable (but also safe 18) the above-mentioned media are more important than sanitary devices. As a matter of fact, in some ways they are also less expensive as they can be bought in instalments or during various sales. Investing in sanitary devices also lacks reason as there are oten water and electricity shortages in some regions of Palestine. 7. Specific gender issues Despite the fact that almost all of the houses that I visited had the above mentioned devises, using them was oten the children’s and men’s domain. Women watched television programs for entertainment, rarely, if at all, using the Internet or cameras and video cameras (that is especially true for the elderly and middle aged women from the rural areas among, young women were active Internet users). During the study I noticed that some of the women used mediation of other people to send me an e-mail message despite the fact that they read my announcement on the Internet. he lack of a stable Internet connection, electrical power shortages in their households, and various technical and economic factors resulted in such actions. During workshops that I organized in one of the refugee camps, the men that were in charge of issuing the equipment, were convinced that I am going to teach women how to take pictures and therefore they assumed from the start that the workshop was connected with technology education. It was a result of the common understanding in that culture that technological equipment is dealt with by men, and, at the same time, their doubt if women are capable of taking photographs. For many women it was in fact an unusual situation, that it was them, who were asked to take pictures. Livia Alexander, who was dealing with problems of producing visual records (movies) by the Palestinians and with the Palestinian, claims that in the documentaries filmed by the members of local communities, as well as the ones co-produced with foreign help, women problems are almost absent. Women are portrayed as members of the crowd, their individual features are not prominent, they are presented as members supporting the resistance system. he author refers to the movie State of Danger, the intention of which was to portray in an equal way the Palestinian and the Israeli women and their role in estab- 18 Goods that are a representation of the family’s material status, are in some way a symbol of their strength, and also oten a chance to escape the everyday problems connected with very hard living conditions, constant insecurity, fear and so on. Internet is also a tool for communication with all the family members, who are scattered for political and economic reasons. 100 Marcela Kościańczuk lishing peace in the Near East19. In reality, the Palestinian women are portrayed in a completely different way than the women from Israel. From the authors perspective, as well as from that of the Struggle for Peace, the problem is presented from the Israeli side. Despite the fact that both sides of the conflict had the same amount of time to present their opinions, the Palestinian women’s portrait is not individualized. In my opinion, it may be a result of a completely different portraying conditions in the modern Palestinian and Israeli society. However, the interpretation of those images from the perspective of an Western viewer is that of a passive Palestinian woman and an active Israeli woman, which undoubtedly introduces a lot of adulteration when it comes to the real situation of women, who can be very active, but because of the cultural background should not be presented directly. In fact, as it turned out during the course of conversations and observations, the women were not treated by the representatives of their culture as someone capable of creating visual messages. Unlike in the European culture, where the body of a woman was presented in visual arts, women who are respected in a community should not be a subject of imaging. It does not, however, mean that women are not at all present in the Palestinian culture. On the contrary. To my surprise one of the local magazines had in it pictures of women who were so much different from those who I have met on the streets. I asked one of the men about it and he replied that those magazines are bought by men, and men want to look at attractive women, as they cannot see them on the street. he women, who were presented in the media were not Palestinians (in most cases), they were European women or women from Egypt or Turkey. If Palestinian women were presented their images were blurry, they were also covered with cloth and were wearing long dresses. Palestinian women (and their bodies) are neither a subject, nor an object in the studied culture, they are treated as passive recipients of the images created by men. Men and (paradoxically) children (also male) were the ones controlling the media content that was presented to women, who were watching television programs and 19 he idea itself, although very ethical, provokes a deep level objection, as well as my objection. he political in it’s essence thought, that women can establish peace has it’s sources in thinking that they are by nature pacifistic and conciliatory. Such an approach provokes objection, among others because of its essential and general character. However, it would be possible to accept that if such an opinion was drawn from conversations with women, their personal opinions, and auto-identification. In reality, such an opinion is held against women, who are set against male individuals from their communities. Because of that, a particular game is played in order to win women’s views and actions, which are being included in a kind of political game, with the peace at stake. Objecting to such a practice was also one of the main reasons that I decided to resign the work in which I was suppose to compare the problems of the Palestinian and the Israeli women. L. Alexander, Palestinian in Film, “Visual anthropology” 1998, No. 10, p. 325. Problems of the Application of Visual Anthropology 101 pictures more oten than men. Women, who were using the Internet and used it to communicate with me, were in most cases leaders of their community, as well as the people who had most contacts with the Western world (which maybe was one of the reasons that they were more eager to take part in the study). Women, who were not used to attempts associating them with media activity, did their best to change my questions and requests in order to make them more suitable for their expectations and superstitions connected to the study. In many cases however, the initial aversion changed to a very active cooperation. 8. Fear and empowerment I decided not to use a more advanced tools that would allow to record not only the visual content, but the sound as well. I did not use a video camera mainly because I was afraid that such a device would result in an even bigger fear among the examined. (his fear was connected to the video camera as a tool with an even bigger negative connotations than a camera, as the women associated it with investigations, or an attempt to steal their image that would be later used in television, or a movie. On the other hand, this fear would also be connected with destroying a much more complicated and expensive equipment than a simple camera). It may seem that using a video camera instead of pictures would make the examination more performative. And yet, it seems to me that a running video camera would only make the women more intimidated, as it was the case with recorders. Women that I have met were suspicious towards technologically advanced tools and approved picture taking only ater longer conversations, during which not only did I get to know them better, but at the same time I was gaining their trust. Using the camera did not stop the women from initiating performative actions, which changed (at least for the time of taking the picture) the existing social structures. Women came out of their homes in order to take a picture of them from the outside (symbolically crossing the closed space and moving into the open space, which also carried a need for a change of clothes). Some of the examined women decided to present attitudes and values present in the Palestinian community using their family members. his time the woman was the one directing the moves of their family and choosing their poses. Women became the directors of the situations that would later become cemented using the camera. Camera seemed like a better tool than a video camera, since it enabled women to study the frame, which in most cases took place in a real space of photographic studio, created from the houses of examined Palestinian women. In most cases 102 Marcela Kościańczuk women took several minutes just to prepare the place that was going to be photographed, cleaning it from all of the unwanted objects. If I choose to use a movie such amount of concentration on the detail would not be possible. he photo-interview technique also allowed me to gradually connect words with pictures, what was very important for the examined community. In case of a video camera, words could also accompany the pictures, but at the same time it would not respect the women’s endeavours, for whom a personal conversation connected with a meal was the key moment of the study. he conversation preceding the photo shot was also important in order to convince the women, that the culture of the story is also “their space”. As Fatma Kassem writes20, women are not speaking when a man is present, but when they are let alone with other women, mainly in the kitchen, they are starting to tell their own stories, which they share only with other women. hanks to the fact that women were taking pictures ater talking to me in a way that oten resembled “kitchen stories”, being surrounded by other women those pictures became later illustrations to those stories. However, some of those women did not include pictures to their stories, and their gestures and the way in which they took pictures revealed that they treated my request as an act of violence and saw no sense in photographing their world. hose pictures had very few elements in them, and the elements portrayed in them had very little meaning to the examined. I also noticed that they were trying to photograph places as far from their own experiences as possible. Taking into account that one of the women shared her fear that those photographs might contribute to the her or her family members death or tortures, I can assume that the fear of inappropriate usage of visual material was a major factor determining many of the women’s actions during the study. For me, as a researcher, it was very important to join words and photographs, in accordance with the views of Kristen Hastrup and Gemma Orobitg Canal21. I am also sure that picture is unable to replace words; however, it plays a different role. As the above mentioned author writes, photography inspires further stories; moreover, it delivers a different kind of knowledge about the reality. he visual data oten enriches and completes the oral record, in some cases reveling things that the interviewed individuals omit in their statements. When it comes to intersection 20 F. Kassem, op.cit., p. 25–26. K. Hastrup, Anthropological Visions: Some Notes on Visual and Textual Authority [in:] Film as Etnography, P. Crawford, D. Turton (eds.), Manchester 1992; G. Orobitg-Canal, Photography in the Field [in:] Working Images. Visual Research in Ethnography, S. Pink, L. Kürti, A. Afonso (eds.), London–New York 2006, p. 35. 21 Problems of the Application of Visual Anthropology 103 studies, this kind of material gives additional knowledge source about the economics, family, and social status of the examined group. 9. The process My studies, unlike in those that presented the examined individuals with professional photographs taken by the researcher, women were not that much interested with the final effect, the picture. hey were instead asking me ater taking it if it was good, as if they were seeking approval for their choice. However, they were not surprised with the final effect22, what was important for them was working on the set that was to become immortalized in their pictures. When it comes to the photographic material gained from the examined women, what is important is not just the photograph itself, but the fact of taking the picture. Selecting the frame, arranging it, taking the photograph, and then talking about it were the moments that made women gain consciousness of the importance of their experience. Observing: moves, gestures, actions, and facial expressions of the women before taking photographs and during that process indicated a great change in the dynamics and tone of the voice of the examined individuals. In that sense, the picture became important as an inspiration to a specific kind of actions, activity of body, and not only of the mind; it was an inspiration for oral verbalization, as well as doing some kind of transgression against being passive (including, or maybe even most importantly material passivity), which is oten expected from Palestinian women. Choosing this method had an effect of changing the perspective, during which women were strengthening themselves, something Margaret Hall calls empowerment. his term, according to the above-mentioned author, is connected with the change that might take place in a life of a single woman, as well as in communities of women, and is the result of increasing consciousness of one’s actions23. he activity of the examined women began to be aimed not only at the family members, but towards the researcher as well (or in this case a woman researcher). One of the photographs is showing how I became an element of a photograph arranged by one of the examined women. When we were examining the photograph, we realized in what way the personal experience of that woman was turned around. 22 here were however exceptions and they concerned with taking photographs of people, who were not silent, non moving actors, but because they turned in the wrong moment, the photograph gained a completely different character, than intended by the examined women. Unfortunately, they decided to repeat the process. 23 M. Hall, Women and Empowerment. Strategies for Increasing Autonomy, Washington 1992, p. 2. 104 Marcela Kościańczuk In the picture we can see the window to the house of the examined woman’s aunt, who brought her up ater she was abandoned by her family when she was just a baby. he thing that is most important in this picture is not the window itself, but the bars that are in it, and which make her feel like she was living in a high security prison for few years, which played a great part in her life experiences. She decided to take the photograph from the outside of the house. She was below the window level, hence we have a frog’s perspective. he Author was not aware of the effects that she could get using this way of presenting an object (which seems bigger than it is in reality), she was however satisfied with the effect that she got, that is even more visible thanks to the close up, the window bars are almost the only thing in the frame. Probably the only element of the picture that got in it unintentionally is the grean leaf of the garden plant, that in some way corresponded with the fact, that this time, the formerly imprisoned woman is now free, and taking photographs symbolises the time when she was locked away. he informer decided to take one more photograph of the same object in a much higher close up in order to make the bars even more visible, and present the faces of the “imprisoned”. his time, while she was taking the photograph, she concentrated on catching on the camera the faces of those locked up, making them even more vivid, what represented them being stripped from their privacy, the bars (very symbolically) covered my mouth in a way presenting the researcher in the photo as someone gagged. his photograph is the strongest way to present the change of roles. It is Problems of the Application of Visual Anthropology 105 the researcher who became the sub-altern. I do not take this as an act of violence or abuse, but more of an attempt of the examined person to use the presented methods and techniques to shape the communication situation, in a way that will allow the researcher to experience the position of the examined individual in the fullest way possible. Francesco Lapenta proves that using photographs in an interview with informers allows a polisemic presentation of one’s own story, by creating a new communication situation24. Changing roles, as well as using the bars motif and two human figures actually became a canvas, which has created at least several meaningful references. While taking the first photo, the woman asked me to arrange it in a way that would make her youngest son, who was being passive at that time, a prisoner. She showed me, that I should almost lie him down on the bars. It was impossible without placing him in the frame. Paradoxically I also, in a symbolical way, became an inmate. Actually it took me some time to realize that, but since the woman who was being interviewed and me shared the same age, when the interview ended, it was 24 F. Lapenta, Some heoretical and Methodological Views on Photo-Elicitation [in:] he Sagebook Handbooks of Visual Research Methods, E. Margolis, L. Pauwels (eds.), Los Angeles–London–New Delhi 2011, pp. 202–203. 106 Marcela Kościańczuk hard for me not to think about the past seven years of my life that the examined woman spent in prison. Ater taking and examining the photo she said with joy, that she managed to “imprison me in the picture”. Maybe such an act was a specific attempt to include me in the problems of the Palestinian women. he examined women, while taking the picture, played a role of a person visiting a prisoner, but being unable to contact him, standing in front of his window. he infant is in the foreground tightly holding on to the bars. Paradoxically that calm child is rebelling against accepting this situation, and refuses to being treated as a prisoner, it has its head turned from the camera. My silhouette is in the background, during the photo take I was trying to get out of the frame, which resulted in me looking right into the camera… in a way co-experiencing being imprisoned as the women that I examined asked me to. It was not the only situation in which the people that I interviewed wanted me to understand that being with them and sharing their experiences is the right way to study how the life of a Palestinian woman looks like. he author of the above mentioned pictures did not stop at taking four photographs connected with the questions asked. She was very eager to share stories from her life. With great enthusiasm and being full of energy, she started photographing nearby objects and places, which she perceived as dangerous and safe, as well as objects that filed her with pride. Unlike many other women, this individual had no problems in taking the camera to her hands; what is more, she almost started running from one room to another, taking photographs, which were a story, that was an answer to the questions asked. She was accompanied by her two sons. One of them was very lively and kept on interrupting the interview, and the other, just a few months old, was lying in the next room for the most of the interview. he woman told me that for her prison is a dangerous place, and that she wants to symbolize that with the view of the window behind bars. Paradoxically, the bars that are keeping here safe from unwanted visitors, became a symbol for considering herself a dangerous person. At the same time they corresponded with an another part of her statement, when she pointed to her current feeling of discomfort and danger caused by the fact that she is living in a refugee camp, where her husband comes from. Installing bars in their windows symbolizes the inhabitants opinion, that the outside environment is dangerous and they have to protect themselves from it. Admittedly, the bars were not from the house that the examined person was currently living in, but from the fragments of her statement concerning the place she lived in confirmed that it was not a place in which the informer felt good. Here are some fragments of her statement: I am not an immigrant and I tell him [her husband] that it is pointless, but I do not want to live in this camp. I cannot talk to him, but I believe that I will achieve Problems of the Application of Visual Anthropology 107 my goal, and we will not be living there in a few years. It is a very delicate matter, when we are talking about it, it always ends up in a fight. I am from Bet Sachur, when you come from a place, where you have your own piece of land, a home of your own, you do not want to be in a such an unsafe place as a refuge camp, where one day you have something, and on the other day you do not. I do not want to live in such uncertainty. Besides it is very gray in the camp, it is terribly noisy there, and there is a crime environment, it is not a good place our sons. (Interview 5) he form in which she spoke proves that she is a person with a strong personality, who strives to realize her goals, which are important not only from her point of view, but from the point of view of the whole family (especially the children). Fears that this woman had were connected with the future of her children. Remembering her own life experiences, she was afraid that her sons might suffer from similar traumatic experiences resulting from occupation. he above mentioned statement proves that there was a specific conflict, not only between her and her husband, but it is a delicate matter for herself. We can see here a clash of two values: patriotism and personal and family well-being. he reason that this woman found herself in prison was that she decided for a suicide attack in the centre of Tel Aviv. It all took place during the second Intifada. Despite the fact that my informer gave up on her attack at the last moment (exposing herself to danger from the people from the organization that she worked for) she was uncovered by the organization members and handed over to the Israeli authorities. She stated that she decided for the attack as she was in despair and frustrated because of the contemporary political, social, and economical situation (food, water, and electricity shortages, remaining under house arrest for days, living in a state of permanent threat). he reason why she did not carry out the attack was that she saw an Israeli child smiling in a baby carriage. hat moment, when she looked into the eyes of a baby from another culture, made her change her life plans, saved her life (it was supposed to be a suicide mission), made her go to prison, but at the same time it changed the way she perceived the Israeli civilians. As she stated, it was in that moment that she understood that ordinary citizens (from both sides) should not pay the costs of military operations. In a way, that one look was an impulse for changing her viewpoint, choosing an another group of identification (that is mine, and what belongs to someone else – the hostile and native community). I intentionally used the English term “stare” (and the relating term “glaze”) in this interpretation, a word that is not popular in the Polish scientific discourse (the examined did not use exactly that word), but which is present in the movie theory, gender studies, as well as in the post-colonial studies. I am aware that in the Polish translation the connotations differ and that is why I will try interpret them refer- 108 Marcela Kościańczuk ring to the perspective of power which accompanies those terms in the English language. hen I will show the possibility of inversing those terms when, used by people, who are not stereotypically connected with such a “strong and dominant” look. heoreticians of gender and postcolonial studies referred to the concept of looking in the political perspective taking that concept from psychoanalysis25. Staring is not a normal look, but as Rosmarie Garland-homson puts it, it is connected with fascination, which can be either positive or negative, as we oten stare into objects that trigger such emotions as disgust, embarrassment, not meeting the expectations of social norms26. As the author points out, staring is very democratic, it concerns all social classes. Nonetheless, norms concerning a specific kind of look are set by people having power. hat is why looking became an interesting topic for researchers interested in the subject of exclusion, racial problems, and matters concerning the minorities. John Berger in his book Ways of Seeing”27 presented how the woman’s image is created in the man’s eye. Women that were presented at the beginning of the century lacked any power (at least officially) to determine their cultural images; according to Berger, the male centric look was imposed on them. Despite the fact that this researcher was criticized many times for his essential views on defining the essence of masculinity and femininity, his voice became an important one in the theory of appropriating patriarchal look. Bell Hooks, on the other hand, proved that women also can be hegemonic leaders if they find themselves in a privileged situation in terms of race or class28. Hooks shows a way, in which white women and men looked at their black servants, who could not look at their look at the faces of their owners in the same way. he researcher sees the power of the look as a tool of racial violence, which cannot be turned around in a revolutionary act of breaking with the object-subject duality, in which white people are subjects, and black people are objects. Of course, this is not just a matter of reversing the mechanisms, but rather about changing the patterns and mechanisms. he imperial power of a male, or a central look, which shaped the official29 ways in which minorities where perceived by themselves as 25 E. Kaplan, Looking for the other. Feminism, Film and the Imperial Gaze, New York–London 1997, p. xi. he main source here is the Lacanian psychoanalysis. 26 R. Garland-homson, Staring, Oxford 2009, pp. 3–4. 27 J. Berger et al., Ways of Seeing, London 2008. 28 B. Hooks (or bell hooks how the author described herself) Black Looks. Race and Representation, London 1992. 29 I consistently use the term “official look”. I am aware that the diagnosis about the complete influence of the portraying minority groups on their actions do not consider the so called second and third information circuit, passed beyond the official trends. In other words, despite the considerable influence of the determinations of official representations centrally shaping the image of wom- Problems of the Application of Visual Anthropology 109 well by the others, has been seen as a problem by researchers for the past thirty years. Despite the efforts to reconstruct the mechanisms of oppression such researchers as Bell Hooks, Ann Kaplan, and Kobena Mercer, try to reconstruct the usage of the look of the minority communities. hat kind of actions result in a new perspective on the centre, which is beginning to deny itself, as it is no longer the only one. he social and political strength resulting from defining the mechanisms of staring, gazing, and describing is of course still connected with mechanisms of repression, which can be found not in one, but in many sources. Nonetheless, the look gains emancipatory characteristics. hat is how I understand the already mentioned statement of a woman, who changed her life views ater staring into a baby carriage (to a better one, from her current point of view). Rosemarie Garlandhomson points out that staring connected with an huge dose of emotions and fascination in a given object, in which we can see features that we never saw before, causes a break of the status quo, becomes a challenge allowing a change30. It seems that that is what happened in this case. he breakthrough caused by the look was connected with the multiplied transgression beyond a state that could be called the status quo. he decision to take part in a terrorist attack, as well as giving it up, were acts of breaking the norm, which political, social, and personal results were in both cases immense. Giving up the attack did not mean going back to being passive, on the contrary, it required a struggle and it met with rejection from some people, that at that time were associated with the informer illegally staying on hostile country’s territory. he power of the look that resulted in such changes must have been extreme. Being aware of the power that the look has was one of the reasons that made me decide to choose the photointerview as my examining method, as I wanted to know the images that can influence the feeling of security and insecurity among the Palestinian women. REFERENCES Afsaruddin A. he Hermeneutics of Gendered Space and Discourse [in:] Hermeneutics and Honor. Negotiating Female “Public” Space in Islamic/ate Societies, Cambridge–London 1999. en, black people and other groups, there was a possibility of referring to local sources, individual experience, everyday life, and so on. 30 R. Garland-homson, op.cit., pp. 6–7. 110 Marcela Kościańczuk Alexander L., Palestinian in Film, “Visual Anthropology” 1998, No. 10. Berger J. et al., Ways of Seeing, London 2008. Clark-Ibáñez M., Kadrowanie świata społecznego przy użyciu wywiadu fotograficznego [in:] Badania wizualne w działaniu. Antologia tekstów, M. Frąckowiak, K. Olechnicki (eds.), Warszawa 2011. de Certeau M., he Practice of Everyday Life [tr. S. Rendall], Berkeley–Los Angeles–London 1984. Garland-homson R., Staring, Oxford 2009. Geertz C., Interpretations of Cultures. Selected Essays, New York 1973. Ginsburg F., Mediating Culture. Indigenous Media, Ethnographic Film and the Production of Identity [in:] Fields of Vision, Essays in Film Studies, Visual Anthropology and Ethnography, L. Devereaux, R. Hillman (eds.), California 1995. Hall M., Women and Empowerment. Strategies for Increasing Autonomy, Washington 1992. Hastrup K., Anthropological Visions: Some Notes on Visual and Textual Authority [in:] Film as Etnography, P. Crawford, D. Turton (eds.), Manchester 1992. Hooks B. (or hooks bell how the author described herself), Black Looks. Race and Representation, London 1992. Kaplan E.A., Looking for the Other. Feminism, Film and the Imperial Gaze, New York–London 1997. Kassem F., Palestinian Women Narrative Histories and Gendered Memory. London–New York 2011. Lapenta F., Some heoretical and Methodological Views on Photo-Elicitation [in:] he Sagebook Handbooks of Visual Research Methods, E. Margolis, L. Pauwels (eds.), Los Angeles–London–New Delhi 2011. Mitchell C., Doing Visual Research, London 2011. Orobitg-Canal G., Photography in the Field [in:] Working Images. Visual Research in Etnography, S. Pink, L. Kürti, A. Afonso (eds.), London–New York 2006. Spivak G., Can the Subaltern Speak? [in:] Marxism and the Interpretation of Culture, C. Nelson, L. Grossberg (eds.), Illnois 1988. Photos: 1,2 came from authors archive (was taken by Palestinian anonymous informer). Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) ISSN 1230-266X Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland “AND IS IT REALLY IN LUBAWKA?” YOUNG PEOPLE AND WANTED AND UNWANTED CULTURAL HERITAGE ABSTRACT In our research we are seeking for a Lower Silesian identity, we are especially interested in the Polish-German cultural heritage in social remembrance (or social oblivion). In the article our basic purpose is to provide the grounds for discussion about the presence of the sacred space in social memory (the old German Calvary as a part of contemporary Lubawka’s cultural heritage), using group interviews with visual presentations to stimulate a journey back into the past, to familiarize with the place and its images. We aim at the reconstruction of “social frames of memory”, the moments when the small sacral architecture began to lose its religious mad social power, and we also want to show young residents’ attitudes towards this process. he project also seems to have some social value because it may become an introduction to the debate on preserving the Calvary as an element of local identity. Key words: social memory, cultural landscape, cultural heritage, borderlands 1. Introduction Rediscovering “one’s culture”, seeking for identity, the need for clear detachment from “the global ecumene”, ongoing homogenization, and “ubiquitous pressure of 112 Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski popular culture” discloses a vast array of, oten paradoxical, phenomena. “Our culture”, identity, and “affiliation with a local community” are frequently treated as a remedy for constitutive problems of our contemporaries: losing one’s identity, loneliness, and alienation. We are mostly interested in a phenomenon of human’s coexistence with the environment/space they live in (geographical and cultural scenery), and also its perception determined by an organized tourism, “production of otherness”, distinctness, uniqueness, creation of local tradition (named by Eric Hobsbawn and Terence Ranger an “invented tradition”1), we chose the Karkonosze and adjacent territories as an object of our research, because this gives an excellent opportunity to observe a wide range of the above-mentioned phenomena. he present shape of Lower Silesian culture was formed by immigrant populations from various regions of Poland, returned from the Former Soviet Union, re-immigrants from Romania, Yugoslavia, and Western Europe2. hey introduced, a broadly understood, body of accumulated culture, and became its keen propagators. Due to the unique conditions of the cultural melting-pot, and unquestionable picturesqueness of the landscape favourable to artistic elations, Lower Silesia has become a multi-ethnic mosaic and a local homeland for a number of artistic personalities. Leaving behind the familiar world and society, immigrants entering the Karkonosze ater World War Two), found themselves, at least initially, separated, and unlike the autochthonous population, they did not have such an emotional attitude to cultural and geographical environment they found themselves in (liminal phase). Years had passed before they “felt at home”. In order to become inhabitants, they needed to establish what Hanna Buczyńska-Garewicz called “the whole system of ties between them and the place”3 (aggregation phase4). “Residence is a special harmony created between human beings and their surroundings. It is spiritual in nature, for it emerges in an act of understanding the place people found themselves in. A near, assimilated, home vicinity acquires its characteristics because it is suffused with determined qualities, and becomes a collection of formed and understandable meanings. hus the relation of taking up residence is, in its essence, 1 he Invention of Tradition, E. Hobsbawn, T. Ranger (eds.), Cambridge 1983. See: Wysiedlenia, wypędzenia i ucieczki 1939 – 1959: Atlas ziem Polski: Polacy, Żydzi, Niemcy, Ukraińcy [he Displacement, Expulsion and Flight 1939 – 1956: Polish Lands Atlas: Poles, Jews, Germans, Ukrainians], W. Sienkiewicz, G. Hryciuk (eds.), Warszawa 2008, pp. 82 – 103. 3 H. Buczyńska-Garewicz, Miejsca, strony, okolice: przyczynek do fenomenologii przestrzeni [Places, Parts, Surroundings: Contribution to the Phenomenology of Space], Kraków 2006, p. 130. 4 hree kinds of the rites of passage were first named by Arnold van Gennep, Les Rites de Passage, Paris 1909. 2 “And Is It Really in Lubawka?” 113 a spiritual one”5. Since 1989, an artistic provenance of the region, dated back to the end of 18th century, has frequently been evoked. he main goal of the first project “Sacred space in social memory” – carried out with the financial assistance from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage (2007) – aimed at gathering a multi-aspect documentation and damage registration of the Calvary in Lubawka. For the purposes of this project the Calvary was treated as a work of art, historical monument, place of worship – sacred space – historical space. Such an approach provided for a wider presentation of the described phenomenon, which constitutes a part of Lubawka’s cultural heritage (untill 1945 Lubawka was named Liebau and belonged to Germany). We based on the results of field research and descriptions and photographic documentation of objects of sacral street architecture, its architectural features and aesthetic qualities. he electronic database of historical iconography which consists of scanned postcards (issued between the 1890s and 1920s) showing Święta Góra (the Holy Mountain) in its glory days and the author’s photographic documentation of the place in July 2007 turned out to be a valuable complement to our next project. In this article we would like to present the group interview with the use of visual presentation and some conclusions from the diagnostic survey. 2. Common religious heritage? Lubawka is a small, border town in the south-west part of the Lower Silesian province. Today it is a seat of the town-district council (about 13 thousand residents). One of the dominant feature of the Lubawka’s panorama is Święta Góra (the Holy Mountain, formerly Steiner, Heiligerberg, Heiligen Berg). It belongs to a southern part of the Krucze Mountains (the Sudety), where between 1740 – 1905, with various intensity, objects of street sacral architecture were being erected. In the past, these wayside shrines were under loving care of the inhabitants of Liebau (Lubawka); nowadays, only the remains of the Calvary have survived. Due to relocations of the German population (between 1946 – 1947), and removal of nuns in the early fities, it lost its protectors and original character. Since no works on religious rite and practice on the Holy Mountain ater 1945 have been published, eye-witnesses’ accounts give an opportunity to learn about post-war history of the place. Such accounts make it possible to establish important facts, influential people, and crucial moments in the history of this land. In the 5 H. Buczyńska-Garewicz, op.cit., pp. 10 – 11. 114 Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski years 2007 – 2012 we conducted a series of narrative interviews with the representatives of the oldest generation of Lubawka’s inhabitants. Although the present article focuses on the knowledge and opinions of the young, we found it useful and interesting to cite fragments of narration given by the seventy – and seventy-fiveyear-old women, who arrived at the Eastern Lands in 1946. hey recollections contain the image of the town in which they had lived over sixty years before, which is unknown to the young: I used to go to a local school with Germans, about the half of the pupils were Germans. When we arrived here, we, Poles, were hardly a handful of inhabitants. Jews let during the 1955 pogrom, it took them one night to leave for Israel, and Germans would emigrate gradually. Some of them still live in Lubawka, they intermarried Poles and live here. Many people leave (…). Germans took good care of the place when we arrived here. hey respected everything. When we arrived this Evangelical church was opened. Now it is transformed into a storehouse. I don’t remember whether Germans went to up Holy Mountain to pray. Just Poles. hey may have gone, but I was too young a child to pay attention to it (Interview 1) he Holy Mountain was then a magical place, full of mystery, the place whose charm attracted children. It was vibrant with life on days of May and June services, and during celebrations of Via Dolorosa: I was a little girl when I would go there and bring flowers. Religious services were celebrated there. Initially, there was a plain chapel, with bells, where May and June religious services were celebrated. hen Corpus Christi procession went up there, and we as little girls brought flowers. Saint Hedwig nuns who lived here helped to arrange everything. It was a wonderful place, so much flowers. he Olive Garden was something really beautiful. here was also a hermit cottage. (…) He watched it all there. It may have been in the chapel where Jesus Christ was buried in his grave. When we arrived here the hermit had already died. We used to play truant there because there was a very high viewing tower at the top of the mountain. I don’t know when it disappeared, because I let for a while, and when I returned, the tower was no longer there. Religious services were not celebrated here for a long time, ater the communist system was imposed. Anyway, in 1954, 1955, May days were celebrated. Ater church masses children went up there to decorate the place with flowers. However, entering the Last Supper chapel was forbidden. he interior was really expressive, full size figures, stained-glasses, floors, benches. Sandwort stairs led up. “And Is It Really in Lubawka?” 115 (…) We used to go there on May days, singing, and aterwards we took some Saint Florian water (Interview 2) he last religious services celebrated by Polish priests took place several dozen of years ago (when asked about it, the respondents usually mentioned the two priests in Virgin Mary’s Ascension parish in Lubawa: Bronisław Wojtara – a parish priest from June 1945 to June 1951, and Bronisław Pachołek – a parish priest from June 1953 to June 1977)6. he exclusion of a religious community, the loss of its natural protectors, and the unfavourable political situation under the system of the Polish People’s Republic – all these factors affected the material infrastructure of the Holy Mountain. No professional conservation works were undertaken in Calvary for years: the objects were neither renovated nor protected against devastation. As early as in the 1960s, the complex began to be devastated, but rev. Pachołek locked it. All chapels were closed. Once, when I was up at the Holy Mountain, some tourists from Germany came, but they could not see anything, because everything was closed. And those who had been born and once lived here asked me why it was closed. So I told them to go and fetch the keys from the parish. And later on, when rev. Pachołek let, it [devastation] started (Interview 2) Only part of chapels furnishings was saved, including a group of figures in the Chapel of Last Supper, the Chapel of Resurrection, the altar set in St Anna chapel, as well as the figure of Christ as the Man of Sorrow: here were a great many beautiful paintings. In the first chapel, the interior looked like that in a church, there were oil paintings on the walls, old ones. hey took them away. Up the mountain, that of Resurrection – this one was the most beautiful, and that of the Last Supper survived longest when I was up the mountain last time, Jesus in his grave was chopped into pieces; it was about eight years ago. And in that of Resurrection, there were full size figures knights and angels – everything was chopped (…). In the late 1980s or early 1990s, the paintings in the Via Dolorosa were unscrewed and taken supposedly for conservation (Interview 1) According to the reports of witnesses and documents, it can be assumed that the process of the Holy Mountain’s degradation accelerated ater 1983. Until then, apart from broken windows, damaged stained glasses and chipped figures, most of 6 From the narrative interviews with Lubawka’s old inhabitants. 116 Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski the objects had survived in an overall good condition. Starting with the late 1980s, the destruction proceeded rapidly: In the 1990s they devastated it the most, at the beginning. In the 1970s it was not that bad, but the 1980s and 1990s brought total devastation. It was horrible. When a friend of mine from Cracow came we walked up to the Holy Mountain. In the first chapel we found drug addicts. hey pulled the doors down and laid on them. And what a lot of money the parish used to collect to redecorate Holy Mountain, and it all has gone somewhere. It is not known who has taken it. What a pity that those Stations of the Cross were destroyed since it was a real historical monument (Interview 1) he complex still does not have permanent protection, and damaged roofs, not insulated openings let ater broken door and window frames contribute to further damage due to rain and snowfalls, devastation, and robbery. Shortage of financial resources and unregulated property rights (the Roman-Catholic Parish of Virgin Mary’s Assumption in Lubawka is said to be the owner of this historic complex, however, the Forest district office in Kamienna Góra is the owner of the land) are additional causes of the destruction. Finally, a lack of professional conservation resulted in far-reaching disintegration of the architectural substance. Up to now, only ruins of the following chapels have survived: St Ann’s chapel (founded on a square plan of 7.60 x 7.60m), Last Supper chapel (founded on a square plan of 9.0 x 9.0 m), horn Crowning chapel (founded on a rectangular plan of 3.85 x 3.55 m), Our Lady of Sorrows chapel (founded on a rectangular plan of 7.45 x 6.37 m), Holy Sepulcher chapel (founded on a rectangular plan of 4.20 x 5.50 m), Resurrection chapel (founded on an octagonal plan of 5.60 x 2.00 x 3.70 m)7. Apart from the above, remain also: the crucifix on a stone pedestal (Station of the Cross XII), and some other small objects of sacral architecture, such as the fountain with the figure of St Florian which opens the sacred area (all elements of the sculpture wear damage marks), the group of Gethsemane (torsos), and the statue of Virgin Mary with the Infant (with damaged details, knocked off a pedestal) which closes the sacred area. None of the Stations of the Cross has survived as a whole either. 7 On the basis of the inventory cards of Holy Mountain worked out by E. Kica. he documentation is found in the archive of the Provincial Office for Monuments Conservation, Branch in Jelenia Góra; as well as on A. Michno, W. Wilk, A. Makaś, he Conception of Development of Holy Mountain Calvary Chapels. he manuscript commissioned by and at the disposal of an association the Local Action Group “Flax Flower” in Lubawka. “And Is It Really in Lubawka?” 117 However, the place itself has not been forgotten and let by everybody. Since 2006, for several successive years, a group of about fiteen faithful would set off from Lubawka to pray together up the Holy Mountain. However, this Via Dolorosa took place without participation and consent of the local parish priest, who claimed he was not authorized to establish any new place of worship, the more, he argued that small sacral architecture is not under the Church administration. Additionally, according to him, these celebrations are illegitimate because not a single participant has the right to lead church services. In the local paper, the parish priest’s comments were confronted with the opinion of reverend Artur from one of parishes in Wrocław, according to which Via Dolorosa can be led by anybody, even a lay person8. he present study of the Calvary as an object of religious worship, reveals it past richness in terms of material and formal meanings. Our research is an attempt to reconstruct the “social frames of memory”9. In this context, it is also important to capture the moment when the small sacral architecture (as a sacrum) began to lose its power in the community. According to Russell Jacoby “the general loss of memory is not to be explained solely psychologically; it is not simply childhood amnesia. Rather it is social amnesia – memory driven out of mind by the social and economic dynamic of this society”10. Also Stanisław Ossowski pays special attention to the fact that culture heritage includes also such elements which are not valued, and also negative elements, which are transferred from one generation to another, irrespective of educational efforts or in spite of such efforts11. In terms of division, introduced by a theorist S. Ossowski, between awareness and unawareness of one’s origin, and between wanted and unwanted cultural heritage, it would become an important to find out whether the Holy Mountain is still a desirable component of local cultural space. A number of questions emerged in connection with our research: − Is it justified, in case of Lubawka community, to speak about relevance of traditional cultural patterns with reference to sacred spaces? − Does the taboo of social convention still exist and protect sacrum and the notion of a sacred place? 8 J. Janicka, Droga Krzyżowa bez księdza [he Passion Without the Priest], “Regionalny Tygodnik Informacyjny” May 8, 2008, No. 19(386), p. 7. 9 M. Halbwachs, Społeczne ramy pamięci [he Social Frameworks of Memory], Warszawa 1969. 10 R. Jacobsy, Social Amnesia: A Critique of Conformist Psychology from Adler to Laing, Boston 1975, p. 4. 11 S. Ossowski, Więź społeczna i dziedzictwo krwi [Social Bond and Blood Heritage], Warszawa 1966, p. 98. 118 Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski − Would young residents of Lubawka like the past religious functions of Święta Góra (Holy Mountain) to return? Would they want the past architectural glory of the place to be recovered? − Do they feel responsibility for the place which is simply given to them as a “forgotten cultural heritage” by the older generation? − Is the Holy Mountain in Lubawka an example of a socially significant gap in collective memory? During the group interviews and the survey we asked about: “the map” of symbolic space – special places (their hierarchy); sacred places in perception of residents of Lubawka; knowledge of the topography of the Holy Mountain, “the founding myth”, knowledge of the founders’ names, knowledge of miracles which are said to have happened; inducing reflection on the glory days of the Calvary in the group interviews [here we will apply the visual presentation method by showing old postcards]; the Holy Mountain as an object of religious worship, appearance and presence of religious practice in the past (attitude of the Catholic Church towards the phenomenon of this place); the cause of downfall (a crucial moment and causes of this process; how inhabitants evaluate the process of degradation the Holy Mountain, and who, in their opinion, is responsible for its current condition. How do they perceive the degradation and was it possible to reveal personal data of perpetrators (was any investigation conducted by the police and prosecutors?). Attempts to revive the area (conservation and preservative works) [for this purpose we will make use of photographic documentation of the current condition]; the meaning of the desacralizated place in the cultural identity of inhabitants of Lubawka; prospects for the Holy Mountain: is restoration of it religious function possible and needed? (and connected with it: tourist development, unification of local community, and strengthening of local regional identification). he kind of assistance and resources the residents would expect to obtain during the reconstruction. We hope that the gathered information shall provide the data for the local community, cultural associations, and regional education – especially useful in the region of “multi-ethnic” Silesia – where we can speak of “co-existence in the same area (or in close neighbourhood without clear demarcation, or in case of aspiration to occupy the same area) of two or more social groups with distinctive features: appearance, language, religion, system of values, etc., which contributes to mutual perception of otherness and its different effects”12. It should be emphasized that 12 M. Golka, Oblicza wielokulturowości [Faces of Multiculturalism] [in:] U progu wielokulturowości. Nowe oblicza społeczeństwa polskiego [At the Treshold of Multiculturalism. New Face of the Polish Society], M. Kempny, A. Kapciak, S. Łodziński (eds.), Warszawa 1997, s. 55. “And Is It Really in Lubawka?” 119 the Calvary was created by German settlers, former residents of Liebau. hus, the Holy Mountian can be viewed as a peculiar monument of German religious culture, “(…) monuments are manifestation of »long-lasting space« (materialized history), intentionally organized to last and for long-lasting reception. heir main function is that connected with identity, for they are the sing of peculiar appropriation of space and historical time”13. It is characteristic, that it is the German side who tries to revive Liebau (especially in the virtual reality of the Internet) as a nostalgic memory of the lost “local homeland” and the form of ties with past generations. 3. Empirical study he survey was conducted in September 2012 and in April of 2013, in Siberian Deportee Soldiers Secondary School in Lubawka. Students of I–III grade, that is young people between 13 and 16 years old were interviewed. he study sample consists of 173 people, with proportional representation of girls (94) and boys (79). In one of the surveyed classes (IIIb) gender disproportion occurred: girls outnumbered boys 13 to 3. he majority of respondents (130 people are residents of Lubawka: 76 girls and 54 boys), what is more, 120 of the respondents have been living in Lubawka since their birth or early childhood, the rest of them, except one boy who lives in Kamienna Góra, come from the nearby villages: Jarkowice, Miszkowice, Niedamirów, Opawa, Bukówka, Stara Białka, Błażkowa, Paprotki, Szczepanów, Chełmsko Śląskie. Out of 130 respondents living in Lubawka, as many as 18% are not able to determine for how many generations their families are bound up with the town under study, and 12% declared that the connection has lasted for two generations, 37,7% for three, and 31, 5% of the population under study belong to the fourth generation of Lubawka’s residents. In the study, a diagnostic survey method with the application of questionnaire and 9 group interviews with the use of projection techniques were applied. he computer scans of German historic postcards (19th and 20th century), as well as the author’s photographic documentation of the place as in July 2007 were presented. he eight mentioned computer scans of historical iconography and a dozen or so of the author’s photographs taken in the year 2007 show the panoramic view of the Holy Mountain, and spatial arrangement of the following buildings: St Ann chap13 S. Łodziński, Bitwy o pomniki i pamięć [Battles for Monuments and Memory], “Opcje” 1997, No. 1, p. 91. 120 Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski el, the Chapel of he Last Supper, the chapel of Virgin Mary the Mournful, the chapel Christ the Crowned, the chapel of the Holy Sepulcher, and the Resurrection chapel. During the slide show, the façades, the side elevations and the interiors of individual chapels were shown. hen an attempt was made to focus respondents’ attention on the most characteristic architectural details and murals. Apart from the chapels, the historical iconography and the photographic documentation show also smaller items of sacral architecture: the figural complexes in the chapels of the Last Supper, Gethsemane, Resurrection, as well as Stations of the Cross, the Cross with the effigy of the Crucified and the statue of Virgin Mary with the Infant. he diagnostic survey and the group interviews made it possible to survey a relatively numerous group of respondents in a short time. Visual presentation seemed to be the best method to acquire interesting data, because it allows for shorter and fewer questions to be asked. hus, although not being time-consuming, it provokes the wide spectrum of reactions and associations. he photographs become, both for the respondents and researcher, the points of reference14, “a releasing factor which organizes the narration by anchoring it in the material suffused with rich associations”15. And photographs projection makes an interview more engaging and consequently more natural. Additionally, it enables to use pictorial language which does not need words. Furthermore, looking at commenting on the recorded images belongs to the repertoire of “well known and liked activities, unlike filling in a questionnaire or an interview that resembles interrogation”16. Photographs enable to collect rich, frank and varied data, because, it is “(…) difficult to be dishonest when commenting a photograph”17. Photographs perform a function of the third person, a mediator who brings a researcher and a respondent together. hey help to eliminate the sense of confrontation between the two parties, where one asks questions and the other one answers them18. his way, Krzysztof Olechnicki observes, the anthropologist may refrain from plying a respondent with questions, pictures become the object of observation, and a respondent becomes a co-worker, an assistant who helps explain the content encoded in the photographs. During an interview with the use of the photographs 14 D. Harper, Meaning of Work: a Study in Photo Elicitation, “Current Sociology” 1986, No. 3, p. 25. 15 P. Sztompka, Socjologia wizualna. Fotografia jako metoda badawcza [Visual Sociology. he Photograph as a Research Method], Warszawa 2005, p. 73. 16 K. Koseła, Interpretacja fotografii – krok ku socjologii wizualnej [Interpretation Of the Photograph – A Step Toward Visual Sociology], “Kultura i Społeczeństwo” 1990, No. 1, p. 67. 17 Ibidem. 18 J. Collier Jr., M. Collier, Interviewing with Photographs [in:] Idem, Visual Anthropology: Photography as Research Method, Albuquerque 1986, pp. 105 – 106. “And Is It Really in Lubawka?” 121 “(…) even making notes or recording a session does not deepen the reserve or overawe a respondent, which is quite common during a strictly verbal interview”19. All of the interviews were based on the same script. he form, the number and the chronological order of asked questions were predetermined by the specificity of a given group (every time all questions included in the script were asked). Ater two or three groups had been interviewed, the moderator gained an insight about which places were not recognized by the students. When respondents were becoming nervous, the slide was replaced by the one that had not cause difficulties in the previous groups. As a result, the atmosphere became more relaxed and ater a while it was possible to go back to the “difficult” picture. On average, the interview lasted 25 minutes, and the size ranged from 13 to 25 students. he lowest number of elicited answers was 4 – 5, whereas the highest one was obtained during lively discussions, and was between 10 and 15. During the interviews the atmosphere was rather unstrained, but the discussion remained focused on the defined objective. he respondents tried to provide interesting information, they reacted spontaneously to the presented material, but seldom expressed some deeper emotions. hey were open, asked the moderator some questions, and honestly admitted their lack of knowledge. Part of a given group was active most of the time. Most of the respondents were involved, but no more than half of them expressed their involvement verbally. he comments were addressed to the moderator. Smaller groups would probably enable the better control of the interview, but then, according to the researchers, unconstrained comments would have been replaced by “questioning”. he involvement may have weaken, because respondents would have felt too responsible for their words. Occasionally the involvement of the group ceased and moments of silence regained. Interesting interactions between individuals and opinions, as well as negotiation of meanings were observed (usually among 10 – 15 students) Frequently, when influenced by the opinions of other participants, the respondents would change their visions. References to previous comments were made, and concepts based on the findings of the previous speakers were formulated. Sometimes, mistakes were pointed out, including linguistic ones, and some statements were criticised, which would end up with the refusal of one’s right to express their opinion (for instance: “How can you know if you’re not from Lubawka; how can you know if you don’t go to church?”). What is more, there were even mutual accusations connected with 19 K. Olechnicki, Antropologia obrazu: fotografia jako metoda, przedmiot i medium nauk społecznych [Anthropology of the Image. he Photograph as a Method, Object and Medium of Social Sciences], Warszawa, 2003, pp. 174 – 175. 122 Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski the devastation of the small sacral architecture or one’s connections with satanism. However, negotiations of answers took place when collective guessing of names of the presented temples and their location was the task. Quite frequently, also respondents of the older generation, would confuse the chapel of Virgin Mary the Mournful with the Polish-Catholic church dedicated to the Assumption of God’s Mother, for these both neo-Gothic buildings share white elevations: Question: What is this place? [a long shot: projection of Virgin Mary the Mournful’s chapel] − Chapels. − his is a church. − his is the church under the ski jump, perhaps? − his white one, under the ski jump? − he chapel up the slope. At the bottom of the ski jump. − Where do you have a chapel there? You’ve got something wrong. − On the other side. Up Holy Mountain, at the back. − hat would be only one of these. − he middle one. (Interview 5) In the following interview, the chapel of Virgin Mary the Mournful is confused again. his time, not with the church dedicated to the Assumption of God’s Mother, but with the neo-Gothic Evangelical church: − his is in Podlesie [a district of Lubawka – AN]. − Right. − Wrong. − On that mountain over there. − On St Anna Mountain. − On Holy Mountain. − In town. − No, on St Rich Mountain. − here used to be something like this near the police station. − his isn’t the one near the police station, is it? − It’s near the ski jump. − But that one has a different tower. − his is the church in Podlesie, in direction of Chełmsk Śląski. − Over there, round the corner, on the right side, in direction of Chełmsko… and it’s not a Roman Catholic, it’s Old Catholic. − He’s from Myszkowice, so why do you even ask him? (Interview 6) “And Is It Really in Lubawka?” 123 Question: Does anybody know what place it is? (projection of AbendmahlKapelle the chapel of the Last Supper) − his is a chapel. − Isn’t it the previous one? − his is the chapel on the Holy Mountain. But, no… − How old was this? Or perhaps the stairs were destroyed? − here are not the stairs like these there. For sure. − But how do we know? − Look at this second pit, this is near the ski jump. − Yep! It think so. − But there are loads of chapels there. − here’s something here too. On St Ann. − And is it in Lubawka? Perhaps it’s a tricky one? (laughter) − his is the chapel up the Holy Mountain. I can bet on it. − But we don’t know… We are not experts. Question: Are you guessing or do you know? − We are guessing. (Interview 8) Most probably, in the mid-1970s, the figural complex of the Last Supper and the altar from the chapel of St Ann were moved to the church of St Ann. he figure of Christ as the Man of Sorrows is located now in front of the main entrance to the church of Virgin Mary’s Assumption, whereas the figural complex of the Last Supper is located in the church of the Fourteen Holy Helpers. he question “What has happened to the figures? was readily answered by the students, with almost investigative enthusiasm, though inaccurately and incorrectly: Question: Has anybody seen these figures in Lubawka, perhaps? − hey’re not in the church. − hey will be in the church near the police station. − But this Evangelical church is empty. − But they were there. − here is something like this in the church Virgin Mary’s Assumption, but a different painting is inside. (Interview 4) Where were they previously? − In the chapels. 124 Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski − − − − − Inside the chapels. here were figures in these chapels, by the priest’s has taken them away. he priest’s taken them away. here are some in front of the church now. he priest’s taken them to the church. To which one? − To this main one, what was its name? Hmm, well. By the road to the cemetery. − Dedicated to Virgin Mary’s Assumption. − here these figures stand. All of them. − hey aren’t in there. − here are different ones. (Interview 7) he students have real problems with locating particular objects and buildings. Not only do they not know how many chapels there are, but they also “move” particular items. he figural complex of the Last Supper, build in a scale of 1:1 (the chapel shrine laid out as a square 9.0 x 9.0 m) was “moved” to the chapel where Christ as the Man of Sorrows is located (the chapel laid out as a rectangular: 3.85 x 3.55 m). Here, it need to be mentioned that the façades of the shrines also differ significantly, the former one tri-axial, the latter is uni-axial (2, 9). he latter is place where respondents locate the grave of Lord Jesus (2), even though the place is only a preliminary Station of the Cross. Even more interpretative difficulties were caused by the computers scans of white-and-black postcards which respondents were seen by the respondents for the first time. he temples of the Holy Sepulcher, the Resurrection (the only nonplastered, red brick chapel on Holy Mountain), and that of St Ann were oten confused with the graveyard (interviews 4, 6, 9) and even with the church dedicated to St Ann – 6, 9). Here, the problem illustrated above in case of the Holy Sepulcher and of Christ the Crowned chapels, becomes even more visible It seems that the last mistake was also made in the effort to decode the German inscriptions in the postcards. he students tried to use them to locate and pinpoint and particular objects of the sacral architecture. Furthermore, the interviews revealed certain shortages in the students’ religious knowledge. he majority of them do not use the epithet “Christ as the Man of Sorrows”. his particular representation of Christ was called: “Christ as the Man of hought”, “Christ as the Man Lost in hought”, “Christ as the Man of Knowledge” (Interview 1). “Christ as the Man of Sorrows” was also named “Jesus, the who has a headache” or “he one with such a head. Lost in thought”. Only one boy (Inter- “And Is It Really in Lubawka?” 125 view 9) named properly the scanned iconographic object. Interesting enough, inside the preliminary chapel of the Stations of the Cross (the one with the figure of Christ as the Man of Sorrows) the “Grave of Lord Jesus” (9) or even that of John of Nepomcen (4) were located. A significant number of pupils do not recognize the term “Evangelists” , and when it happens to appear this contributes to ”the change of the name” the Resurrection chapel into the chapel of Evangelists (2). he Gethsemane is confused with Eden, is sometimes called “that garden near the chapels” where, according to them, “some sleeping, resting people” were presented (9). he easiest to interpret was the figural complex of the Last Supper. However, in one of the interviews some confusion was caused by an attempt to decode a German inscription (“Inneres d. Abendmahlkapelle”): “It is some supper, because there is “Abend” written in it – But they were sitting there in a different order.” he figure of Saint Florian was also recognized easily, but its location on the basis of the historical iconography proved difficult: Question: Does anybody recognize this place? (projection of Anna-Kapelle und Florianquelle [the chapel of St Anna and the Spring of St Florian]) − his is the chapel by the ski jump. − Near that Florian… something… (an attempt to read from a slide). − Really? Don’t say this. − It is Florian. here is nice water over there. Always so cold. − It is Saint Florian. How come he’s near the ski jump? (laughter) − He was erected near the ski jump. − He’s not there. − He is, but he head is missing (Interview 1). he secondary school students know that the residents of Lubawka go to fetch water from the spring: − hey go and fetch holy water. − Healing water. − For its crystal-clear. − Spring. − Mountain. − Healthy. − To wash you face and to drink. − For washing. − For free. (Interview 6) 126 Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski Most students do not know neither the history of the Holy Mountain nor legends and stories connected with it (Interviews 1, 3, 4, 7, 8, 9). A few students were an exception; they mentioned narrations once heard from their grandmother, mum, father, uncles, or a kindergarten teacher. he stories refer to miraculous healings ater application of “the water from Florian” (Interview 2), and erection of chapels as a git for healing the wife (Interview 2), or are connected with the person of the hermit (2, 5), ghosts who punish for destruction (2), worshippers of Satan (7), taking a shelter from the floods by inhabitants of the town (6). None of the interviewees could neither say when the sacral complex of Holy Mountain was built nor did they know the names of its founders. In the three interviews, individual respondents informed that the chapels were built by Germans (Interview 5), by Cistercians (9), or as a hiding place for Jews during World War Two (6). Generally (Interview 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8) through inspired guess, they defined the time when the Via Dolorosa celebrations took place there, though very vaguely: from the 19th century until the 1980s. hree persons (Interview 4) argued that some inhabitants of Lubawka are still continuing them. he respondents in Interview 2 and 7 remembered that Via Dolorosa was celebrated here (though without a priest) as recently as perhaps two years earlier. Nowadays, the young seldom visit the chapels, and if they do go there, their purpose is far from religious: “to pick mushrooms or blackberries”, “for walks”, “we jog there. I train there because hardly anybody strolls there”. “to take photographs. Girls like photos at the background of the ruins. hey want to show their appearance in a beautiful scenery”, “to play truant”. he same students represent various ideas and suppositions about those who may have destroyed the Cavalry to such an extent: − Hooligans. − Locals have destroyed it. − Cannibals. − Devil worshippers. − he young. − Scallies. − hey were destroyed during world war two. − No… Or perhaps it happened like this. − During the Second World War, and somebody said that they had been untouched until the 1980s. − But who is right? − he destruction is horrible. − But why? “And Is It Really in Lubawka?” 127 − − − − − − − Destroyed by Germans. No. Is it Germans that have sprayed graffiti inside? It is destroyed by the young. Look, Arthur, can you see? Yep, he is. Can you see the interior? (Interview 3) Also followers of a different religion had their share in the destruction. Such gatherings, one can call them Evangelists, because they may have been jealous about our faith in Christ. (Interview 2) − Ater the war. Germans destroyed it. − hey could not take it away, so they destroyed it! (Interview 4) In the perspective of theoretical inquiry, a particularly essential question was that about the importance of the Holy Mountain for the local community and about the attitudes of young people toward the studied space. According to the survey chapels on the Holy Mountain were mentioned only 4 times as answer to the question “What makes your town unique?”, and 24 times as answer to the question “Which places in Lubawka can be attractive for tourists?” Categories: What makes your town unique? (question only for residents of Lubawka) Which places in Lubawka can be attractive for tourists? Nothing special 51/130 44/173 Natural features 23/130 57/173 Landscape 20/130 4/173 Sporting infrastructure 14/130 66/173 Boredom 10/130 --------- Historical secular architecture Buildings of historical important 5/130 47/173 8/130 4/173 Churches 5/130 21/173 Chapels of the Holy Mountain 4/130 28/173 Source: authors’ research. Also the group interviews revealed some serious dilemmas: Question: Is this place important? − No. − No, no longer. 128 Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski − − − − − − − − − − − No, not very much. Once. hese are still monuments. It stands somehow, you know. Whoever is still going up there. Me. I was there. I used to sit there. I visited all of the chapels. (Interview 6) Yes, it’s important. Now? I doubt it. It seems to me that it isn’t. How do you know, if you do not live here. It seems to me that it is a sacred mountain. I mean, to some extent. (Interview 8) Similar attitudes appeared when the sacredness of this place was considered. In the diagnostic survey20, churches in Lubawka were regarded as sacred places 160 times, chapels of Holy Mountain and the places connected with them – 77 times (additionally 3 answers referred to roadside shrines), and the graveyard – 16 times. Other options refer to non-theistic sacrum: shops (8), horse farm (2), and one time: the railway station, school, one’s own room, the chair at a computer desk, and garbage dump were chosen21. In the group interviews, the answer was quite obvious for some respondents: “he name speaks for itself: the Holy Mountain”; “In these chapels there were sacred things. Holy water was sprinkled on them”; “Once people prayed in these chapels” (Interview 2); “It will be sacred forever” (Interview 3). However, with such destruction of the place and disappearance of the ritual, can we still speak of the experience of sacrum? In response to such a suggestion some doubts about sacredness of this place emerged: “his place is not sacred, otherwise someone would take care of it”; “You can’t pray there, because it was desecrated by devil worshippers. hey performed their rituals there” (Interview 8); “he priest said that it is no longer sacred” (Interview 9); “People do jogging there – Nobody goes there any longer, why should it be sacred?” (Interview 5). On the other hand: “It is still sacred, there are chapels there” (Interview 9); “Once people went to pray there” (Interview 5). 20 Out of 173 respondents, 139 people declared being believers, out of whom 19% defined themselves “deeply religious”, 59% as “religious”, 13% as “indecisive but attached to Catholic faith”, 5% “rather nonreligious”, 4% “atheist”. In the group of “rather nonreligious” most respondents chose the option of non-theistic sacrum, and those who declared being atheists indicated mainly theistic sacrum. 21 he respondents could list several places. Out of 173 people, some mentioned more than one sacred place, 15 did not indicate any, and 2 said that there are not sacred places at all. “And Is It Really in Lubawka?” 129 Question: Is it a sacred place? − Yes, it’s sacred. − Ater all, they are chapels. − It used to be. − Now, it’s perhaps sacred as well. − Sacred. − Yes. − No. − Yep, sacred but haunted. (Interview 3) It was possible to distinguish some reasons for which, according to the students, the small sacral architecture of the Holy Mountain is worth renovating. On the other hand, this was not an unanimous opinion expressed in the interviews. Some respondents claimed that Calvary does not deserve protection, because “such a place is not necessary”; “ghosts are conjured up there”; “sects”; “the cat is crossed” (Interview 6): − Utilitarian purposes: “more tourists, more business, more profits”; “if more tourists came, there would be another Biedronka opened, and a highway built”; “just make money on it”; “because it would be nicer in here”; “everybody could learn about the past of the place”; “to add something to lubawka, something attractive” (1, 2, 3 – 7). − Issue of group property: “for tourists and for us. for our children”; “for inhabitants!”; “to have a historical monument for other generations. For them to remember that there used to be something like this here”; “for Lubawka to be associated with this later on”; “to return to the past”; “because it is a part of our town, our culture”; “many historical events are connected with this mountains”; “Almost anybody who lives here was there. Everybody saw it” (1, 3, 4 – 8). − Religious purpose: “to keep the place to celebrate Via Dolorosa ritual, and so on”; “just to take advantage of ”; “this ritual would be more interesting than that celebrated in the church, then we would participate in it” (2, 3, 4). he restoration of the former magnificence of the Calvary depends on obtaining some external support, and the subsidy from the European Union is, according to them, indispensable and the only form of support which would assure a successful investment (Interviews 1 – 9). At the same time, they emphasize the bulk of restoration and conservation works that should be done, and impute to the mayor (of the communal district) indifference and interest in more urgent and profitable 130 Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski investments (1, 5, 9), as well as the parish priest who is to initiate money collection for this purpose (3, 6, 7, 8). “Nobody will give money to rebuild the chapels. hey will say it is not profitable” (Interview 5). When the topic of pastoral work with parishioners and the parish property was discussed (since the students claim that the chapels belong to the church) only sporadic opinions were expressed that the priest himself would not be able to collect such a lot of financial resources only from the hypothetical alms of churchgoers. hus, the parish priest is thought to be the person who is not able to undertake such investment only with the resources provided by the parishioners. Such declarations provoked some other respondents to argue that the Church (as an institution perhaps) is simply not interested in the Holy Mountain (1, 9). An their own grassroots initiatives are marginal. If they appear, they are treated more in humorous terms or as ventures with no chances of succeeding. Not even once the idea of their own share in the investment emerged – for ex ample, in the form of labour force, private donations, or contributions from the local associations. Neither did the students mention the provincial local authorities or the central government bodies. When showed scans of old postcards and photographs of small sacral architecture, the respondents also commented on its present condition. he students indicated the poor technical condition of the buildings, and mentioned the missing architectural details, as well as the need of extensive renovation and of the entire Calvary complex. hey mentioned booth the damage to the figure of St Florian (missing head, hand and leg), the Angel (missing head and wings), as well as of the group of figures in the Gethsemane. It was the slide show that inspired reflection about the former magnificence of the Calvary, as small artifacts of the sacral architecture had been destroyed long before the students of Lubawka secondary school had been born. Neither did the students know the presented visual materials (iconography), so the comparison with the actual condition of the Calvary evoked authentic astonishment, as well as emotional reception and expression of their thoughts. In particular, such behavior occurred while the slide of the interior of St Ann’ chapel was show: − Oh God, how it looked like… − Nice. − Really? (Interview 1) − And is it really in Lubawka. Are you sure? − Well, then Lubawka was once much spruced than now. − Everything is destroyed, good heavens! (Interview 5) “And Is It Really in Lubawka?” 131 hey responded emotionally also to the previously indicated problem of the location of the artefacts in the space, which intensifies their doubts referring the actual person represented by a given sculpture, as in the case of the chapel of St Ann and the spring of St Florian: − Perhaps this Florian is overgrown with bushes. Perhaps now forest has grown there. It depends when the photograph was taken. − It is not him… − It is him. − How damaged, good heavens! (Interview 2) − Oh, God! Everything is so overgrown with bushes. − Does it look like this up there? − I don’t know, I haven’t been here for ages. − Oh, God! Now it looks even worse. − Yep. − Yep. − Shocking. (Interview 3) here is also genuine astonishment expressed at the fact that the figure of St Florian was once untouched. hat it has not been damaged for ever. he group’s declarations end up with a rather pessimistic diagnosis: − But his head is missing. − Good heavens! − He used to hold something. − A bucket. − It will still be worse. (Interview 7) Sporadically, there spontaneous, but essential, recollections could be heard: “We used to play hare and hounds there” (Interview 4); “I used to take walks there, with my granny. Now, there is nothing to see there. Nothing” (Interview 7). he students admit their lack of competence, they do not conceal bitterness at their ignorance which, according to them should be blamed on the third party. In this area, they notice a lack of authorities responsible for knowledge transmission (“Will you tell us something about it, sir, because we know nothing. Nobody has taught us about it. It’s a shame to admit it. he priest hasn’t mentioned this place either”). A spontaneous initiative of hike in their leisure time emerged, accompanied with the charges against inhabitants of Lubawka expressed by students in nearby villages who claimed that one should know the place they live in. On several times, we heard emotional responses in an imperative mood: “Have it reconstructed totally!”; 132 Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski “It could be reconstructed if people took up working!”; “But soon such young people would come, and again…”; “Make them rebuild it!” 4. Challenges According to the study report within the national project „Stop Heritage Crime – Legal and illegal trading of culture foods – Research-Educational platform of experience exchange in the field of culture heritage crime prevention”, subsidized by the EEA Culture Exchange Fund, 89% of Poles think that culture heritage plays an important social function. Over half of them believe that historical monuments have a positive influence on the socio-economic development of particular regions. Most of the respondents (86%) claim that monuments represent commercial potential. In their declarations, tourism and service sector development were emphasized. Although Poles are well aware that conservation of culture heritage requires considerable financial outlays, they argue that these are long-term investments and monuments conservation is worth investing public money (82% of the respondents)22. However, our study of young people in Lubawka shows that declarations and details of the problem are two different issues (especially in the interviews). In the group interviews, young people have shown very little knowledge about the Calvary or wider, religious knowledge about the Passion. On the other hand, we noticed an authentic huge surprise when they saw both the historical and the current state. his small architecture seems to be an unnoticed part of their local identity. For them, it is astonishing that in Lubawka, the place commonly regarded as sacred, was not only abandoned but also totally destroyed. Young residents agreed that even though the Calvary the Holy Mountain is no longer the place of religious worship, it is an element of the history of Lubawka. Today it could become the element of cultural identity of the residents of Lubawka and a tourist attraction once more (which would highlight the „small Lubawka homeland” on the broader social arena) but, due to a lack of financial resources, it is still impossible to do so. For some reason, the youth does not have their own initiative. he restoration of the Calvary depends on obtaining some external support, the others are responsible for this – someone else: the local authorities, the Church, the EU, etc. hey also 22 http://www.obserwatoriumkultury.pl/artykuly/117257-dziedzictwo-kulturowe-w-oczachpolakow--raport-z-badan-spolecznych.html [Access date: 26.05.13]. “And Is It Really in Lubawka?” 133 point to the lack of school education in this field. Unfortunately, this topic is absent both in the official transmission and family narratives. he change in consciousness of the inhabitants of the town is the precondition. As we can see, the youth does not regard this as a significant element of the cultural heritage. In group interviews they shown rather ambivalent attitude to the issue of recognition of this place as sacred and very important at present; in the diagnostic survey only 4 pupils have chosen the Calvary when we asked them about some unique places in Lubawka. he place has been forgotten and deserted by the society and the Church over the last thirty years, since then inhabitants have not come up with any grassroots initiatives to restore the Holy Mountain. It may have resulted from the creation of other, more attractive places of worship, lack of intergenerational transmission among the residents of Lubawka, growing secularization, and the ongoing “social oblivion of unwanted social heritage” started in the communist period. he collective initiative for the sake of its revival could create the opportunity to strengthen the common identity. he current condition of this small sacral architecture, provided some protective measures are soon taken, still gives hope for its survival. he inhabitants of Lubawka could become protectors of the Holy Mountain once more. he question is, whether they want it. Ater all, as Ossowski wrote: cultural heritage depends, to a wide extent, on the will of those who were entrusted with it23. Originally, the project aimed at broadening knowledge about the local (although not exclusively) community and providing some revaluations. Our solution can be treated as one of possible, but also universal, cases and methodological options, which can be applied while studying other local communities affected with the trauma of displacement (the “uprooted” and “putting down roots” once more) and encounter different cultural groups which lay claim to the same space. here will be problems of co-existence between people and places, of building a spiritual relation called inhabitancy, of active experiencing and decoding the content, and being in the space and the space present in the inhabitants. An finally, creating responsibility for the place which is simply given to us as a foreign heritage. 23 Compare: S. Ossowski, op.cit., Chapter II: O zagadnieniach dziedzictwa społecznego [On the Issues of Social Heritage]. 134 Joanna Cukras-Stelągowska, Jakub Stelągowski REFERENCES Buczyńska-Garewicz H., Miejsca, strony, okolice: przyczynek do fenomenologii przestrzeni [Places, Parts, Surroundings: Contribution To the Phenomenology of Space], Kraków 2006. Collier J Jr., Collier M., Interviewing with Photographs [in:] Idem, Visual Anthropology: Photography as Research Method, Albuquerque 1986. Gennep A., Les Rites de Passage, Paris 1909. Golka M., Oblicza wielokulturowości [Faces of Multiculturalism] [in:] U progu wielokulturowości. Nowe oblicza społeczeństwa polskiego [At the Treshold of Multiculturalism. New Face of the Polish Society], M. Kempny, A. Kapciak, S. Łodziński (eds.), Warszawa 1997. Harper D., Meaning of Work: a Study in Photo Elicitation, “Current Sociology” 1986, No. 3. Hobsbawn E., Ranger T. (eds.), he invention of Tradition, Cambridge 1983. Halbwachs E., Społeczne ramy pamięci [he Social Frameworks of Memory], Warszawa 1969. Jacobsy R., Social Amnesia: A Critique of Conformist Psychology from Adler to Laing, Boston 1975. Janicka J., Droga Krzyżowa bez księdza [he Passion Without the Priest], “Regionalny Tygodnik Informacyjny” May 8, 2008, No. 19(386). Koseła K., Interpretacja fotografii – krok ku socjologii wizualnej [Interpretation of the Photograph – A Step Toward Visual Sociology], “Kultura i Społeczeństwo” 1990, No. 1. Łodziński S., Bitwy o pomniki i pamięć [Battles for Monuments and Memory], “Opcje” 1997, No. 1. Olechnicki K., Antropologia obrazu: fotografia jako metoda, przedmiot i medium nauk społecznych [Anthropology of the Image. he Photograph as a Method, Object and Medium of Social Sciences], Warszawa 2003. Ossowski S., Więź społeczna i dziedzictwo krwi [Social Bond and Blood Heritage], Warszawa 1966. Wysiedlenia, wypędzenia i ucieczki 1939 – 1959: atlas ziem Polski: Polacy, Żydzi, Niemcy, Ukraińcy [he Displacement, Expulsion and Flight 1939 – 1956: Polish Lands Atlas: Poles, Jews, Germans, Ukrainians], W. Sienkiewicz, G. Hryciuk (eds.), Warszawa 2008. Sztompka P., Socjologia wizualna. Fotografia jako metoda badawcza [Visual Sociology. he Photograph as a Research Method], Warszawa 2005. http://www.obserwatoriumkultury.pl/artykuly/117257-dziedzictwo-kulturowe-w-oczachpolakow--raport-z-badan-spolecznych.html [Access date: 26.05.13]. Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) ISSN 1230-266X SPECIAL COMMUNICATES Welfare State Mariusz Baranowski Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland TOWARDS THE WELFARE STATE SOCIOLOGY ABSTRACT he undeniable fact is that various social sciences and other disciplines constitute the research perspective which relates to the practice of a multidimensional phenomenon. he welfare state is an excellent example of such notion, which in its nature unifies many theoretical and practical positions. It seems, however, that the economic and political dimensions of the welfare state (as conceptual or pro-social proposals) are disproportionately exposed both on the basis of scientific reflection and pragmatic approaches used by the institutions of the state. his tendency to think in economic and political terms, which incidentally is maintained for several decades, represents: (a) only one side of a complex nature of social welfare, and (b) a significant reductionism, leading to the elimination of sociological, cultural, educational, and psychological consequences of the functioning of the welfare state. his article is designed to reverse the trend of the dominant perception of the construct of the welfare state in economic and political terms, and replace it with the highlight of the mainly sociological dimension of this phenomenon (the welfare state sociology). However, it does not mean abandonment of the economic and political dimensions in general, as they are an integral part of the issue. Key words: welfare state sociology, social policy, capitalism, economism 136 Mariusz Baranowski 1. Introduction A mutual relationship of the social, economic, and political dimensions, which may be expanded with more detailed aspects, does not require any broader comments within widely understood human relationships. Regardless of its definition, the object of an analysis in social sciences is multidimensional because heterogenous and antinomic factors influence its specificity. Research aims at the identification and conceptualization of these factors (description) in the manner which would enable the hierarchic arrangement of the strength of their influence on a phenomenon in question, using specific tools (explanation). his, in turn, makes it possible to reach, in specific conditions, the most ambitious goal of this analysis, i.e. prediction, which forms grounds for designing directed social changes (social engineering). Welfare state1 issues are an example of such a multidimensional phenomenon, which lies within the scope of interest of the above-mentioned dimensions as well as in the historical, legal, and cultural perspective. Each of these approaches has developed a characteristic set of notions, the aim of which is to diagnose separate problem areas within the complex mechanism of social security institutions. Naturally, there is a correspondence of various provenances between individual dimensions and perspectives, i.e. one solutions inspire others (also by criticism) or form a starting point for additional explorations and research. Others, still, cooperate within a wider scope in the form of interdisciplinary research projects or implementation formulas. Being aware of this special complexity of the nature of social life, determined by a range of more or less defined factors, I would like to get down to the issues of the welfare state and to view them from a sociological perspective, because – what I am going to try to demonstrate – the economic and political viewpoints dominate in the discussion on these issues for different reasons (ideological domination of economics as a science and pragmatic reasons of making decisions concerning politics). 2. Economic dimension of the welfare state Starting from the analysis of the notion of welfare itself, which may be recognized as “the result of an expanding production care, financial benefits, or other services 1 Some researchers differentiate among various meanings of the term welfare state. E. g. Niklas Luhmann is well-known for his distinction between Wohlfahrtsstaat i Sozialstaat. See: N. Luhmann, Politische heorie im Wohlfahrtsstaat, München 1981, p. 7. Towards the Welfare State Sociology 137 for ensuring the material and cultural conditions for the reproduction of humans as biological beings, as economic producers and members of a work force, and as social beings and citizens (the conditions of integration in society and of social cohesion)”2, it is difficult not to notice modern associations of this notion with the economic dimension of the organization of society3. he beginnings of institutional social reforms in Europe themselves, which are most frequently equated with the Bismarck’s social insurance programme (1880) and William Beveridge’s report titled Social Insurance and Allied Services (1942), disclose socio-economic problems which had to be faced. In particular, the Beveridge’s report, together with the historical context of its development, emphasized a range of (negative) social consequences of the functioning of economic mechanisms. Let us also remember that the author of these reforms was a supporter of the Liberal Party and noticed the deficits of market solutions, which had great consequences for wide social circles. Admittedly, his proposals, unquestionably reveal this liberal feature, which nota bene is still present it the British social policy: “‘Unemployment benefit ater a certain period’, said Beveridge, should be ‘conditional upon attendance at a work or training centre’. Second, let’s restore the idea of ‘something for something’. Beveridge called his system social insurance. (He didn’t like the term welfare state, which had been coined by Archbishop Temple)” 4 he relationships between the institution of the welfare state with economy are so close that it is difficult to section off the discussed issue from the area of economic activities of society. On the one hand, issues of social inequalities related, in general, to life opportunities, depend deeply on economic conditions themselves. On the other hand, taking any corrective measures related to an attempt of eliminating these significant social and economic differences, i.e. the redistributive function of the state, depends on the economic situation (if we omit intentions of politicians at the moment). he macroeconomic policy of the state also applies to the performance of the stabilization function, where the most important accents are placed on reaching a high rate of economic growth, while keeping the inflation and unemployment rates as low as possible. But the issue of unemployment is directly related to various forms of social programmes of the welfare state (from 2 A.M. Guillemard, Welfare [in:] International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, N.J. Smelser, P.B. Baltes (eds.), New York 2001, p. 16416. 3 his aspect is particularly well articulated in: K. Polanyi, he Great Transformation. he Political and Economic Origins of Our Times, Boston 2001. 4 L. Byrne, A William Beveridge for this Century’s Welfare State, “he Guardian” 2012, http://www. theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jan/02/beveridge-welfare-state-labour-revolution [Access date: 30.07.2013]. 138 Mariusz Baranowski securities applied in the situation of loss of a job and programmes helping to find a job to the system of general education); economic growth and inflation influence the quality of life of the whole societies. he relationship between the economic dimension of the functioning of society and welfare state solutions is undisputable; this, however, does not mean that we should accept, without reflection, economic arguments for or against social welfare institutions as final. he problem of evaluating social solutions, which, according to the author hereof, exists at present, pertains, most of all, to “economic colonization” of the discourse concerning social issues. By this, I would like to underline the domination, in the scientific discourse, as well as in the press, common sense, or administrative areas, of the thinking about any social solutions in the categories of economic efficiency, profitability, usefulness, etc. his particular economism, which shows the features of an accounting balance sheet, should not determine uncompromising frameworks for the possibilities of implementing individual social policy solutions because it is not the only or even the most comprehensive point of view5. By focusing on expenses related to social policies, economists (I mean the supporters of the dominating neoliberal concept) see them rather as burdens of the budget which are, admittedly, necessary to maintain social cohesion, but are also economically and disciplinary unreasonable6. his may explain the manner of assessing the involvement of the state in the social area using economic measures and indices. he most frequent measure of this involvement is gross domestic product, GDP per capita, or a percentage share of social expenditure in the budget of the country in question. Apart from their undisputable advantage of being convenient, all these measures leave much to be desired in the categories of a socio-economic analysis7. he economic dimension of the welfare state is a dominating element of the discussion on all solutions securing the social part of human existence for many reasons, the leading one being the ideological advantage of capitalist and free market solutions. It is also worth remembering that any counter-proposals to this capitalistic order are oten brought to an absurd, most of all based on theoretic and 5 See: M. Baranowski, Working in Social Cooperatives. he Case of Greater Poland Region of Poland, “Studia Historiae Oeconomicae” 2012, Vol. 30, pp. 93 – 109. 6 See: M. Husson, Le capitalisme sans anesthésie. Études sur le capitalisme contemporain, la crise mondiale et la stratégie anticapitaliste, París 2011, especially chapters 2, 5 and 7 (Polish edition: Warszawa 2011). 7 hus, new and new research is designed using measurement techniques which are more sensitive to real consequences. Economists oten apply the HDI index used by the UN as well, which takes the greater number of socio-demographic variables into account (e.g. Genuine Progress Indicator or he Index of Sustainable Economic Welfare). Towards the Welfare State Sociology 139 practical assumptions generated from the models of the capitalist organization of economy. his uniformization of the discussion on economic issues, which has been “forced” by the supporters of market mechanisms (neoliberals) is an efficient barrier for alternative proposals concerning the welfare state institution. To be more precise, it should be mentioned that a range of solutions securing human welfare is implemented as a part of capitalist logics and on its initiative. herefore, welfare state institutions are used in free market solutions as well as against their fundamental logics8. 3. Political dimension of the welfare state As I have emphasized before, political implications of the functioning of the welfare state are deeply related to the economic sphere as well as to the development of civil rights. Although these rights are related to many dimensions of the functioning of entities, such as civil, politic, and social rights9, I am going to define them imprecisely, for the clarity of my reasoning, as a component of the political dimension of the welfare state. When describing the programme of reforms which were implemented, most of all, in Europe and Anglo-Saxon post-colonial countries between 1848 and 1917, Immanuel Wallerstein underlined its three components: he first was suffrage, which was introduced cautiously but steadily expanded in coverage: sooner or later all adult males (and then women as well) were accorded the right to vote. he second reform was remedial workplace legislation plus redistributive benefits, what we would later call the ‘welfare state’. he third reform, if reform is the right world, was the creation of national identities, largely via compulsory primary education and universal military service (for males)10. 8 Let us remember that the capitalist system in its national versions is very varied, what means, in practice, that e.g. the role and scope of the social policy in various countries may be very different; this, in turn, results with greatly diversified socio-economic relations within the capitalist option. See: Capitalism or Capitalisms?, J. Tittenbrun (ed.), Szczecin 2009; W.J. Baumol, R.E. Litan, C.J. Schramm, Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity, New Haven–London 2007; M. Albert, Capitalism Against Capitalism, London 1993; Ch. Hampden-Turner, A. Trompenaars, he Seven Cultures of Capitalism: Value Systems for Creating Wealth in the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Sweden, and the Netherlands, New York 1993. 9 T.H. Marshall, Citizenship and Social Class [in:] Inequality and Society. Social Science Perspectives on Social Stratification, J. Manza, M. Sauder (eds.), New York 2009, pp. 148 – 154. 10 I. Wallerstein, he End of the World as We Know It. Social Science for the Twenty-First Century, Minneapolis 1999, p. 9. 140 Mariusz Baranowski All those changes led to a completely new reality, which really modified the form of the participation of citizens in political structures, beginning the transformations in other areas: “he three elements together – political participation via the ballot, the intervention of the state to reduce the polarizing consequences of ungoverned market relations, and a transclass unifying national loyalty – comprise the underpinnings, and indeed in actuality the definition, of the liberal state, which by 1914 had become the pan-European norm and partial practice”11. he importance of reforms described by Wallerstein should be considered taking their mutual relationships into account, if only because in many historic analyses the transformation of the political life is described, so to speak, in a void of socio-economic relationships. When focusing on the expansion of the sphere of citizenship, as well as on the development of democratic institutions, and the inclusive character of authority structures, one may not disregard the significance of transformations in material conditions of life of the society. he formal opening of the system for a larger number of participants without appropriate changes in real possibilities of influencing the system means only feigned reforms. As was described vividly by homas Marshall: “(…) the right to freedom of speech has little real substance if, from lack of education, you have nothing to say that is worth saying, and no means of making yourself heard if you say it. But these blatant inequalities are not due to defects in civil rights, but to lack of social rights, and social rights in the mid-nineteenth century were in the doldrums”12. he issues of social inequalities (and I am not, by any means, speaking about a trivial, but true, statements that people are not equal by nature) co-developed and conditioned real principles of functioning of authority structures (this concerns political and legal institutions) in the same manner as they do nowadays. In addition, in modern democratic systems, the allocation of budgetary funds is a prerogative of state political institutions of a state. his means that the development of the social policy of a country depends on political intentions of the option in power13. And this “political intention” is oten determined by many factors, which also include simple (let us call them “ideological”) obligations to donators of funds for political campaigns. 11 Ibidem. T.H. Marshall, op.cit., p. 151. 13 his is an obvious simplification because many non-party entities and components, which shape the environment of the state decision-making apparatus (from social consultations, which are an element of the political culture of a country and „systemic” social movements to revolutionary powers, which try to overthrow the existing status quo), also have an influence on the shape of such policy as it is. 12 Towards the Welfare State Sociology 141 In his renowned work titled Contradictions of the Welfare State, Clause Offe made some very interesting observations, which are worth considering in the context of political discussion on the institution of the welfare state: “Every political theory worth its name has to answer two questions. First, what is the desirable form of the organization of society and state and how can we demonstrate that it is at all ‘workable’, i.e., consistent with our basic normative and factual assumptions about social life? his is the problem of defining a consistent ‘model’ or goal of transformation. Second, how do we get there? his is the problem of identifying the dynamic forces and ‘strategies’ that could bring about the transformation”14. he political consensus concerning the selection of the “desirable form of the organization of society and state” together with the consequences of this decision for social life, which contains an element of specific solutions e.g. concerning the equalization of life opportunities, has significant and permanent consequences, not only for socio-political structures but also for socio-economic ones. herefore, one should consider possible consequences of specific proposals very thoroughly, because the mechanisms of equalizing opportunities (i.e. the welfare state) may have far broader results than only temporary ones. “his is to say, the welfare state has, in a certain sense, become an irreversible structure, the abolition of which would require nothing less than the abolition of political democracy and the unions, as well as fundamental changes in the party system”15. he fragment above highlights this frequently omitted and underestimated fact, which emphasizes the importance of the nature of welfare state practices which are deeply rooted in the structures of the political system, including its democratic foundations. A standard practice is recognizing social policy as an “addition”, estimated variously by various political options, to the political dimension of the social reality. An addition, which should be limited or, to the contrary, developed. It is, however, extremely rare to identify welfare state solutions as the quoted “irreversible structure”, which is de facto a condition of the required stability, how necessary for the democratic order. he history of the development and shaping of the democratic order was full of stormy speeches and fights, most of all by various social movements, which sought the legitimization of their hauls, not only social ones, within the political area. It turns out that welfare state may be recognized as a real, rather than only formal, foundation of a permanent consensus for the democratic system in its various national and cultural variations. Furthermore, even a superficial examination of the political (institutionalized and non14 15 C. Offe, Contradictions of the Welfare State, London 1984, p. 152. Ibidem. 142 Mariusz Baranowski institutionalized) activities of citizens indicates that there is nothing that mobilizes people more to become involved in current political disputes than changes (or the lack thereof, in specific conditions) of material conditions of life. Welfare state “acquisitions” are natural examples of this statement. 4. Social dimension of welfare state Considering the social aspect of the welfare state, one should take economic and political determinants into account, but only in a specific context. In fact, although there is a reversed relation between the social perspective of the assessment of social solutions and their economic and political equivalent, the accents are distributed in a different way16. Most of all, the approach discussed here emphasizes the role of social diversity in the framework of the society as a whole, with its numerous outcomes. Such approach to this issue has many serious consequences which enable, on one hand, the determination, within the framework of the social dimension, of e.g. differences in earnings and political or ideological preferences (i.e. ones that, in this case, go beyond the area of politics) and, on the other hand, the interpretation of economic and political objectives based on the dysfunctional character of the society, which may demonstrate itself in the deepening social stratification17. Such stratification is usually accompanied by a number of consequences, from typically political ones (e.g. support for extremely populist options) and economical ones (e.g. growing differences in earnings of separate social class16 he meaning of the social “accent” is explained in the following observation by Max Weber: “It should be emphatically stated that the present discussion is concerned only with a brief summary of the ‘sociological’ aspects of these phenomena, so far as they are relevant to its context. he ‘economic’ aspect is included only insofar as it is expressed in what are formally sociological categories. he presentation would be economic in the ‘substantive’ sense only if the price and market conditions, which so far have been dealt with only on the theoretical level, were brought in. But these substantive aspects of the general problem could be worked into such a summary introduction only in the form of terse theses, which would involve some very dubious distortions. he explanatory methods of ‘pure’ economics are as tempting as they are misleading”. M. Weber, Economy and Society. An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, Berkeley 1978, p. 115. 17 he historical example of this practice is the following passage from Marx: “Everywhere the working class was outlawed, anathematized, placed under the ‘loi des suspects’. he manufactures no longer needed to restrain themselves. hey broke out in open revolt, not only against the Ten Hours’ Act, but against all the legislation since 1833 that had aimed at restricting to some extent the ‘free’ exploitation of labour-power. It was a pro-slavery rebellion in miniature, carried on for over two years with a cynical recklessness and a terroristic energy which were so much the easier to achieve in that the rebel capitalist risked nothing but the skin of his workers”. K. Marx, Capital. A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. 1, London 1982, pp. 397 – 398. Towards the Welfare State Sociology 143 es), to social ones, which, so to speak, reflect the two former ones in the social issue (e.g. growing crime rate, weakened social relationships, deteriorated condition of the public health care and education, and alcoholism). In this approach, the listed social phenomena and pathologies are treated as consequences of the lack of balance between various dimensions within the society, including the axio-prescriptive system. Let us stay with the issue of social stratification and think about the other side of the coin, i.e. the possibility of generating social differences by welfare state programmes. Gøsta Esping-Andersen, a Danish sociologist, will come to our aid. He stated that: Social stratification is part and parcel of welfare state. Social policy is supposed to address problems of stratification, but it also produces it. Equality has always been what welfare states were supposed to produce, yet the image of equality has always remained rather vague. In some analyses it is simply taken for granted that social benefits diminish inequalities. In others, the focus is on the eradication of poverty or the overall distribution of income. he really neglected issue is the welfare state as a stratification system in its own right. Does it enhance or diminish existing status or class differences; does it create dualisms, individualism, or broad social solidarity?18. he sociological analysis of the welfare state should also consider, within the scope of its interests, possible and actual negative consequences of the social policy for the society as a whole. Ater all, the declared purposes together with an honest intention to eliminate social differences (which may not be excluded) do not have to lead, ater all, to positive solutions from the viewpoint of cohesion and/ or equality of opportunities in the society. Anyway, Esping-Andersen, who was quoted above, speaks clearly about worlds of welfare capitalism, emphasizing that even countries with a well-developed welfare sphere are only examples of the capitalist socio-economic organization with all the consequences of this fact. his does not change, at all, the real examination of social (and not only social) differences present in capitalist countries concerning e.g. economic freedom, unemployment rate, corruption levels, trust in public institutions, etc. he meshing of the analysed dimensions of human activities resembles a neverending series of events which condition one another, to the nature of which we may assume a more or less critical approach; however, in fact, each of these ap18 G. Esping-Andersen, he hree Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge 1996, pp. 3 – 4. 144 Mariusz Baranowski proaches has specific, though not universal, reference points. he social differentia specifica includes (what also analogically pertains to other dimensions) the emphasis on relationships which do not so much go beyond other areas of the analysis as paraphrase different viewpoints into their own set of relations. As was stated by Richard Morris Titmuss: “We are concerned with the study of a range of social needs and the functioning, in conditions of scarcity, of human organisation, traditionally called social services or social welfare systems, to meet those needs. his complex area of social life lies outside or on the fringes of the so-called free market, the mechanisms of price and tests of profitability”19. his is a very courageous statement, taking my arguments described above into account; however, I used this specific quotation to show, how representatives (in this case, a pioneer of the social policy in its institutional dimension) identify solutions of the social welfare system in the context of other determinants. It is obvious for me that the social dimension corresponds closely with other dimensions; therefore, the area of social life influences economic, political, and cultural structures and is, at the same time, under their the influence. Speaking about the welfare state sociology, I wish to underline the need for a social context of the assessment of described solutions and, in fact, to weaken the domination of the economic and political point of view. To weaken does not mean to eliminate from the scope of interest because, in my opinion “this complex area of social life lies inside of the so-called free market, the mechanisms of price and tests of profitability”, to enumerate if only a few of them. In addition, the marginalization of the market or democratic influence may result in the lack of “unbiased” assessment of the social welfare system, which, what has already been said, may have unintended negative consequences for the social order itself. “One may even risk a statement”, says Jean-Paul Fitoussi and Pierre Rosanvallon, “that focusing on the exclusion phenomena deforms our understanding of the society. Even if these are the main social phenomena of our times, which should be fought in the first place, they do not exhaust social issues. hey do not come down to people with no permanent residence (SDF), nor to ‘golden boys’, nor to the opposition of the excluded to the wealthy”20. In this context, a few matters have to be explained before some mistaken and far-reaching conclusions are drawn. he above fragment from the work by the French researchers does not, in spite of appearances, underestimate the issue of 19 R.M. Titmuss, Commitment to Welfare, London 1976, p. 20. J.-P. Fitoussi, P. Rosanvallon, Czas nowych nierówności [The Age of New Inequalities], Kraków 2000, pp. 17 – 18. 20 Towards the Welfare State Sociology 145 social exclusion. In fact, it even places this issue in the centre of interest of the sociological analysis; however, it also shows a dangerous tendency of focusing on secondary phenomena rather than on their sources. Here, a secondary phenomenon means a clear matter of welfare as opposed to a social issue, i.e. an issue with a wider scope and far more serious consequences. Focusing on a matter of welfare at the expense of social issues will result in the further deepening of social inequalities because temporary aid provided to the most excluded people or groups will not solve fundamental causes of such inequalities. he mechanism observed by the French authors focuses on this tendency, which, while expanding the category of people included in the welfare state aid (people who are socially excluded), omits the causes of social inequalities: “We may not behave as if exclusion was only a consequence of personal misfortunes. It is a result of a certain process rather than being a specific social status. herefore, it is not possible to prevent it without the analysis of the general destabilization of the situation of hired workers or increase in the number of risks. Speaking about exclusion without considering these transformations as well as attempting to reduce them without changing generally applicable game rules mean that one is under an illusion or that one is lying”21. his interpretation of Fitoussi and Rosanvallon, together with their conceptualization of new inequalities which are intragroup (this means that within specific social categories, the position of individuals may be completely different), reflects the meaning of the social dimension of the welfare state analysis. Considering economic as well as political variables in the evaluation of solutions of the welfare state institution, the mentioned authors focus on the sociological level of modern problems of the French society, what gives rise to a redefinition of the sources of inequalities themselves as well as to the thinking over of their political and economic conditions. 5. Conclusions Although the issues of welfare state are, what has already been stated, inseparably related to three intertwining dimensions of the functioning of the society, they are also entangled in a number of tensions between those structures, one of which seems to dominate. Franz-Xaver Kaufmann sees it as follows: 21 Ibidem, p. 18. 146 Mariusz Baranowski he tension between the economic sciences on the one hand and the legal and social sciences on the other underscores precisely this real tension in modern societies, a tension that became constitutive with functional differentiation. his tension manifests itself in the rise of ‘social problems’ and cannot be fundamentally dissolved. hus, the tension between the dynamics of the economic system and the demands of the soci+al welfare system is a constitutive feature of welfare states. It is a permanent challenge for politics to achieve synergies, again and again, among economic and social policies22. Let us also remember about the specific context of considering the welfare state institution where social solutions are a part of the capitalist socio-economic system rather than a determinant of the socialist manner of production, as critics of capitalism would like them to be23. he consequences of considering the social security system from the angle of the capitalist organization of economy is of a significant importance for the title issue of the welfare state sociology. In fact, the domination of private ownership of means of production combined with the individualistic ideology creates a possible hazard for social securities, which contain, in their ideological foundations, the aim to eliminate, really or only potentially, social inequalities and, as a result, equalize life opportunities for various categories of entities. Naturally, it may not be excluded that the capitalist reality, as a part of widely understood economic efficiency, intentionally shits, to welfare state institutions, a part of burdens which should lie on the side of private ownership of means of production. It does not matter whether we speak about the system of general education or the health care system, to give only the two most obvious examples. Some components of the welfare state lie beyond the scope of interest of capitalist entities present in the free market, which seek each opportunity to generate and appropriate an added value. What also speaks in favour of the thesis supporting the wider perspective of the sociological view of the welfare state is also the nature of a major part of economic concepts which are characterized by a specific orthodoxy of their own solutions. his means, in practice, that a dominating part of economic approaches pays more attention to coherence among the functioning paradigms in economy than to achievements and solutions of other social disciplines. Hence the arising observation that: 22 F.-X. Kaufmann, Towards a heory of the Welfare State, “European Review” 2000, Vol. 8, No. 3, p. 304. 23 Interesting observations in this area were made by Michael Walzer, who compared nationalized distribution with the welfare state and nationalized production with the socialist state. See: M. Walzer, Socializing the Welfare State [in:] Democracy and the Welfare State, A. Gutmann (ed.), New Jersey 1988, pp. 13 – 26. Towards the Welfare State Sociology 147 he economic approach is, moreover, antisociological. Consider Gary Becker’s (1976: 8) claim that the economic approach is applicable to all human beings: ‘rich or poor persons, men or women, adults or children, brilliant or stupid persons, patients or therapists, businessmen or politicians, teachers or students’. In advancing this universalist claim, the economic approach elides social differences. Inequality – the backbone of contemporary sociology – does not play a significant role in the economic approach (Lie 1992). In other words, class, race and ethnicity, gender, or any other social attribute remains essentially outside the theoretical purview of the economic approach (…)24. To the existing gap between economy and other disciplines in some areas of scientific inquiries, more interdisciplinary solutions have been finally applied, the achievements of which prove the heuristic productivity of such approaches25. By proposing the shit of a focus in research on the welfare state from, most of all, the economic or political point of view to the sociological viewpoint, I would like to re-emphasize that I do not mean to eliminate those two dimensions of the functioning of societies, because they cannot be overestimated. his idea consists in considering, within a wider scope, the sociological perspective, which is de facto a condition of the mentioned dimensions. hen, dialectic complications such as the one below will not be difficult to solve: “he embarrassing secret of the welfare state is that, while its impact upon capitalist accumulation may well become destructive (as the conservative analysis so emphatically demonstrates), its abolition would be plainly disruptive (a fact that is systematically ignored by the conservative critics). he contradiction is that while capitalism cannot coexist ‘with’, neither can it exist ‘without’, the welfare state”26. REFERENCES Albert M., Capitalism Against Capitalism, London 1993. Baranowski M., Working in Social Cooperatives. he Case of Greater Poland Region of Poland, “Studia Historiae Oeconomicae” 2012, Vol. 30. 24 J. Lie, Sociology of Markets, “Annual Review of Sociology” 1997, Vol. 23, p. 344. Public choice theory is a perfect example. See works of: K. Arrow, D. Black, J. Buchanan, G. Tullock, A. Downs, M. Olson etc. 26 C. Offe, op.cit., p. 153. 25 148 Mariusz Baranowski Baumol W.J., Litan R.E., Schramm C.J., Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity, New Haven–London 2007. Byrne L., A William Beveridge for this century’s welfare state, “he Guardian” 2012, http:// www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2012/jan/02/beveridge-welfare-state-labourrevolution [Access date: 30.07.2013]. Esping-Andersen G., he hree Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Cambridge 1996. Fitoussi J.-P., Rosanvallon P., Czas nowych nierówności [he Age of New Inequalities], Kraków 2000. Guillemard A.M., Welfare [in:] International Encyclopedia of the Social & Behavioral Sciences, N.J. Smelser, P.B. Baltes (eds.), New York 2001. Hampden-Turner Ch., Trompenaars A., he Seven Cultures of Capitalism: Value Systems for Creating Wealth in the United States, Japan, Germany, France, Britain, Sweden, and the Netherlands, New York 1993. Husson M., Le capitalisme sans anesthésie. Études sur le capitalisme contemporain, la crise mondiale et la stratégie anticapitaliste, París 2011 (Polish edition: Warszawa 2011). Kaufmann F.-X., Towards a heory of the Welfare State, “European Review” 2000, Vol. 8, No. 3. Lie J., Sociology of Markets, “Annual Review of Sociology” 1997, Vol. 23. Luhmann N., Politische heorie im Wohlfahrtsstaat, München 1981. Marshall T.H., Citizenship and Social Class [in:] Inequality and Society. Social Science Perspectives on Social Stratification, J. Manza, M. Sauder (eds.), New York 2009. Marx K., Capital. A Critique of Political Economy, Vol. 1, London 1982. Offe C., Contradictions of the Welfare State, London 1984. Polanyi K., he Great Transformation. he Political and Economic Origins of Our Times, Boston 2001. Titmuss R.M., Commitment to Welfare, London 1976. Tittenbrun J. (ed.), Capitalism or Capitalisms?, Szczecin 2009. Wallerstein I., he End of the World as We Know It. Social Science for the Twenty-First Century, Minneapolis 1999. Walzer M., Socializing the Welfare State [in:] Democracy and the Welfare State, A. Gutmann (ed.), New Jersey 1988. Weber M., Economy and Society. An Outline of Interpretive Sociology, Berkeley 1978. Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) ISSN 1230-266X Jacek Tittenbrun Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań, Poland THE WELFARE STATE IN A STATE OF CRISIS? ABSTRACT he paper sets out to deconstruct two concepts featuring in the title. Firstly, a novel definition of the welfare state based on economic ownership is presented, used then throughout the paper to examine the facts behind the widespread view of the welfare state finding itself in a crisis. Upon scrutiny, it turns out that empirical evidence to support the thesis under investigation is weak at best; neither globalisation nor Europeanization bring about any significant quantitative or qualitative worsening of welfare parameters. In addition, it is imperative not to put all the welfare states into one bag, as they in fact represent a plethora of diverse social-protection regimes. Key words: welfare state, globalisation, state, crisis 1. Introduction To begin with, the central concept needs to be defined; on the surface, the term “welfare state” appears to be self-evident. Suffice it to recall the term “welfare society”; however, to shake this belief, just as the relation between such notions as the state, and society is not to be taken for granted, it is not prima facie apparent whether the concept in question is primarily or even exclusively political in nature. 150 Jacek Tittenbrun It is our contention that a satisfactory definition of the welfare state can be worked out only within an analytical framework of economic ownership. Economic, or better socio-economic ownership1, is in fact – as classics of our discipline, such as Marx, Weber, Tonnies or Simmel were aware – a complex of relations of pivotal economic and sociological importance. Four our purposes, it is possible to define the welfare state precisely in those socio-economic terms-as common fiscal property. Abstracting, for the sake of the argument, from non-tax forms of state revenues, one can frame taxes as property relations. It is the case because the state, collecting taxes, comes up as an intermediary on behalf of the nation at large, and corporate taxes, or payroll taxes represent, respectively, the nation’s share-mediated by the exchequer – in the ownership of means of economic activity and labour power, an underlying assumption being that, as defined by my rent theory of ownership, the essence of the latter can be defined as benefit. In this light some typical definitions of the welfare state formulated in the literature can be read, such as the following one, whose very language suggests that it is (collective in this instance) ownership that is at stake: “the welfare state can be seen as a bundle of membership spaces: it consists of different functional schemes (for pensions, health care, unemployment, social assistance, and so on), different ‘layers’, ‘tiers’, and ‘pillars’ of provision (e.g. basic vs. supplementary insurance), characterized by their own regulations and surrounded by codified membership boundaries that mark insiders and pit them against outsiders”2. In a similar vein, the following definition underlines the public-ownership character of the welfare state: “As an ideal type, the main business of the welfare state in industrial society was to provide for needs which were not adequately met through the market – interruption of income (retirement, unemployment, sickness, or disability) and mismatch between income and need during the life cycle (e.g. child endowment) – or for needs where state provision was widely recognised as desirable (e.g. highlyvalued services in areas where the costs of privately checking professional expertise are high, such as health care or education)”3. he said framework will prove its usefulness in our analyses below, but at this point we must turn to another question that is apparent from the viewpoint of the common wisdom. he cliché “the crisis of the welfare state” has become a buz1 See: J. Tittenbrun, Economy in Society. Economic Sociology Revisited, Cambridge 2011; J. Tittenbrun, Ownership and Social Differentiation, Saarbrucken 2011. 2 M. Ferrera, he New Spatial Politics of Welfare in the EU [in:] G. Bonoli, N. David, he Politics of the New Welfare State, Oxford 2012. 3 P. Taylor-Gooby (ed.), New Risks, New Welfare: he Transformation of the European Welfare State, Oxford 2004, p. 4. The Welfare State in a State of Crisis? 151 zword. But this by itself does not make it true. To examine whether in fact this is the case, one needs to inquire to what extent crisis accounts, such as those built around globalization and population ageing, are borne out by evidence. 2. The welfare state and globalisation Now, upon closer scrutiny, matters are no longer so straightforward as in the pessimist picture of the inevitable decline of the welfare state as we know it. From that perspective, the state is in a permanent retreat, its prerogatives being eroded by powerful global forces, effecting in inequality and unemployment. But there are counterarguments to this claim to the effect that “globalization has little to do with the problems of the welfare state – which can be better explained by changing demographics, new technologies and forms of work organization, or internal economics and politics – and that the welfare state has in any case changed very little so far”4. Still, those who subscribe to the thesis of crisis or decline of the welfare state might insist that their specific arguments should be taken into consideration. It is thus argued that the internationalization of trade, the deregulation of the rules governing business, and the privatization of state-owned enterprise, combined with the development of new technologies facilitating faster communications and lower transportation costs, and the increasing capital mobility following from financial market liberalization, have had a significant impact on national autonomy. hey have served to promote business internationalization while weakening the protective barriers around domestic economies and diminishing government’s ability to pursue independent microeconomic management strategies or expansive industrial policies. Within this kind of perspective, governments, and thus national economies, compete against other governments and economies just as individual companies compete with one another. herefore, in order to attract foreign direct investment and improve conditions of domestic firms, governments of many developed Western countries have sought to reduce wage costs, income taxes, payroll taxes, tax on corporate profits, social security payments, health-care costs, and so on. “hese measures, in turn, have contributed to the crisis of the welfare state”5. 4 5 V.A. Schmidt, he Futures of European Capitalism, Oxford 2002, pp. 9 – 10. Ibidem, pp. 17 – 19. 152 Jacek Tittenbrun he above argument, however, hinges upon an assumption that corporate capital-corporations can move freely to sites of their choice, i.e. those that offer the most favourable business conditions. his freedom of movement is their trump card, owing to which they can pressurise and even blackmail governments to extort favourable conditions. Upon scrutiny, though, this picture appears to be oversimplified. Transaction costs economics coined the term “sunk costs”, which renders a restriction on that freedom of movement, once investment has been made, “since it is oten relatively expensive for them to pick up and leave, given relations with suppliers, customers, local communities, and regional and national governments. For most companies – with the exception of those with the most routinized assembly operations – just-in-time production techniques that benefit from close proximity to suppliers and flexible specialization that benefits from close proximity to final markets make companies less footloose, not more so, because they ensure that they are less able to pull up roots once located somewhere, whether in home or host country”6. his is not the end of the story. Contrary to what the aforementioned argument implies, companies invest even in advanced industrialized countries with generous welfare states paid for by high tax rates, since these tend to be rich countries and as such are attractive locations for production7. Apart from markets, such developed countries offer other advantages in respect of technology, science, a variety of public services, or a stable political environment, all of which are likely to outweigh concerns about higher taxes. Overall then, “multinationals tend to remain tied not only to home country through management nationality, political ties, management culture, production practices, and source of revenues, assets, and employees, but also to host country through production techniques and market opportunities. In consequence, although national government control over multinationals operating in the national economy has indeed diminished, and national government autonomy in its policies toward multinationals has been reduced, the losses of autonomy and control are not nearly as significant as some might argue, even if they cannot be ignored”8. Moreover, even if this were in fact a slippery slope, and the current losses are only the beginning of a process of erosion that will one day make multi-nationals truly stateless, or even like states unto themselves, business would not end up en6 R. Wade, Globalization and its Limits: Reports of the Death of the National Economy are Greatly Exaggerated [in:] National Diversity and Global Capitalism, S. Berger, R. Dore (eds.), New York 1996, pp. 80 – 81. 7 R.E. Baldwin, P. Krugman, Agglomeration, Integration and Tax Harmonization, “Bulletin of the Centre for Economic Policy Research” 2001, No. 76(Spring). 8 V.A. Schmidt, op.cit., p. 36. The Welfare State in a State of Crisis? 153 tirely free and clear of national influence. his is because “international competition remains ‘powerfully conditioned’ by national regulation not only in the financial markets but also in the various industrial sectors”9. he fact of the matter is, it is national regulations that still determine how companies can operate in the national arena, setting rules for competition, standards of performance, and product quality, as well as worker protections related to hiring, firing, promotion, affirmative action, as well as occupational safety and health. And more recent reforms in that area are even described as “competitive re-regulation”10. Anyway, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the situation in that area is a far cry from a “race to the bottom through competitive deregulation, where all governments, whatever the regulatory reforms, scramble to reduce capital controls, moderate business rules, and reduce social protections in order to attract and retain global finance and business”11. What is more, trade openness does generally correlate with expansion in government spending rather than with reduced government spending, as the sceptics have argued, it is true that unusually high levels of openness have also been associated with unusually large decreases in the size of government. Overall however, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to make any reliable causal generalizations based on large-scale, time-pooled, cross-national, and multivariate analyses, given governments’ varied and changing responses to external economic pressures over time. On the other hand, what smaller-scale, more fine-tuned, and time-sensitive quantitative analysis of advanced welfare states shows is that governments still have significant – although somewhat restricted – margins of manoeuvre, and that, rather than convergence towards any given set of policies or spending levels, countries have continued to exhibit wide differences in what they spend, in how they spend, and in how much they spend12. he truth of the matter is, despite the constraints imposed by tighter budgets, countries can – and do – still spend a lot on the welfare state, even as they seek to contain costs; only when public debt has been exceedingly high – that is, above 100 per cent of GDP in the cases of Belgium and Italy – can globalization pressures 9 S.K. Vogel, Freer Markets, More Rules: Regulatory Reform in Advanced Industrial Countries, Ithaca–New York 1996. 10 J.P. Trachtman, International Regulatory Competition, Externalization, and Jurisdiction, “Harvard International Law Journal” 1993, No. 34, pp. 47 – 104. 11 V.A. Schmidt, op.cit. 12 F.W. Scharpf, Economic Changes, Vulnerabilities, and Institutional Capabilities [in:] Welfare and Work In the Open Economy, Vol. I: From Vulnerability to Competitiveness, F.W. Scharpf, V.A. Schmidt (eds.), Oxford 2000. 154 Jacek Tittenbrun related to strong capital mobility be shown to be an explanation for cuts in welfare provision13. And equally significantly, they spend in different ways, given differences in claiming principles, beneficiaries, financing, and services as part of different constellations of welfare states14, underpinned by their respective configurations of property relations. his circumstance reveals the most fundamental flaw to the “crisis” thesis in its globalisation version – its undialectical nature, an assumption that given processes bring about similar effects irrespective of specific national socio-economic and political contexts. Meanwhile, welfare states have been differentially affected by globalization, with some more vulnerable to globalization pressures than others. hus, there is evidence to suggest that, despite the general trend to attempt to rationalize the welfare state, the extent of reform tends to remain in keeping with what on the surface is manifested as nationally based, historically endorsed attitudes toward the proper role of government, which in the final analysis are conditioned by their corresponding ownership structures. hose account for the fact that countries that nurtured comparatively high levels of interventionism in the social policy arena in the past – for example, Italy or Germany – continue to approve of higher levels of interventionism – for instance, in government responsibility to provide jobs for all – than those that tolerated much lower levels of state interventionism – for example, the United States and Britain15. It should also be noted that, in keeping with sociological dialectics, the pattern of reform, whether towards greater fiscal tightening or stronger social protection, tends to depend not only on pre-existing welfare state arrangements but also on the domestic political and institutional context. To reiterate, there is no convergence in the welfare arena. Rather than all countries following the path taken by Anglo-Saxon countries and moving toward a ‘liberal’ welfare state model, with low social benefits and services and an emphasis on individual responsibility, as those subscribing to neo-liberal doctrines would have it, most non-Anglo-Saxon countries retain the basic features of their traditional models even as they introduce certain liberalizing measures. he Scandinavian countries have remained true to the social-democratic model (grounded in the wide fiscal commons) by respecting values of equality and universality of provision 13 D. Swank, Globalisation, Democratic Institutions and the Welfare State. Paper presented at the American Political Science Association National Meetings,Washington, DC, 30 August–3 September 2000, p. 23. 14 G. Esping-Andersen, he hree Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Princeton 1990. 15 H. Döring, Public Perception of the Proper Role of the State [in:] W.C. Müller, V. Wright (eds.), he State in Western Europe: Retreat or Redefinition, London 1994. The Welfare State in a State of Crisis? 155 while maintaining a high level of benefits and services despite cuts in benefits and the introduction of user fees. On the other hand, although the continental European countries have reformed their conservative model to varying degrees in different ways, all have retained their reasonably high level of benefits and sense of collective responsibility even as they have introduced some degree of individual recourse through pension reform16. he said divergence manifests itself also in the diversity of main social problems faced by the respective welfare regimes. Poverty remains a problem primarily in the Anglo-Saxon countries, where social transfers do not bring the poverty level down as much as in the more generous continental and Scandinavian countries. In continental countries, by contrast, the chief problem is unemployment, due to much greater labour-market rigidities than in Anglo-Saxon or Scandinavian countries. For the Scandinavian countries, the problem is maintaining the welfare state at such a high level17. he lack of flexibility of what is commonly called the labour market merits some comment. First and foremost, the latter term is a misnomer; labour is in actual fact not a market category (a commodity) at all; a worker cannot sell his or her labour for money revenues because simply, this labour is not yet in existence, it will come into being only ater contracting for alienating her or his labour power, or capacity to work, as distinct from actual work. Under capitalism, to earn income, an employee must agree to the labour conditions (including obedience to the rules and directives) of an employer who wants to utilise his or her labour power in a definite period of time. Now, under certain welfare regimes, broadly corresponding to the notion of stakeholder capitalism18, workers are accorded a certain extent of ownership of the job, which on the surface shows up as the aforementioned “rigidities”, restraints on the employers’ power to hire and fire at will. Overall, it turns out that “the only evidence of a significant globalization effect to emerge anywhere in the analysis is an apparent relationship between the growth of foreign direct investment and cutbacks in existing programme spending. However, this is an effect that proves not to be statistically robust. hus, the supposed threat of globalization is revealed as a ‘paper tiger’”19. It influences neither aggre16 V.A. Schmidt, Values and Discourse in the Politics of Welfare State Adjustment [in:] Welfare and Work in the Open Economy, Vol. 1: From Vulnerability to Competitiveness, F.W. Scharpf, V.A. Schmidt (eds.), Oxford 2000. 17 See: F.W. Scharpf, Economic Changes, Vulnerabilities…, op.cit. 18 See: J. Tittenbrun, Two Capitalisms [in:] Capitalism or Capitalisms?, J. Tittenbrun (ed.), Szczecin 2009. 19 F.G. Castles, he Future of the Welfare State: Crisis Myths and Crisis Realities, Oxford 2004, p. 6. 156 Jacek Tittenbrun gate spending nor programme priorities, and, moreover, its apparent effect on welfare state downsizing disappears once one takes account of the effects of crossnational differentials in pension generosity. Most relevantly, the major source of expenditure variation on programmes for the elderly is not variation in the age structure of the population as such, but rather the differential generosity of such programmes in different countries. An important implication of this revealing finding is that “the so-called ‘old-age crisis’ is not one of general application, but limited to particular countries. Another is that the frequent claims by policy-makers that their actions are constrained by the brute facts of a ‘greying’ population are oten simply covers for attempts to make expenditure cuts or for an incapacity to do so. […] a key determinant of fertility levels across the OECD is the extent to which countries have adopted family-friendly public policies. his means that, contrary to the general thrust of the crisis literature, certain kinds of social policy initiatives are crucial to the continued vitality of Western societies. Changing welfare needs define the changing tasks of the welfare state”20. 3. The welfare state and the EU In the context of this unique supra-national structure called the European Union, the aforementioned idea of welfare state convergence has re-emerged in a new guise, with an active debate on the potential of EU institutions to bring about “a ‘harmonization’ of social policy in Europe and the emergence of a ‘European social model’ providing social protection in a manner distinctively different from that elsewhere in the Western world”21. But again, such claims should not be taken for granted. he fact of the matter is, “in the social policy arena is Europeanization not so protective. Here, in the absence of common policies, and the difficulty of instituting them because of the tremendous diversity in the concepts, priorities, policy instruments, and funding 20 Ibidem. See: S. Liebfried, Towards a European Welfare State? [in:] New Perspectives on the Welfare State in Europe, C. Jones (ed.), London 1993; S. Leibfried, P. Pierson, Semisovereign Welfare States: Social Policy in a Multitiered Europe [in:] European Social Policy: Between Fragmentation and Integration, S. Leibfried, P. Pierson (eds.), Washington 1995; J. Grahl, P. Teague, Is the European Social Model Fragmenting?, “New Political Economy” 1997, No. 2, Vol. 3, pp. 405 – 26; G. Falkner, EU Social Policy in the 1990. Towards Corporatist Policy Community, London 1998; M. Ferrera, A. Hemerijck, M. Rhodes, he Future of the Europe “Social Model” in the Global Economy, “Journal of Comparative Analysis: Research and Practice” 2001, No. 2, Vol. 3, pp. 163 – 190. 21 The Welfare State in a State of Crisis? 157 of social security systems22, European member states have been let to cope largely on their own with social security deficits, unemployment, and/or poverty in a climate of budgetary austerity23. Moreover, while European monetary integration may have reduced globalization pressures on member states’ currencies, it may simply have displaced these onto their economies through the even greater demands for budgetary austerity related to the restrictive criteria for the EMU24. And because countries will no longer have the monetary flexibility of the past in times of economic downturn to cushion its effects by, for example, lowering interest rates, adjusting the money supply, loosening credit, or devaluing the currency, they are likely to feel economic problems more intensely and/or more immediately. And the question of possible financial help from the EU, as shown by a string of recent events, is very controversial; suffice it to cite President of the Bundesbank, Hans Tietmeyer, who in an address in Dublin on 15 March 1996, made it clear that “In the event of an asymmetric shock, the countries in the monetary union must, on a point of principle, be responsible themselves for achieving the necessary flexibility through internal measures”25. It is thus important to get a clear picture of complex effects of European integration. Viewed dialectically, on the one hand, it may serve as a protection from globalisation, but on the other, it may act in fact hand in hand with the latter – its consequences in the form of liberalisation and deregulation may act as a source of regulatory competition among member states with rising pressures for reductions in e.g. payroll taxes and labour protections in order to increase business’ competitiveness and the country’s overall attractiveness to investors26. Furthermore, deregulation in the “public service” sectors, that is, infrastructural services such as 22 L. Hantrais, French Social Policy in the European Context, “Modern and Contemporary France” 1995, No. 3, Vol. 4, pp. 381 – 90; F.W. Scharpf, V.A. Schmidt (eds.), Welfare and Work in the Open Economy, Vol. I: From Vulnerability to Competitiveness, Vol. II: Diverse Responses to Common Challenges, Oxford 2000. 23 S. Leibfried, P. Pierson, Semisovereign Welfare States: Social Policy in a Multitiered Europe [in:] European Social Policy: Between Fragmentation and Integration, S. Leibfried, P. Pierson (eds.), Washington 1995, p. 74. 24 A. Martin, What Does Globalization Have to Do with the Erosion of Welfare States? Sorting out the Issues, “ZeS-Arbeitspapier” 1997, No.1; P. Pierson, Irresistible Forces, Immovable Objects: Post-Industrial Welfare States Confront Permanent Austerity. “Journal of European Public Policy” 1998, No. 5, pp. 539 – 60. 25 Cf. B. Laffan, he European Union: A Distinctive Model of Internationalization?, “Journal of European Public Policy” 1998, No. 5. 26 S.W. Scharpf, Negative and Positive Integration in the Political Economy of European Welfare States [in:] Governance in the European Union, G. Marks et al. (eds.), London 1996; S.W. Scharpf, Economic Integration, Democracy and the Welfare state, “Journal of European Public Policy” 1997, No. 1, Vol. 4, pp. 18 – 36; S.W. Scharpf, Economic Changes, Vulnerabilities, and Institutional Capabilities 158 Jacek Tittenbrun telecommunications, energy, and transport, has represented a special challenge for countries where these services are linked to cherished notions about the welfare state, that is, how best to ensure public access to essential services in order to promote the general interest – which was particularly noticeable in the case of France. It may be added that such fears have been more than warranted; the developments in question may in fact lead to dispossession of those facilities’ previous owners, i.e. the populace. Overall however, “although common efforts at resolving problems have developed recently, such as the new benchmarking exercises with regard to employment and social policy following the Luxembourg and Lisbon summits through the open model of coordination, these rely on voluntary efforts in which countries are expected to learn from one another’s ‘best practices’ and to be ‘named and shamed’ into meeting their self-set targets. here is no significant ‘positive integration’ promoting European-level social regulation, and certainly no European welfare state in the offing”27. What is more, obstacles on the road to such an end are not only of a practical nature (the diversity and complexity of national social security systems), but also of doctrinal and political one-policy-makers of Britain, France, and Germany deliberately accepted an “asymmetrical” EMU in which the monetary aspect was highly developed and the economic one only minimally. hey did not want to consider national fiscal and social policies or the issues of wealth distribution at the European level, convinced that the issues were too politically sensitive and better let to piecemeal, national-level changes in response to the pressures of market forces28. his accounts for the fact that “member states have largely retained their autonomy with regard to social policy to the detriment of their capacity”29. hat the above contention is true, has been amply demonstrated during the Euro crisis, as it is generally agreed that its underlying cause had been precisely this lack of supra-state fiscal capacity, which means in our terms supranational common fiscal property. At the same time experts concur that the only effective way out of the present crisis is precisely the Federal budget, political integration in the sense of instituting a supranational taxman. European integration constitutes the only available defence against the challenges of globalisation, due to which [in:] Welfare and Work In the Open Economy, Vol. I: From Vulnerability to Competitiveness, F.W. Scharpf, V.A. Schmidt (eds.), Oxford 2000. 27 V.A. Schmidt, he Futures of European…, op.cit., p. 36. 28 A. Verdun, An “Asymmetrical” Economic and Monetary Union in the EU: Perceptions of Monetary Authorities and Social Partners, “Journal of European Integration” 1996, No. 1, Vol. 20, pp. 59 – 82. 29 V.A. Schmidt, he Futures of European…, op.cit., p. 52. The Welfare State in a State of Crisis? 159 national sovereignty has been lost anyway – to pre-empt any nationalist fears that might be voiced against such a closer integration. herefore, the current political climate, still most unfavourable to such initiatives, constitutes the most unfortunate development. he monetary crisis has clearly shown that to solve its problems, the European Union needs to upgrade its structures to the level of what would, for all intents and purposes, constitute the United States of Europe based on a supranational common property. Unfortunately, given the disappearance of major political differences between the right and the let (epitomised by the title of the main ideologue of Blair’s hird Way30), an entanglement of politicians of whatever hue in the unending electoral cycle, with its resulting short-termism and catering to what is perceived, correctly or not, (on the basis of sociological techniques that leave much to be desired) as the current state of public opinion, which political system is a poor breeding ground for genuine statesmen, as distinct from professional (but not in the sense of a vocation, to refer to famous Weber’s essay) politicians and bureaucrats. All in all, it could be argued that Europeanization has served to enhance some of the beneficial effects of globalization for EU member states while avoiding many of its negative effects through common monetary and industrial policies, although not social policy. But these gains in shared supranational authority and control have inevitably “come with added losses of national autonomy in the monetary and industrial policy arenas, at the same time as the continued autonomy in the social policy sphere has entailed a loss of capacity”31. Be that as it may, from the late 1980s onwards, the European Commission headed then by Jacques Delors took a series of initiatives, including the Social Charter and EU-wide anti-poverty initiatives, aimed at ensuring that the advent of the single market did not lead to social dumping on an increasing scale32. he premise for such policy innovations, to be sure, not necessarily involved contradiction of the view that enhanced economic integration could have adverse social consequences. Rather the argument was that adverse trends could only be addressed if integration was accompanied by a strengthening of social policy institutions. Europe will be a Europe for everyone, for all its citizens, or it will be nothing. It will not tackle the new challenges now facing it – competitiveness, the demographic situation, enlargement and globalization – if it does not strengthen its 30 31 32 A. Giddens, Beyond Let and Right, Cambridge 1994. V.A. Schmidt, he Futures of European…, op.cit., p. 52. See: J. Delors, Our Europe, London 1992. 160 Jacek Tittenbrun social dimension and demonstrate its ability to ensure that fundamental social rights are respected and applied33. Although Delors’ departure from the Commission was a setback to such aspirations, the social democratic ascendancy at the turn of the millennium gave another spur to the EU social policy institution building. he Dutch Presidency took the initiative in launching a common employment policy in 1997, the Lisbon Summit in March 2000 put to the fore the social protection agenda, and the Nice European Council in December 2000 was told that “the European social model, with its developed systems of social protection, must underpin the transformation to the knowledge economy”34. 4. Varieties of the capitalist welfare state Last but not least, in October 2001, a report submitted to the Belgian Presidency of the EU, while conceding the existing variety of social policy provision in Western Europe, set out to elaborate the reforms needed to provide “a new social policy architecture for Europe”35. To take up the topic of diverse welfare regimes hinted at above, Ebbinghaus (1999) bases his typology of capitalism on consideration of the Welfare State, and distinguishes four models within Europe: Nordic, Central European, Southern European, and Anglo-Saxon. he four types of capitalism are each characterized by a specific type of welfare state, the classification in this area being taken from Esping-Andersen36. From the ownership-class standpoint, the Nordic model differs from Germany’s Central European model in its universalist welfare state, which allows for higher labour-force participation. Although in superficial classifications both countries may be included under one common rubric of the Northern Europe, in actual fact Sweden offers very different types of benefits and criteria for distribution from Germany’s conservative welfare state, where welfare is more closely linked to occupational stratification. 33 Comité des Sages, For a Europe of Civic and Social Rights, Brussels 1996, p. 23. Council of the European Union, Document 14011/00, SOC 462 (Annex), 2000. 35 See: G. Esping-Andersen, D. Gallie, A. Hemerijck, J. Myles, Why We Need a New Welfare State, Oxford 2002. 36 G. Esping-Andersen, he hree Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Princeton 1990. 34 The Welfare State in a State of Crisis? 161 he most widely used typology of social-protection systems is perhaps the aforementioned one, authored by Esping-Andersen37, which distinguishes three basic types of welfare state. he liberal model is characterized by: low and meanstested assistance, flat-rate benefits providing incentives to seek income from work, as well as the predominance of limited social-insurance plans. In terms of our analytical paradigm it means a priority of work as a criterion of access to benefits from common property, and by the same token a limitation of the latter. his is manifested in the fact that no explicit redistributive aim is given to the system. Entitlement rules are strict and oten associated with social stigma; benefits are limited and the State encourages market-based protection, both by providing only minimal assistance and by subsidizing private schemes. Contrary to the universalist social-democratic system, the liberal system favours (re)commodification. Ebbinghaus38 introduces a distinction between the liberal residualism of the USA and the liberal-universalist model characteristic of the UK. his distinction would make the UK an intermediate case between the pure liberal model and the universalist model of Scandinavia. Flora39 takes a broadly similar position. In turn, in the aforementioned social-democratic model, the social-protection system is universal, based on citizenship, promotes social equality, and implies decommodification and detachment from family; i.e. individuals can achieve a reasonably high standard of living without market participation and independently of family support. Such attributes as demarketisation and universalisation mean that this system is characterised by the widest-relative to the remaining welfare regimes-range of common property embodied in the welfare state. Lastly, the conservative-corporatist model is committed to preserving status and providing solidarity within rather than between social groups and therefore its redistributive function is more restricted than that in the social-democratic model. Welfare benefits are linked to activity and employment. he regime favours moderate decommodification and familiarization. Ebbinghaus40 has added a ‘Latin’ residual – welfare state cluster derived from the liberal cluster. he differences between Spain and Portugal, but also Italy and 37 Ibidem. B. Ebbinghaus, European Labor Relations and Welfare-State Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of their “Elective Affinities, Paper presented at the Conference on Varieties of Welfare Capitalism in Europe, North America, and Japan, Cologne 1998. 39 P. Flora, Introduction [in:] Growth to Limits: he Western European Welfare States since World War II, P. Flora (ed.), Berlin 1986. 40 B. Ebbinghaus, op.cit. 38 162 Jacek Tittenbrun France, and the continental welfare states are emphasized: fewer welfare state benefits, more traditional intermediary institutions such as Church and family. It is at this juncture that one should locate our own case. he social protection sector in Poland is built around the conservative continental European model, close to its ‘Latin subsidiarist’ subtype41. However, since the late 1990s Poland’s welfare state has been contracting in size. It is characterized by (lower-) moderate levels of social protection and public spending. Social expenditures are generally oriented towards pensions, disability benefits, and poverty alleviation, whereas other social services are of less significance. Finally, the Polish education sector is publicly funded and oriented towards general skills. It is characterized by a moderate degree of public expenditure on education, the bulk of which is allocated for primary and lower-secondary education. Other major characteristics of Poland’s educational system include: (lower-) moderate enrolment rates; weak vocational training; no importance of life-long learning and training; emphasis on basic skills and the quality of primary education; weak science and technical education; and weakly state-funded research and development activities”42. Ebbinghaus on the basis of empirical analysis resting on the structure of social expenditure distinguishes three or six groups of countries, which are broadly compatible with the typology of Esping-Andersen. According to this classification, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland epitomise the social-democratic welfare approach. Japan, Canada, and the USA exemplify a private social-protection system. Note that in the scheme under investigation the UK is not in the same group as the USA, breaking with the usual market-based clustering of countries. A distinct continental European public model of social protection emerges, encompassing France, Germany, Austria, and Belgium. On an axis that serves to measure the distance vis-à-vis the ideal social-democratic model Finland is the nearest country to this ideal model whereas Korea is the most distant from it. his axis opposes the social-democratic model to the Asian capitalism. “Continental European model could be considered as a toned-down version of the social-democratic model, i.e. with less extensive social protection, partly compensated for by more pronounced job protection. Going further in that direction, the Mediterranean model of capitalism compensates for narrower social protection with more prominent labour-market rigidity and employment protection”43. 41 B. Ebbinghaus, P. Manow (eds.), Comparing Welfare Capitalism: Social Policy and Political Economy in Europe, Japan and the USA, London 2001. 42 B. Hancké, M. Rhodes, M. hatcher (eds.), Beyond Varieties of Capitalism: conflict, contradictions and complementarities in the European economy, Oxford 2007. 43 B. Amable 2004, p. 175. The Welfare State in a State of Crisis? 163 Among factors contributing to the diversity of welfare systems one should also mention politics. “Partisan politics is significantly associated with some dimensions of the diversity of capitalism. he let–right axis seems to follow the social-democratic to market-based line. A higher proportion of let and let-libertarian votes would express a preference for fewer market-based mechanisms and a more universalist Welfare State”44. 5. Crisis or change? Diversity is not the only parameter of welfare systems that one must take into consideration. We believe that in the case of the welfare state a terminological shit would be most welcome – instead of over-using and abusing the notorious “crisis”, one could speak simply of change. In the domain of welfare systems, as in the area of social life in general, change – due to a host of economic, demographic, social, political and cultural developments – is in the longer run inevitable, but there is always a question of extent and rate of such transformations. Social-protection systems have evolved in recent years but compared to many other institutions present much more inertia. his is the case because of the multitude of interests involved in the stability of such systems; there are always strong social groups (socio-economic classes and/or estates-non-economic groups based on non-economic property relations that benefit from status quo and have therefore vested interests in it, seeking-oten with success the politicians’ support and thus creating distribution coalitions, to use Mancur Olson’s well-known term. All in all, “the past two decades have seen large shits in the welfare-budget structure, with the improvement of health coverage, the rise in pensions tied to the ageing of the population, and the rise in the share of unemployment benefits forced by rising unemployment. It follows that in most countries, despite a turn towards a more restrictive vision of solidarity which aims at linking benefits more closely to personal efforts to reduce the relevant risk, welfare expenditures have increased relative to GDP, most of the increase being related to the rise in health expenditures and pensions”45. his is a far cry from the doom and gloom image one can found in the crisis literature. his does not mean that the institution of the welfare state is not beset by serious problems, some of which have been mentioned above. Another issue is 44 45 Ibidem, p. 188. Ibidem, p. 153. 164 Jacek Tittenbrun the so-called dualisation, pitting lucky insiders-employees who have a job against the jobless, which in our theoretical terms could be couched as ownership of jobs, most oten than not expressing a collective, unionised ownership of labour power. his kind of labour power-market segmentation is at odds with core values of the welfare state, such as equality and equity and aggravates the unemployment problem, especially of the young. here are also problems of the viable structure of national pension systems, wherein the public vs. private issue is at the heart of concerns of both decision makers and beneficiaries themselves. 6. Concluding remarks To round off our discussion, an analysis of the issue of change vs. crisis pertaining to the welfare state overlaps that of socio-diversity displayed by the welfare systems under investigation. Most recently, the diversity of types of social policy system in Europe has been explored in the monumental studies edited by Scharpf and Schmidt46, which provide an account of the evolving economic context of EspingAndersen’s “liberal”, “conservative”, and “social democratic” worlds of welfare capitalism. Another researcher took up this comparative question in terms of two measures of aggregate spending adjusted to reflect levels of welfare dependency. One was a welfare state generosity ratio obtained by dividing total social spending by the percentage of the population aged sixty-five years and over plus the percentage of the civilian population who were unemployed. he other was a measure of real social expenditure per dependent obtained by multiplying the welfare state generosity ratio by real GDP per capita. Significantly, “most of the EU cutbacks were relatively small, and the decline in average generosity ratios was driven largely by major reductions in standards of provision in just two countries: the Netherlands and Sweden. Since these countries, along with New Zealand, had much the highest generosity ratios in the OECD in 1980, it seems more reasonable to suppose that what we are seeing here is part of a process of wider OECD convergence to the centre rather than a downward harmonization peculiar to the member states of the EU”47. he same author continues: “in 1980, the only groupings formally qualifying as distinctive in their pension expenditure profiles were the Europe of five and continental Western Europe. However, the Scandinavian grouping fails to match up to 46 F.W. Scharpf, V.A. Schmidt (eds.), Welfare and Work in the Open Economy, Vol. I: From Vulnerability to Competitiveness, Vol. II: Diverse Responses to Common Challenges, Oxford 2000. 47 F.G. Castles, he Future of the Welfare State: Crisis Myths and Crisis Realities, Oxford 2004. The Welfare State in a State of Crisis? 165 the criterion by only a relatively small margin. he pension systems of continental Western Europe tend to be designed along Bismarckian social insurance lines, while those of Scandinavia seek to combine modest earnings-related relativities with a flat-rate citizenship principle. In 1980, these different design principles appear to have had major implications for expenditure levels, with continental Western Europe consistently outspending the countries of Scandinavia. However, by 1998, the former grouping had become much more diverse in its spending patterns, while the Scandinavian pattern had become more distinct, with all these nations clustered tightly around the OECD age cash expenditure mean. […] In 1980, patterns of variation are extraordinarily distinct, with the Scandinavian, continental Western European, and Southern European families each clearly apparent and the commonalities of Northern Europe and the Europe of five no less clearly pronounced. […] the biggest aggregation with a clear identity is Northern Europe. At both the beginning of the period and the end, these countries were spending between 30 and 40 per cent of their welfare budgets on poverty alleviation and health. At the end of the period, they were consistently the countries with the highest levels of social expenditure and total outlays. hese are countries in which social spending and the reach of government are sufficient to cater to basic need, without thereby necessarily sacrificing the wider objectives of the welfare state falling within the ambit of social security and state services provision”48. He then refers to Korpi and Palme, who most recently pointed to a statistically significant tendency for let-wing governments to make fewer benefit cuts in sickness, industrial accident and unemployment benefits in the period 1975 – 95 than governments of other ideological leanings. Overall, “the convergence trend of recent decades has been accompanied by an overall moderate growth in social spending that, to some extent, has displaced other categories of public expenditure, and has, almost everywhere, established the welfare state sector as the primary focus of modern public policy”49. It is thus reasonable to offer the following qualified optimistic conclusion to the effect that “at the start of the second decade of the 21st century, the welfare state remains a central institution in modern capitalist societies, strongly supported in the countries hit by the crisis. However, it has undergone substantial changes over the last decade or so, in terms of functions and in terms of its capacity to provide an encompassing protection against key social risks”50. 48 49 50 Ibidem, pp. 87 – 91. Ibidem, p. 91. G. Bonoli, D. Natali, he Politics of the New Welfare State, Oxford 2012. 166 Jacek Tittenbrun REFERENCES Amable B., Barré R., Boyer R., Les Systèmes d’Innovation à l’Ére de la Globalisation, Paris 1997. Baldwin R.E., Krugman P., Agglomeration, Integration and Tax Harmonization, “Bulletin of the Centre for Economic Policy Research” 2001, No. 76/Spring, http:www.cepr.org/ pubs/dsp/dp2630. Bonoli G., David N., he Politics of the New Welfare State, Oxford 2012. Castles F.G., he Future of the Welfare State: Crisis Myths and Crisis Realities, Oxford 2004. Comité des Sages, For a Europe of Civic and Social Rights, Brussels 1996. 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(eds.), Comparing Welfare Capitalism: Social Policy and Political Economy in Europe, Japan and the USA, London 2001. Emerson M., What Model for Europe?, Boston 1988. Esping-Andersen G., he hree Worlds of Welfare Capitalism, Princeton 1990. European Commission, Industrial Relations in Europe, Official Publication Office of the European Communities, Luxemburg 2009. Ferrera M., Rhodes M., Recasting European Welfare States: An Introduction, “Western European Politics” 2000, No. 23. Ferrera M., he New Spatial Politics of Welfare in the EU [in:] Bonoli G., David N., he Politics of the New Welfare State, Oxford 2012. Flora P., Introduction [in:] Growth to Limits: he Western European Welfare States since World War II, P. Flora (ed.), Berlin 1986. Giddens A., Beyond Let and Right, Cambridge 1994. Grahl J., Teague P., Is the European Social Model Fragmenting?, “New Political Economy” 1997, No. 2, Vol. 3. The Welfare State in a State of Crisis? 167 Hancké B., Rhodes M., hatcher M. (eds.), Beyond Varieties of Capitalism: conflict, contradictions and complementarities in the European economy, Oxford 2007. Hantrais L., French Social Policy in the European Context, “Modern and Contemporary France” 1995, No. 3, Vol. 4. Hemerijck A., Manow P., he Experience of Negotiated Reforms in the Dutch and German Welfare States [in:] Comparing Welfare Capitalism: Social Policy and Political Economy in Europe, Japan and the USA, B. Ebbinghaus, P. Manow (eds.), London 2001. Jackson G., La Compétitivité et l’Égalitarisme Allemands et Japonais à l’Épreuve, “Critique Internationale” 2001, No. 8. Korpi W., Contentious Institutions: An Augmented Rational-Action Analysis of the Origins and Path Dependency of Welfare State Institutions in Western Countries, “Rationality and Society” 2001, No. 2, Vol. 13. Korpi W., Palme J., New Politics and Class Politics in the Context of Austerity and Globalization: Welfare State Regress in 18 Countries, 1975 – 95, “American Political Science Review” 2003, No. 3, Vol. 97. Korpi W., Power, Politics, and State Autonomy in the Development of Social Citizenship: Social Rights During Sickness in Eighteen OECD Countries Since 1930, “American Sociological Review” 1989, No. 2, Vol. 54. Korpi W., Welfare-State Regress in Western Europe: Politics, Institutions, Globalization, and Europeanization, “Annual Review of Sociology” 2003, No. 29. Laffan B., he European Union: A Distinctive Model of Internationalization?, “Journal of European Public Policy” 1998, No. 5. Leibfried S., Pierson P. (eds.), European Social Policy: Between Fragmentation and Integration, Washington 1995. Leibfried S., Pierson P., Semisovereign Welfare States: Social Policy in a Multitiered Europe [in:] European Social Policy: Between Fragmentation and Integration, S. Leibfried, P. Pierson (eds.), Washington 1995. Liebfried S. (ed.), Welfare State Futures, Cambridge 2001. Liebfried S., Towards a European Welfare State? [in:] New Perspectives on the Welfare State in Europe, C. Jones (ed.), London 1993. Martin A., What Does Globalization Have to Do With the Erosion of Welfare States? Sorting out the Issues, “ZeS-Arbeitspapier” 1997, No. 1. Pierson P., Irresistible Forces, Immovable Objects: Post-Industrial Welfare States Confront Permanent Austerity, “Journal of European Public Policy” 1998, No. 5. Pierson P., Skeptical Reflections on “Globalization” and the Welfare State, Paper presented at the International Conference on Socio-Economics, Montreal, July 1997. Pierson P., Smith M., Bourgeois Revolutions?, “Comparative Political Studies” 1993, No. 25. Pierson P., he New Politics of the Welfare State, “World Politics” 1996, No. 48. 168 Jacek Tittenbrun Scharpf F.W., Combating Unemployment in Continental Europe: Policy Options under Internationalization (RSC Policy Paper 3), Florence 1997. Scharpf F.W., Crisis and Choice in European Social Democracy, Ithaca, NY 1991. Scharpf F.W., Economic Changes, Vulnerabilities, and Institutional Capabilities [in:] Welfare and Work In the Open Economy, Vol. I: From Vulnerability to Competitiveness, F.W. Scharpf, V.A. Schmidt (eds.), Oxford 2000. Scharpf F.W., Economic Integration, Democracy and the Welfare state, “Journal of European Public Policy” 1997, No. 1, Vol. 4. Scharpf F.W., Games Real People Play: Actor-Centered Institutionalism in Policy Research, Boulder, CO 1997. Scharpf F.W., Governing in Europe, Oxford 2000. Scharpf F.W., Negative and Positive Integration in the Political Economy of European Welfare States [in:] Governance in the European Union, G. Marks et al. (eds.), London 1996. Scharpf F.W., Politische Immobilismus und ökonomische Krise. Aufsätze zu den politischen Restriktionen der Wirtschatspolitik in der Bundesrepublik, Königstein/Ts 1977. Scharpf F.W., Schmidt V.A. (eds.), Welfare and Work in the Open Economy, Vol. I: From Vulnerability to Competitiveness, Vol. II: Diverse Responses to Common Challenges, Oxford 2000. Scharpf F.W., he Joint-Decision Trap: Lessons from German Federalism and European Integration, “Public Administration” 1988, No. 66. Schmidt V.A., he Futures of European Capitalism, Oxford 2005. Schmidt V.A., Values and Discourse in the Politics of Welfare State Adjustment [in:] Welfare and Work in the Open Economy, Vol. 1: From Vulnerability to Competitiveness, F.W. Scharpf, V.A. Schmidt (eds.), Oxford 2000. Stokke O.S., Qualitative Comparative Analysis, Shaming, and International Regime Effectiveness, “Journal of Business Research” 2007, No 5, Vol. 60. Streeck W., Lean Production in the German Automobile Industry: A Test Case for Convergence heory [in:] National Diversity and Global Capitalism, S. Berger, R. Dore (eds.), Ithaca, NY 1996. Swank D., Funding the Welfare State: Globalization and the Taxation of Business in Advanced Market Economies, “Political Studies” 1998, No. 46. Swank D., Globalisation, Democratic Institutions and the Welfare State, Paper presented at the American Political Science Association National Meetings, Washington, DC, 30 August–3 September 2000. Swank D., Withering Welfare? Globalization, Political Economic Institutions, and Contemporary Welfare States [in:] States in the Global Economy: Bringing Domestic Institutions Back In, Linda Weiss (ed.), Cambridge 2002. The Welfare State in a State of Crisis? 169 Taylor-Gooby P. (ed.), New Risks, New Welfare: he Transformation of the European Welfare State, Oxford 2004. Taylor-Gooby P., he Silver Age of the Welfare State: Perspectives on Resilience, “Journal of Social Policy” 2002, No. 4, Vol. 31. Taylor-Gooby P., Sustaining Welfare in Hard Times: Who Will Foot the Bill?, “Journal of European Social Policy” 2001, No 2, Vol. 11. Tittenbrun J., Economy in Society. Economic Sociology Revisited, Cambridge 2011. Tittenbrun J., Ownership and Social Differentiation, Saarbrucken 2011. Tittenbrun J., Two Capitalisms [in:] Capitalism or Capitalisms?, J. Tittenbrun (ed.), Szczecin 2009. Trachtman J.P., International Regulatory Competition, Externalization, and Jurisdiction, “Harvard International Law Journal” 1993, No. 34. Verdun A., An “Asymmetrical” Economic and Monetary Union in the EU: Perceptions of Monetary Authorities and Social Partners, “Journal of European Integration” 1996, No. 1, Vol. 20. Verdun A., he Role of the Delors Committee in the Creation of EMU: An Epistemic Community?, “Journal of European Public Policy” 1999, No. 6. Vogel S.K., Freer Markets, More Rules: Regulatory Reform in Advanced Industrial Countries, Ithaca, NY 1996. Wade R., Globalization and its Limits: Reports of the Death of the National Economy are Greatly Exaggerated [in:] National Diversity and Global Capitalism, S. Berger, R. Dore (eds.), Ithaca, NY 1996. Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) ISSN 1230-266X Carl Marklund Södertörn University, Sweden WHY DO WE EXPECT MORE FROM POLITICS AT A TIME WHEN IT IS SUPPOSEDLY ABLE TO DO LESS? COMPARING INTERWAR CRISIS ECONOMICS AND POST-WAR WELFARE POLITICS1 ABSTRACT Looming crisis, public discontent with privatization, and widening inequalities are factors which have historically set the electorate in favour of social democratic welfare policies. Today, however, these concerns rather appear to support new right-wing populist countermovements, even in the traditionally progressive Nordic countries. his article asks why there is not more explicit support of progressive policies, despite the presence of socio-economic factors which would normally favour such a policy shit, at least not just yet. In response to this query, the article first analyses the comparisons between the present crisis and the crisis of the 1930s with regard to alleged political inertia. It then reinterprets the contemporary political consequences of crisis by revisiting three classical social theorists who took pains at analysing the political responses to the economic crisis of the 1930s: Karl Popper, Gunnar Myrdal, and Karl Polanyi. On the basis of this revisitation of these three classics, the article argues that the combined effects of distrust in politics and the persistence of admittedly rolled-back welfare systems mutes the progressive reform potential of the present crisis. 1 An earlier drat of this text was presented at the 41st IIS 2013, Uppsala University, 9 – 10 June 2013. he author gratefully acknowledges comments and criticism by Sven Eliaeson, Klaus Müller, Bjørn Schiermer, Larissa Titarenko, and Jörg Ton. Why Do We Expect More from Politics at a Time 171 Key words: crisis economics, welfare politics, open society, social engineering, double movement 1. Introduction In its ambition to combine economic growth with social security, the welfare state has been a central point of reference in Nordic politics for a long time. At its core, the welfare state is concerned with promoting social mobility, social equality, and democracy. Indeed, Nordic welfare policies have been closely associated with the aim of generating social change along certain progressive social values, both nationally and internationally2. As such, the welfare state remains an important element of Nordic self-identity3. he basic principle of the welfare state can be understood in terms of “unification of opposites”, in a sometimes paradoxical process of attempting to align growth with security, efficiency with equality, and innovation with stability4. In this understanding, there is no inherent opposition between competitiveness and care, between economic growth and social equality, and between productive investment and social expenditure. Rather, these elements are to support one another5. As most mainstream political parties in the Nordic countries, both let and right, embrace the idea of the progressive welfare state, it can also be characterized in terms of a unification of opposites in yet another sense. In Sweden, for example, the bourgeois parties have gradually adopted explicit welfare state policies and 2 C. Ingebritsen, Learning from Lilliput: Small States and EU Expansion, “Scandinavian Studies” 2004, No. 3, Vol. 76, pp. 369 – 384. 3 K. Musiał, Roots of the Scandinavian Model. Images of Progress in the Era of Modernisation, Baden Baden 2002; Welfare Citizenship and Welfare Nationalism, A.M. Suszycki (ed.), Helsinki 2011; Sverigebilder: Det nationellas betydelser i politik och vardag [Images of Sweden: he Importance of the National in Politics and Everyday Life], U. Lundberg, M. Tydén (eds.), Stockholm 2008; Images of Sweden, K. Almqvist, A. Linklater (eds.), Stockholm 2011. 4 C.A. Gemzell, Om politikens förvetenskapligande och vetenskapens politisering: Kring välfärdsstatens uppkomst i England [he Scientification of Politics and the Politicization of Science: On the Rise of the Welfare State in England], 3 vols, København 1989 – 1993; W. Korpi, J. Palme, he Paradox of Redistribution and Strategies of Equality: Welfare State Institutions, Inequality, and Poverty in the Western Countries [in:] Welfare States: Construction, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Vol. 3, Legitimation, Achievement and Integration, S. Liebfried, S. Mau (eds.), Cheltenham 2008, pp. 67 – 93. 5 J. Andersson, Mellan tillväxt och trygghet: Idéer om produktiv socialpolitik i socialdemokratisk socialpolitisk ideologi under eterkrigstiden [Between Growth and Security: Ideas on Productive Social Policy in Social Democratic Social Policy Ideology During the Post-War Years], Uppsala 2003; R.G. Wilkinson, K. Pickett, he Spirit Level – Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, London 2009. 172 Carl Marklund rhetorics during the 2000s, oten making positive references to concepts such as “the Nordic model” and “the welfare state” while usually avoiding the concept of “the Swedish model” for its social democratic connotations6. he electoral success of the bourgeois Alliance in 2006 and 2010, respectively, has oten been explained with reference to this welfare state-friendly profiling on the part of the bourgeois parties. Given its importance in everyday life as well as public debate, the “Nordic model” of welfare has evolved into a point of contention in most Nordic countries, not the least given future challenges posed by globalization, immigration, and demographic change7. As such, the concept of the welfare state plays an important role in the let-right divide which is present in all Nordic societies, perhaps more so in Sweden than elsewhere. Beyond the seemingly unanimous support for the welfare state across the political spectrum in this country, there is an ongoing struggle on the origins, content, and reach of the welfare state unfolding in Swedish public debate. Observers sympathetic with the labour movement and the Swedish Social Democratic Party (Swedish: Sveriges socialdemokratiska arbetareparti, SAP), presently in opposition, tend to locate the origins of the welfare state in working class mobilization and power struggle8. Opinion-makers associated with the governing bourgeois Alliance, by contrast, underline the role of consensus, cooperation, and democratic reforms in shaping the modern Swedish welfare state9. he SAP has responded to this attempt at “painting Sweden blue” by securing trade mark protection for the Nordic model10. 6 his contrasts with the rather vocal opposition of the bourgeois parties to social democratic welfare policies in the past, especially during the 1980s. M. Hilson, he Nordic Model: Scandinavia Since 1945, London 2008; C. Marklund, A Swedish Norden or a Nordic Sweden? Image Politics During the Cold War [in:] Communicating the North: Media Structures and Images in the Making of the Nordic Region, J. Harvard, P. Stadius (eds.), Farnham 2013. 7 G. Eriksson, Slaget om Norden [he Battle of Norden], “Svenska Dagbladet” 2012. 8 Social Policy and Economic Development in the Nordic Countries, O. Kangas, J. Palme (eds.), Basingstoke 2005; W. Korpi, he Power Resources Model [in:] he Welfare State Reader, C. Pierson, F.G. Castles (eds.), Cambridge 2006, pp. 76 – 87. 9 Global Utmaning, Shared Norms for the New Reality: he Nordic Way / World Economic Forum, Davos 2011, http://www.globalutmaning.se/wp-content/uploads/2011/01/Davos-he-nordic-wayfinal.pdf, 2011 [Access date: 23.08.2013]; A. Bergh, Den kapitalistiska välfärdsstaten [he Capitalist Welfare State], Stockholm 2009; J. Lindvall, B. Rothstein, Vägar till välstånd: Sambandet mellan demokrati och marknadsekonomi [Ways to Wealth: he Correlation Between Democracy and Market Economy], Stockholm 2010. 10 C. Lönegård, Propagandaministerns plan [he Plan of the Minister of Propaganda], “Fokus” 2011, http://www.fokus.se/2011/10/propagandaministerns-plan/ [Access date: 23.08.2013]; J. Söderström, Socialdemokraterna har fått den nordiska modellen varumärkesskyddad [he Social Democrats Have Gotten the Nordic Model Trade Mark Protected], “Aktuellt i politiken” 2012. Why Do We Expect More from Politics at a Time 173 Yet, these struggles over the “ownership” of the welfare state may present a moot point as the Nordic welfare states have undergone significant transformations during the past decades11. Whether this development is best regarded as the result of the spread of purposive neoliberalism or a reactive crisis-driven adaptation, which may be in part caused by structural problems of the welfare state itself, it is widely noted in Swedish public debate that “welfare state retrenchment” has taken place during the 2000s12. his shit is oten characterized by a host of diverse factors, such as the deregulation of financial markets, reduced public spending, reduction of progressive taxation, privatization of care and education, new labour legislation in the wake of EU harmonization, and the introduction of market incentives in the public sector through New Public Management, as well as growing urban unrest in response to social deprivation during summer 2013. While the relative economic and social performance of Nordic countries welfare states has been positively noted for example by he Economist, growing inequalities on a number of parameters signal a challenge to the future of the Nordic model13. It is debatable to what degree these highly complex changes can be attributed to the crisis management and structural adjustment of the successive bourgeois governments in 1991 – 1994 and 2006 and the social democratic governments in 1985 – 1991 and 1994 – 2006, respectively. Several of these developments can be traced back to the 1970s. Most of them can be detected internationally. Irrespectively of this however, it is clear that these transformations have had a considerable impact upon the traditional interrelation between progressive politics and basic security, between social policy and social equality as key characteristics of Swedish welfare state. Looming crisis, public discontent with privatization, and widening inequalities are factors which have historically set the electorate in favour of social 11 B. Greve, J. Kvist, Has the Nordic Welfare Model Been Transformed?, “Social Policy and Administration” 2011, No. 2, Vol. 45, pp. 146 – 160; P. Kettunen, K. Petersen (eds.) Beyond Welfare State Models: Transnational Historical Perspectives on Social Policy, Cheltenham 2011. 12 R. Clayton, J. Pontusson, Welfare-State Retrenchment Revisited: Entitlement Cuts, Public Sector Restructuring, and Inegalitarian Trends in Advanced Capitalist Societies, “World Politics” 1998, No. 1, Vol. 51, pp. 67 – 98; D. Swank, Globalisation, Domestic Politics, and Welfare State Retrenchment in Capitalist Democracies, “Social Policy and Society” 2005, No. 2, Vol. 4, pp. 183 – 195; W. Korpi, Welfarestate Regress in Western Europe: Politics, Institutions, Globalization, and Europeanization [in:] he Welfare State Reader, C. Pierson, F.G. Castles (eds.), Cambridge 2006, pp. 246 – 268. 13 he Economist, he Next Supermodel: Politicians from Both Right and Let Could Learn from the Nordic Countries, http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21571136-politicians-both-rightand-let-could-learn-nordic-countries-next-supermodel, 2013 [Access date: 23.08.2013]; OECD, Crisis squeezes income and puts pressure on inequality and poverty, http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/ OECD2013-Inequality-and-Poverty-8p.pdf, 2013 [Access date: 23.08.2013]. 174 Carl Marklund democratic policies. Admittedly, there is increased support for SAP in recent opinion polls14. Today, however, these concerns rather appear to support new right-wing populist counter-movements, such as for example the True Finns in Finland and Sweden Democrats in Sweden. It is therefore worth asking why there is not more explicit support of progressive policies, despite the presence of socio-economic factors which would normally favour such a policy shit, at least not just yet. Why are we not witnessing a Polanyian double-movement akin to that of the 1930s? his article argues that a possible explanation to this seemingly paradoxical situation may be found in an epistemological, rather than purely political conundrum. It first analyses the comparisons between the present crisis and the crisis of the 1930s with regard to alleged political inertia. It then reinterprets the contemporary political consequences of crisis by revisiting three classical social theorists who took pains at analysing the political responses to the economic crisis of the 1930s. First, we will turn towards Karl Popper’s concept of “the open society” and the laboratory metaphor (as a source of knowledge and civic epistemology). Second, we will look at Gunnar Myrdal’s “social engineering” metaphor (as a basis for political agency, scientific knowledge production, and social legitimacy). hird, we will return to Karl Polanyi’s concept of “double movement” and the “disembeddedness” metaphor (as source of popular mobilization). On the basis of this revisitation of these three classics, the article argues that the combined effects of distrust in politics and the persistence of admittedly rolled-back welfare systems mutes the progressive reform potential of the present crisis. 2. Interwar crisis economics and post-war welfare politics Today, it is oten assumed that a power shit has taken place over the past few decades – a shit away from politics and in favour of the market. According to this multifaceted view, a broad movement towards neo-liberalism has reduced the scope of “the political” from the 1970s and onwards, gradually limiting the exercise of public power in general and efforts at public planning in particular. Progressive politics, state autonomy, and visionary policies have allegedly been suppressed by a kind of “anti-politics” or “post-politics”, characterized by increasingly mediatized 14 Svensk Opinion, http://svenskopinion.nu/, 2013 [Access date: 23.08.2013]. Why Do We Expect More from Politics at a Time 175 policy-making, responsibility-avoidance and image-management, reducing politics to a minimum of mere administration15. he inability of progressive or social democratic parties to regain momentum has been explained as the result of democratic deficits in national policy-making in the wake of EU membership, the ideological victory of “neoliberalism”, and the emergence of perennial cleavages in the shape of the proverbial two-thirds society16. However, these developments could just as well have been expected to have generated critical responses, rekindling support for progressive politics. Some have suggested that the bourgeois parties have simply “snatched” the policies and votes away from a hapless social democracy which has failed to account for the perceived needs of the reasonably well-to-do majority17. Others hold that individualism and inegalitarian attitudes are on the spread, even within core support groups for social democracy18. It is certainly not the first time that democratic politics have been challenged by the combined pressures of faltering capitalism, widespread political self-doubt, and anti-democratic counter-movements. Several observers have commented upon the similarities between the present crisis – the so-called Great Recession – and the Great Depression of the 1930s19. Notably, the crisis of democracy in the 1930s was also triggered by economic unrest. But if the economic crisis of the present is oten compared with the depression of the interwar years, the contem15 Z. Bauman, In Search of Politics, Cambridge 1999; C. Mouffe, On the Political, London 2005; W. Korpi, J. Palme, New Politics and Class Politics in the Context of Austerity and Globalization [in:] Welfare States: Construction, Deconstruction, Reconstruction, Vol. 1, Analytical Approaches, S. Liebfried, S. Mau (eds.), Cheltenham 2008, pp. 399–420; T. Judt, Ill Fares the Land, London 2011; U. Bjereld, M. Demker, Den nödvändiga politiken: Makt och motstånd i en individualiserad tid [he Necessary Politics: Power and Resistance in an Age of Individualization], Stockholm 2011. 16 J. Lindvall, D. Rueda, he Insider-Outsider Dilemma, “British Journal of Political Science” 2013, http://users.ox.ac.uk/~polf0050/Lindvall%20Rueda%20BJPS.pdf [Access date: 23.08.2013]. 17 U. Lundberg, K. Petersen, Socialdemokratiet og velfærdsstaten i et nyt politisk landskab? Et essay om moderne velfærdspolitik [Social Democracy and the Welfare State in a New Political Landscape? An Essay on Modern Welfare Politics], “Arbejderhistorie” 2005, No. 4, pp. 6 – 26. 18 U. Beck, E. Beck-Gernsheim, Individualization: Institutionalized Individualism and Its Social and Political Consequences, London 2002; P. Norris, R. Inglehart, Cosmopolitan Communications: Cultural Diversity in a Globalized World, New York 2009; M. Dawson, Late Modernity, Individualization and Socialism: An Associational Critique of Neoliberalism, New York 2013. 19 N. Ferguson, he End of Prosperity, “Time Magazine” 2008, http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1846792,00.html [Access date: 23.08.2013]; N. Fraser, Can Societies Be Commodities All the Way Down? Polanyian Reflections on Capitalist Crisis, Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme, Working Paper Series, No 18, 2012 http://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/ docs/00/72/50/60/PDF/FMSH-WP-2012 – 18_Fraser2.pdf [Access date: 23.08.2013]; M. Mazower, he Great Reckoning: Why the European Ideal Is Under hreat, “he New Statesman” 2013, http://www. newstatesman.com/2013/04/great-reckoning [Access date: 23.08.2013]. 176 Carl Marklund porary political response appears quite different from the remarkable surge of economic interventionism, social planning, and welfare state policies of the 1930s as conducted by both authoritarian as well as democratic regimes worldwide. It has recently been suggested that this distinction is illusory, as conservative or liberal governments held sway while traditional neoclassic doctrines and policies enjoyed continued public support during at least the first three years of the Great Depression20. Indeed, Karl Polanyi made a similar observation in the 1940s, noting the persistence of the belief in automatic adjustment and hope for stabilization amid financial turmoil. Yet, as Polanyi also noted, these liberal policies proved largely incapable of handling the economic problems ater this initial period and lost public confidence, not only because of doctrinaire overconfidence in neoclassic economics and laissez-faire liberalism, but also due to the relative lack of practical knowledge about social conditions and policy instruments by which to address them21. More importantly, the political response of that day did not primarily concern the dysfunctional market or social misery per se, but was activated once the threats posed to the liberal state by the populist and totalitarian elements of the Polanyian double movement were set in motion. Eventually, this combination of economic inability and political fear did pave the way for diverse political responses, both in the form of totalitarian sentiments as well progressive interventionism and defensive welfare state policies, such as the popular fronts in some European countries, the class compromises of the Nordic countries, and the New Deal in the USA. Here, there is indeed a contrast with today: despite growing social inequality and widespread public protest and indignation, contemporary observers have commented upon this relative weakness of today’s crisis management. Political and social scientists oten locate the causes for this alleged inertia with either the dominance of the market, the hegemony of neoliberalism, anti-political or post-political paralysis, or the general diffusion of power in an increasingly globalized world. Have we then been thrown back into a state of laissez-faire liberalism that antedates the crisis policies and welfare state programs of the 1930s? Are we then adrit in this world without much possibility of addressing the common challenges ahead, as Walter Lippmann once remarked when commenting upon the tension between “drit and mastery” in US politics, almost a century ago22? 20 J. Lindvall, he Political Consequences of the Great Depression and the Great Recession: Remarkably Similar, “Swiss Political Science Review” 2012, No. 4, Vol. 18, pp. 514 – 517. 21 K. Polanyi, he Great Transformation: he Political and Economic Origins of Our Time, Boston 2001 [1944], pp. 21 – 32. 22 W. Lippmann, Drit and Mastery: An Attempt to Diagnose the Current Unrest, New York 1914. Why Do We Expect More from Politics at a Time 177 Various financial pacts, stimulus packages, and social investment programs would suggest otherwise. But in practice these measures rather resemble a new type of austerity policy along the trajectory of preceding welfare state retrenchment rather than any serious attempt at productive social policy, social investment or rejuvenation of public politics in the face of economic crisis. Bail outs, for example, frequently amounts to just another form of regulatory capture of the state by which various private economic interests may override public concerns. his further strengthens the impression that politics has been weakened, generating frustration and despair. Both anti-establishment critics as well as establishment politicians increasingly respond to this perceived political inertia by posing demands for increased accountability, auditing, and transparency on the part of both public and private power, in what appears a striking parallel to the rare political unity across let and right which emerged in the 1930s on the necessity of controlling the economy23. hen, however, “planning” was the call to arms. Today, by contrast, “openness” is gradually evolving into a key instrument towards fulfilling the social and political functions once assigned to planning and regulation in democratizing and effectivizing economy as well as politics. his may simply be a compensatory move, directing the focus away from the product of politics to the process of politics, although recent revelations such as the United States diplomatic cables leak, WikiLeaks, ACTA/SOPA/PIPA, PRISM, and now, most recently, the 2013 mass surveillance disclosures, certainly warrants the relevance of these demands. But there is also an intriguing paradox emerging here: the demand for accountability of politics in controlling the present is apparently on the rise, while the belief in the capacity of politics (and science) to control the future is said to be in decline. In other words, public power is still held accountable as if it still possessed the power which it is by now said to have lost. Politics is still to achieve results as if it would be possible to exercise public power without reverting to the use of either paternalism or planning, raising the question: Why do we expect more from politics at a time when it is supposedly able to do less? How does this mismatch between expectations and hopes relate to the perceptible weakness of contemporary welfare politics, despite economic crisis? A return to the analysis of the political consequences of the 1930s economic crisis may prove instructive here. 23 M. Power, he Audit Society: Rituals of Verification, Oxford 1997; C. Pollitt, G. Bouckaert, Public Management Reform: A Comparative Analysis: New Public Management, Governance, and the Neo-Weberian State, Oxford 2011. 178 Carl Marklund 3. The open society At the close of the Second World War the consequences of economic and political crisis of the interwar years could be summarized. Although the world war had shown both the emancipatory potential as well as pathological power of scientific planning, it also prompted a discussion on whether planning as a mode of governance was desirable or even feasible under any other conditions than extreme danger, such as war or revolution. Austrian economists such as Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek famously argued that purposive planning requires not only omnipotence on the part of the planner, which is undesirable, but also omniscience, which is impossible. he resulting mismatch between power and knowledge would force any society that attempted to plan and control the market forces onto he Road to Serfdom, Hayek argued24. Fellow Austrian Karl Popper reached a somewhat different conclusion. In his Open Society and Its Enemies, Popper launched the metaphor of the “Open Society” to conceptualize the ideal combination of democratic legitimacy with scientific efficiency, bridging the gap between power and knowledge as identified by Hayek. By virtue of becoming more „open” – i.e., more accessible for public scrutiny – society as a whole as well as those organizations and institutions that operates within it will become more accountable, more moral, less corrupt, and more efficient. If only information asymmetries can be reduced, a communicative, rational, and responsible relationship will stand a better chance to evolve between the governed and the governors, between the producers and the consumers, and between knowledge and power. In the open society, the level of public trust in institutions and processes would stand in a direct correlation to the degree of openness. If people trust public institutions, they may also maintain a stronger belief in politics and collective solutions to common problems, resulting in a more robust and more evidence-based policy-making25. In order for the open society to work in this way, the open society requires that there is a minimum of official censorship of “untrue” and “false” statements. Openness itself is supposed to function as an unofficial censor, where debate and exchange will sort out “bad information”, entirely in line with Popper’s accumulative view on the growth and unity of scientific knowledge. he open flow of informa24 L. von Mises, Omnipotent Government: he Rise of the Total State and Total War, New Haven 1944; L. von Mises, Planning for Freedom, South Holland 1952; F. von Hayek, he Road to Serfdom, London 1944. 25 K. Popper, he Open Society and Its Enemies, Vol. 1, he spell of Plato, London 1945 [1971]. Why Do We Expect More from Politics at a Time 179 tion and opinion provides citizens, politicians, and scientists with the best opportunity to judge for themselves the credibility of various statements, to test hypotheses, and to reverse the course of action when things are amiss26. In this sense, the operation of the open society resembles the experimentation undertaken in a scientific laboratory – „piecemeal social engineering” as Popper called it, in distinction from “utopian social engineering” which follows from ideological blueprints rather than falsifiable scientific facts. Piecemeal social engineering is just one among the many tools available to the citizens of an “Open Society”, and as such always subjected to criticism and possible to reverse if proven either faulty or lacking in popular support27. However, yet another condition which is less oten noted in the generally supportive literature on the Popperian theory on openness had to be met, too. In order for the open society to work as outlined above, it would also have to rely upon US Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis’ famous reasoning that while people may fear disclosure by itself, they will only behave correctly as long as they also genuinely fear broad public disapproval as a consequence of being disclosed. Without disapproval, Brandeis noted, fully in line with the sociological jurisprudence developed within American legal realism, disclosure remains largely an empty threat28. here is thus a kind of duality in Popper’s vision of the open society which may not have been so apparent in the 1930s and 1940s when this idea was originally formulated, but quickly springs to mind in today’s highly attention-sensitive and mediatized public sphere: On the one hand, it ensures innovation due to the freedom of thought – possibly based in free-thinking private dissensus – in the laboratory of ideas. On the other hand, it requires that public disapproval – preferably based in public consensus – shall constantly check and, if necessary, punish what is going on in the laboratory of ideas so that it does not get out of hand. Put differently, the open society metaphor seems bypass or gloss over the paradox between the right of the individual to do and say whatever he/she might like and the duty of the individual to toe the line of what is publicly acceptable. he discursive power and political attraction of the idea of the open society in no little part rests with this benign promise of exacting improved behaviour, not only without threatening 26 C. Marklund, Open Skies, Open Minds? Shiting Concepts of Communication and Information in Swedish Public Debate [in:] The Promise of Openness Cultures and Paradoxes, N. Götz, C. Marklund (eds.), Leiden forthcoming 2014. 27 K. Popper, he Open Society…, op.cit., p. 158; K. Popper, he Poverty of Historicism, New York 1964 [1957], p. 42. 28 L. Brandeis, Other People’s Money – and How Bankers Use It, New York 1967 [1914]. 180 Carl Marklund either tolerance, freedom (such as free speech, free market, and free movement), or equality (of ethnicity, sex, and class) but exactly through guaranteeing these core liberal values. here are thus two quite distinct, but quite possibly equally utopian ideals embedded in the vision of the open society – the utopia of seeing and the utopia of knowing, bridging the classical divide between facts and values. Possibly one could term this “the utopia of pure communication” and “the utopia of true information”, respectively. But seeing is just one step towards knowing. How are we to know that what we see is correct? For the public disapproval to be fair, reasonable, and somewhat controlled for bias, it requires that we have access to some set of norms, standards, and values by which to evaluate the information made visible in the transparent open society. Without norms and standards we are at loss how to evaluate for example injustice and inequality, just as well as merit or entitlement29. he open society can thus not reproduce itself without relying upon some set of norms for evaluating both facts and values. As such, norms and standards may also work as tools of oppression, of uniformity, and of conformism, turning against the values of diversity, pluralism, multiculturalism, individualism, and relativism that the open society is to embrace and defend. To what degree can then the ideal of the open society deliver upon its promise to defend the values of universalism and combat social ills without succumbing to either paternalism or value nihilism? And to what extent can the open society actually assist those in most need in democratic society? 4. Social engineering When grappling with the social situation of African-Americans in the US during the 1940s, Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal came upon this critical question, which he sought to navigate by suggesting that “valuations” as actually held in society work as social facts. Myrdal considered himself thus able to bridge the epistemological gap between social facts and social values, or rather, in the case of his work on US blacks, the glaring contrast between the social values held in esteem 29 C. Marklund, From Promise to Compromise: Nordic Openness in a World of Global Transparency [in:] he Promise of Openness Cultures and Paradoxes, N. Götz, C. Marklund (eds.), Leiden forthcoming 2014. Why Do We Expect More from Politics at a Time 181 by the majority white population of the US (which he called the “American Creed”) and the pressing social situation of racial discrimination in war-time America30. In his 1944 An American Dilemma, Myrdal would use this insight – largely derived from a reading of Max Weber, as Sven Eliaeson has shown – in turning the longstanding debate among US social scientists on the tension between “pure science” and “dirty politics” and between objectivism and social purpose in social science31. Here, Myrdal strongly objected to the more radical forms of “objectivism” that had developed within American academia as a response to professionalization of the social sciences and the dependence on private foundations for research funds. he objectivists declined from applying their findings in political and social action, in contrast to earlier generations of socially engaged and oten religiously motivated American social scientists. In Myrdal’s critical account, these objectivists held that first “all the facts must be in” if not the objectivity and the scientific status of social science should be compromised. Myrdal, for his part, viewed this resorting to some future omniscience as superstitious utopianism, since all the facts will never be in as he noted in a methodological appendix to his magnum opus. Instead, Myrdal provided a defence for a kind of limited or bounded objectivism, based on a both moral and ontological argument in favour of “social engineering”, remarkably similar to Popper’s simultaneous formulation of piecemeal social engineering32. But there are important differences between the two. While Popper’s concept of the open society had rested upon a paradoxical combination of the belief in accumulated scientific knowledge and institutionalized distrust which is to check the piecemeal social engineering underway in the experimental laboratory that is the open society, Myrdal’s notion of “constructive” social engineering was grounded in a basic acknowledgement that every form of social, political or economic organization (including laissez faire liberalism) has social and hence political effects, regardless of whether this organization is being thought of as natural and neutral or whether it is explicitly ideological or political. Human action and opinions have social effects and political consequences, Myrdal held, no matter what. hese consequences and their relationship to various social values can be studied 30 G. Myrdal, An American Dilemma: he Negro Problem and Modern Democracy, New Brunswick 1996 [1944]. 31 S. Eliaeson, Gunnar Myrdal som en Weberiansk offentlig intellektuell: Arvet eter Max Weber [Gunnar Myrdal as a Weberian Public Intellectual: he Heritage of Max Weber], “Statsvetenskaplig Tidskrit” 2009, No. 3, Vol. 111, pp. 215 – 237. 32 G. Myrdal, op.cit., p. 1044. 182 Carl Marklund scientifically and should be assessed with regard to whether they correspond or contrast with widely held and commonly accepted values. he discrepancy between facts and values thus provided the foundation for Myrdal’s notion of social engineering, rather than any reference to the absolute objectivity of science which the metaphor of social engineering may at first hand seem to suggest, a notion Myrdal had held in the early 1930s but come to reject at the time of writing An American Dilemma in the early 1940s. For Myrdal, then, the concrete relationship between facts and values and the sense of a growing discrepancy between widely held social ideals and recurring crisis or structural limitations that prevent individual people from attaining their ideals, worked as a powerful call to action to combat social ills on the basis of social science knowledge and planning politics. 5. The double movement “Never let a serious crisis go to waste,” President Obama’s 2009 – 2010 Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel, famously quipped in 2008 as the bank crash hit America’s homeowners and small savers33. Crisis, risks, and various threats to perceived security “needs” are indeed powerful instruments for political agency and popular mobilization. Despite the many similarities between the economic and political crisis of today and the depression of the interwar years, returning to and rereading an analysts of the political as well as social effects of the latter crisis – Karl Polanyi. Polanyi provided an original interpretation of the political response to crisis. He saw New Dealism, Nordic class compromises, as well as corporatist and fascist policies in Central Europe and Latin America simply as different expressions of the same kind of “double movement”34. his double movement had been released in response to the perceived “disembedding” of the market from the society, in a defence of society against the social consequences and economic imbalances resulting from accelerating financial capitalism35. hree key elements of the double movement of the 1930s may explain the difference between today’s perceived political inertia and the political intervention33 R. Emanuel quoted in G.F. Seib, In Crisis, Opportunity for Obama, “he Wall Street Journal” 2008, http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122721278056345271.html [Access date: 23.08.2013]. 34 K. Polanyi, op.cit., pp. 136, 151, 156; F. Block, Polanyi’s Double Movement and the Reconstruction of Critical heory, “Revue Interventions économiques” 2008, http://interventionseconomiques. revues.org/274 [Access date: 23.08.2013]. 35 K. Polanyi, op.cit., p. 60. Why Do We Expect More from Politics at a Time 183 ism of the interwar years: First, the class compromises of the Nordic bourgeoning welfare states and New Dealism in the US could be enacted in a world market which largely lacked the far-reaching regulation which characterizes today’s supposedly “deregulated” global market. Ater the gradual dissolution of the gold standard during the 1930s, these national programs of recovery were not coordinated with the regulatory system of an international organizations such as the IMF, WTO, GATT, the World Bank, or any more powerful regional trading-blocks, even if the colonial empires naturally structured much of global trade until decolonization. here was, in other words, either a broader latitude for national economic policy than today, or, alternatively, less room for manoeuvre for global economic policy than today36. Second, despite industrialization, modernization, and urbanization, fewer people were dependent upon the global market and mass consumption than today. More people could step out of consumer society into various forms of subsistence economy. Nevertheless, the 1930s crisis hit so hard that it provided the basis for populist and totalitarian protests in most parts of the industrialized world. he very absence of a welfare state (except for some early beginnings in certain countries in Latin America, Oceania, and a few US states in the Midwest, alongside some insurance schemes in Central Europe and Scandinavia) meant that these social effects were soon felt and translated into middle-class and working-class social protest which turned both against the rich as well as the poor (as competitors for scarce resources), resulting in an explosive social situation, ripe for political exploitation. hirdly, there were two vocal, violent, and totalitarian revolutionary movements turning against not only capitalism, but also liberal democracy. he common fear of fascism and communism pushed defenders of liberal democracy from both let and right into the same fold, creating the founding rationale for the remarkably successful progressive compromises37. As such, this fear provided a sustainable platform for pragmatic cooperation in the interest of collective agency in the face of crisis, in Great Britain, in the USA, in the Nordic countries, in Oceania, and in some Latin American countries (although democracy was seriously curtailed in Peronist Argentina, unlike Uruguay)38. his fear of the totalitarian side of the Polanyian double movement contributed not only to the progressive politics of the 36 K. Polanyi, op.cit., pp. 26 – 27, 275. P. Wagner, C.H. Weiss, B. Wittrock, H. Wollmann (eds.), Social Sciences and Modern States: National Experiences and heoretical Crossroads, Cambridge 1991. 38 K. Polanyi, op.cit., pp. 211, 237. 37 184 Carl Marklund interwar years, but provided the Fordist economies of Western Europe and the corporatist welfare states of Central and Northern Europe with a powerful raison d’être throughout the Cold War years. “But”, as Mark Mazower has recently asked rhetorically, “what would happen when no one feared communism any longer and took the stability of parliamentary democracy for granted?”39. 6. Conclusion Today, the three factors that Polanyi pinpointed in his analysis look fundamentally different. Nowadays, the global market is thoroughly regulated in a way that does not allow for much of local experimentation or spendthrit national recovery programs, lest country credit ratings would fall. In contrast to popular belief, the global market is more “regulated” today, perhaps paradoxically, but fully logically so in order to be more “free”. Today, fewer groups could or would willingly place themselves outside of the consumer and labour market, seeking instead to play by its rules as far as it goes. Today, the most widely publicized protest movements – alter-globalization activism, right-wing extremism, and Islamic fundamentalism – have not gained the political clout of their precursors in the 1930s parallel, at least not yet. It thus seems fair to say that the empirical similarities between the 1930s and today’s crisis should not be overdrawn. In particular, given the possibility that the economic crisis of the 1930s may have been “more severe”, economically and socially speaking, to the extent that human values and consumption patterns of the present cannot at all be compared with those of the past. It may simply be that the contemporary crisis is not “bad enough” and that risks are not “high enough”, at least not just yet. But if this is so, there is also a very concrete explanation for why the crisis may not appear as severe which did not exist or only partially existed in the 1930s, namely the welfare state itself. While the welfare state according to many observers has been rolled back and transformed over the past decades, the basic system of social rights, social protection, and economic redistribution persists. Whether this amounts to a “hostile take-over” of the welfare state by neoliberal political entrepreneurs that has curtailed the progressive social policy agenda of the Nordic model or not, the basic function of the welfare state in providing social protection continues. In the Nordic countries in general and in Sweden more specifically, this 39 M. Mazower, op.cit. Why Do We Expect More from Politics at a Time 185 duality of the welfare state has driven in a wedge between groups traditionally in favour of an ambitious and socially progressive welfare state policy, between the needs of the employed, well-off, but overworked middle-class voters and the needs of the unemployed, sick, and marginalized members of society. Notably, the crisis of the 1930s fused the concerns of these two groups. In today’s political landscape, they tend to diverge, by contrast. But there is an important epistemological difference as well, providing a partial explanation for why the economic crisis of today does not as directly translate into political reform or planning euphoria as it did during the 1930s. Unlike in the past, contemporary public debate appears fundamentally sceptical of both science and politics. In the 1930s, science promised an escape from the inability of democratic politics in grappling with economic and social crisis. Today, however, the legitimacy of science (whose science?) does not appear to stretch much further than supporting the accountability and transparency discourse, which promises the same objective and neutral standards of rationality as once planning did. Hence, we are much less likely to accept the practice of more check, control, and planning of the economy than there may be political support for this idea as a knee-jerk response to “free market chaos”. Despite these differences, the comparative and interpretative outlook to the 1930s pinpoints some ways in which we can nevertheless learn from how these scholars tackled the need to rejuvenate civic epistemology as well as democratic policy-making at a time of economic crisis set in a situation of fierce conflict between crypto-ideologicized economics (laissez-faire liberalism) on the one hand and hyper-ideologicized politics (totalitarianism) on the other. here is a clear correspondence between Popper’s argumentation for the open society in solving the tension between facts and values in a seemingly harmonious way, to the eager adaptation of transparency, openness, and accountability among critics and elites alike today. But the piecemeal social engineering of today appears more like a highly mediatized and scripted, yet inconsequential process of post-political “muddling through” than anything like the evidence-based policy-making that Popper’s open society was supposed to further. It appears as if the Myrdalian step has been taken out of the equation: openness and transparency are now to fulfil the roles once assigned to planning and regulation in ensuring effective and legitimate governance in the face of crisis. Contemporary transparency discourses promise non-paternalistic, non-intrusive, and nonauthoritarian forms of self-regulation and adaptation, that can be just as easily spoken by proponents of neoliberalism as progressive radicals, but do not provide much in terms of long-range responsibility or political guidance in view of future 186 Carl Marklund challenges. In this sense, our politics rather resembles Lippmann’s notion of “driting” government than any meaningful notion of “mastery”. It may therefore be understood as a kind of “disorganized technocracy”, possibly characteristic of the “post-political” condition discussed briefly above. Returning to Polanyi, it is well worth noting that the present risk of politics being imperfectly “disembedded” from society presents just as severe a social consequences as the economy being “disembedded” from society in the past. he distrust in politics is being compensated by the frequent reiteration of a set of values that signal commitment, responsibility, and concern on the part of the powers that be, a rhetoric which relies on a vast array of good concepts, such as social capital, social investment, sustainable growth, and stakeholders’ participation to communicate its promise of non-intrusive, yet efficient governance. We pretend that contemporary politics could engender change if it only had the public mandate to do so. In the meantime, we continue to speak of politics as if it had the power we at the same time doubt it has. But do we really want to hand it this power? Have we not already willingly exchanged the desire for “absolute politics” in Alessandro Pizzorno’s sense of the term by reducing politics to a question of mere administration, a process which is to be carefully controlled with the help of media and science, but where the product is of little import40? If so, it is in a sense a form of “organized hypocrisy” which assesses politics as if it had the public mandate to enact change, which it in fact does not. Revisiting the works of Popper, Myrdal, and Polanyi – themselves working at a time when democratic politics appeared to have been eclipsed by chaotic capitalism and threatened by populism and totalitarianism – can provide fresh insights into the origins of as well as possible escapes from the contemporary paradox of politics being held accountable for very much and yet being counted for very little. REFERENCES Almqvist K., Linklater A. (eds.), Images of Sweden, Stockholm 2011. 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(eds.), Social Sciences and Modern States: National Experiences and heoretical Crossroads, Cambridge 1991. Wilkinson R.G., Pickett K., he Spirit Level – Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better, London 2009. Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) ISSN 1230-266X Georgios Michalopoulos University of Oxford, United Kingdom “I COULDN’T WAIT TO GET AWAY FROM MY VILLAGE”: RE-EXAMINING CHILDTOWNS IN POSTWAR GREECE1 ABSTRACT Dozens of thousands Greek children lived in the childtowns in the 1940 and 1950s. Although this experience had profound consequences to their lives, there is to this day no serious study of what exactly was the impact of the childtowns on the children’s values and way of life. I interviewed four children and asked them about the differences between the childtowns and their villages. he key finding is that most children first came in touch with – and chose to accept – a modern and urban way of life in the childtowns. his suggests that despite the objections about the ideological motivations and use of the childtowns, these insitutions had a profound impact on Modern Greek cultural identity. 1 he quote at the title is from Ioannis Galanis (July 9, 2013). Many people offered help and support in writing this article. First, I would like to thank Piotr Cichocki and Mariusz Baranowski for their encouragement and support. My father, Dimitris, helped in many ways, which are beyond the gratitude that can be expressed in academic acknowledgements. Stefanos Kavalierakis made valuable suggestions about the bibliography, answered many of my questions and commented on a drat. Kostas Karagiannakidis, Zoe Lekofridi and Tasoula Vervenioti helped me generously, when I was still unfamiliar with the world of Greek childtowns. I am also grateful to the staff of the Gennadius Library and especially of the University Club of Athens for their hospitality during the two months of research: Michalis Bereris and Marios Kassotakis offered as always invaluable help and support. I am also indebted to Victoria Donovan for introducing me to the historical debate on modernity and urbanization and also to oral history. Finally, I would like to thank my informants for their enthusiasm and trust. 192 Georgios Michalopoulos Key words: Greek orphanage, childtown, Queen Freideriki, Greek Civil War I argue here that the childtowns (or παιδοπόλεις in Greek) – the network of orphanages set up during the Greek Civil War – made possible the transition of thousands of children from a rural to an urban environment. he children were exposed to a radically new way of life: they learned to wear shoes, use toilets, and play basketball, but more importantly they came to see this new way of life not simply as different but as superior to life in the village. In the villages, the children were badly fed, had their health problems dealt with quackeries, and oten had to work as manual labourers – in their parents’ farms or in public works – from a young age; it is no wonder, then, that they felt gratitude for what the childtowns offered them, and most soon came to see their peasant past as something gone forever. his transition of the children contributed to the disappearance of habits, customs and traditions, which had survived in the Greek countryside at least since the Ottoman times and their replacement by middle class values such as consumerism, education, and health care provided by professional doctors. Unfortunately, the historiography on the childtowns has paid little attention to the transition from a rural to an urban way of life. Greek historians have instead focused on the indoctrination of the children in the Cold War anticommunist ideology of Greek conservatism, and on the way monarchist propaganda used the childtowns to legitimate its role in the Greek society – Queen Freideriki in particular, sought in the childtowns the means to restore the prestige that the Greek royal family had lost ater their escape from Greece in 1941. Tellingly, the historian Tasoula Vervenioti admits that most of her informants described their time at the childtowns as “the best years of their lives”, but quickly passes over this information to insist that what is really important about the childtowns was that they “aimed to reform and educate the children according to their beliefs”. Unfortunately, Vervenioti never explains who exactly are “they”, what their beliefs were, and how successful they were in indoctrinating the children. Similarly, Lars Bærentzen accepts at face value the right wing propaganda that the childtowns were set up to save the children from communism and examines them in comparison with the communist practice of evacuating Greek children to communist countries; as a result, he never turns to the actual experience of the children at the childtowns. A recent book by Loring Danforth and Riki van Boeschoten, despite providing the most detailed account of the childtowns we have to this day, suffers from a similar focus on ideology and propaganda. As a result, although the research now available “I Couldn’t Wait to Get away from My Village” 193 gives a good account of how the childtowns were set up, as well as of the official rhetoric of the Greek state, it ignores the wider social context in which the childtowns appeared. Incidentally, the one exception to this rule is the work of the PhD student Nikos Karagiannakidis, who has indeed moved beyond the partisan approach to the childtowns, but a critical appreciation of his work will have to wait until its completion2. Indeed, Vervenioti, Danforth, and Boeschoten exaggerate the importance of official anticommunism. First, anticommunism did not feature in the childtowns more than it did in other contemporary Greek institutions, for instance, schools, the church, and the army. Second, it overemphasizes the ideological character of the childtowns. It is of course self-evident that –similarly to all other state institutions – the childtowns abided to anticommunism, which in the late 1940s was becoming the official state ideology. here was nothing special regarding the childtowns: anticommunist speeches were taking place all over Greece, and all the children I interviewed reported emphatically that the instances of anticommunist ideology were few, that they paid little attention to them at the time, and that in any case they had little impact on their own thinking and ideology. For instance, Ioannis Galanis, son of a peasant exiled for his alleged membership in the Greek Communist Party, reported that far from becoming a right wing anticommunist, he voted for the George Papandreou’s Centre Party, and later for Andreas Papandreou’s PASOK, the very party that ended the supremacy of the anticommunist Right in 19813. By emphasizing the role of the royal family and especially of Queen Freideriki in the childtowns, Greek historians have accepted at face value the claims of Greek monarchy that it was instrumental in bringing about and developing the childtowns. he reality, however, was more complex: in order to set up the towns the cooperation of many state institutions was necessary, especially of the Church and the Army. Freideriki appeared oten to be photographed with the children, and at 2 T. Vervenioti, he Children of the Greek Civil War. Saved or Kidnapped?, “Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Studia Territorialia” 2010, No. 1, pp. 117 – 136, my italics; L. Bærentzen, he ‘Paidomazoma’ and the Queen’s Camps (in Greek) [in:] Studies in the History of the Greek Civil War: 1945 – 49, L. Bærentzen, J. Iatrides, O. Smith (eds.), Copenhagen 1987, pp. 137 – 164, see especially pp. 137 – 138; L. Danforth, R. van Boeschoten, Children of the Greek Civil War: Refugees and the Politics of Memory, Chicago 2012; An unpublished chapter (Childtown ‘Agios Georgios’ at Kavalla: its foundation and first year of operation: September 1947–September 1948) of N. Karagiannakidis’s PhD can be found at his page at academia.edu: http://tinyurl.com/kkyp6jd. See also G. Margaritis, History of the Greek Civil War: 1946 – 49, Athens 2001, Vol. II, pp. 605 – 614. 3 E. Gazi, Fatherland, Religion, Family: the History of a Slogan: 1880 – 1930 (in Greek), Athens 2011, pp. 310 – 321; G. Voulgaris, Greece from the Metapolitefsi to Globalization (in Greek), Athens 2009, p. 16. 194 Georgios Michalopoulos times to grant them personal favours and to adopt some children as her protégés (and indeed among these children one can find to this day her staunchest supporters), but her role in the actual management of the childtowns was negligible. In short, Greek historiography has seen the childtowns as part of the saga of a divided postwar Greece, where the Right had captured the state and imposed restrictions on the Let. his discourse of course contains seeds of truth, but it also contains the danger of converting the study of childtowns into another area of sterile conflict between Let and Right, and of entering a partisan debate about which side committed more atrocities; to my mind, anticommunism is only of secondary importance when dealing with an institution that transformed for good the lives of dozens of thousands children determining their education, professional future and values4. Finally, the focus on anticommunism underestimates the extent to which the childtowns were necessary for postwar Greece. Far from being set up to serve the ambitions of Greek royalty, childtowns responded to real social needs – it is hardly a coincidence that similar childtowns appeared all over Europe ater World War II. Had the childtowns not been set up, some children would have been accommodated to the few already existing orphanages, but most would have been doomed to a miserable existence or premature death in the Greek provinces. In this respect, my view could not be further from that of Vervenioti who claims that “‘the protection’ offered by the combatants [to the children]… was out of touch with the social needs. It rather served their own political aims and aspirations”5. he life of the four childtown inmates I interviewed previously to their arrival to the childtown shows that the choice to join the childtown was not ideological. First, Ioannis Galanis (b. 1938). He was from Marathia, a mountainous village in central Greece. His village was under the control of the communist guerrillas already since the German occupation, but in April 1948, the – royalist – Hellenic Army entered the village and reprisals started. he soldiers arrested his communist uncle, humiliated him in the village square, and executed him by throwing him from a mountain top. His mother was beaten up and his father exiled to the island of Giaros until 1953 under the accusation of being a communist. Galanis’s life in the village was harsh; he was expectedly impressed when he first heard of the childtowns from three children from his village who had been to the childtown of 4 Cf. Queen Frederica of the Hellenes [=Freideriki], Measure of understanding, London 1971; L. Danforth, R. Boeschoten, op.cit., pp. 85 – 87. 5 T. Vervenioti, Abducting and/or Saving Children (in Greek) [in:] History of 20th Century Greece: Reconstruction, Civil War, Restoration, Vol. IV:2, C. Chatziiosif (ed.), Athens 2009, pp. 83 – 107, here 84. “I Couldn’t Wait to Get away from My Village” 195 Larisa. He joined a childtown in 1949, ater producing a document arguing that his family lacked the means to sustain him – luckily for him, his father was away at the time: the father disapproved of his son’s decision and would later call him a “janissary”, i.e. a traitor. But Galanis remembers that his sole motivation for leaving the village was bad health, undernourishment, and poverty. Indeed, Galanis was the one among my informants who had the hardest time before arriving to the childtowns: I was working at the threshing floor. I had to make the horses go round and round. I let the work unfinished [due to exhaustion]… I had chronic malaria, I had a temperature of 42 Celsius. I went back home, I had hallucinations, I could see fairies sing… My mother was crying, ater two or three hours my temperature went down… he man who owned the threshing floor… had promised me food… and he brought me bean soup. But when he saw the state I was in he let it [and went home]. Ater two-three hours I recovered and ate the bean soup. Tellingly, his mother had to borrow the thermometer from a neighbour. Galanis also worked in the construction of a street near his village to buy his first pair of shoes; school had stopped operating while the village was under the communists, because the teacher was a conservative; and his malaria was never treated by a doctor6. Second, Patra Chatziangelou (née Tsakiri). She was born in 1938 in Komotini, spent her childhood in Maroneia, a village not far from the Greek-Turkish frontier. Her father died when she was only four years old, in 1942, from an injury in the Greek Italian War of 1940 – 41; six months later, her mother died too. Her village was destroyed during the Greek Civil War, in August 1947. She let the village with her maternal grandmother and settled in Komotini. here, her family decided to send her to the childtown of Kavalla in July 19487. hird, Antonis Venetis (b.1944). He came from the village Lias, near the GreekAlbanian frontier. he – communist – Democratic Army took over his village in November 1947. In September 1948, the guerrillas transferred him, his sister, and his mother to Southern Albania. From there, they travelled for several months until they ended up in Hungary, where they stayed until February 1954. Only then were they able to return to Greece and reunite with the father. In 1955 and upon the request of his father, Venetis joined the childtown of Ziros. 6 7 Interview with Galanis, July 9, 2013. Interview with Patra Chatziangelou, July 11, 2013. 196 Georgios Michalopoulos Venetis recalls that life in his village was harsh. here was no school, and they had to use the village church for classes; the church was in a poor condition and the rain went through the ceiling. Moreover, for all administrative tasks as well as for shopping they had to go to Filiata, which was forty five kilometres away: Venetis recalls that they had to walk six to seven hours to get there8. Fourth, homas heologis (b. 1935). He came from a village in the mountainous region of Agrafa, in central Greece. His family had some land and also sheep. But, the break of the Civil War got them in trouble: one of homas’s brothers joined the gendarmerie and this meant that the communist guerrillas targeted the family. hey visited their house several times, requisited property, and took away the sheep. Moreover, heologis had nine brothers and sisters and sustaining such a large family during war must have been extremely difficult. he young heologis heard about the childtowns from two cousins who had been there: “I wanted to escape the village and see the world outside it”. His village was indeed isolated: there was no electricity, and they had to use oil lamps; phones came only in the 1950s. On his own initiative, heologis joined the childtown of Larisa in 1948; in 1950 he joined the childtown of Agria, near Volos9. What we know about the provinces, especially in the North of Greece, which was more hard hit by the Civil War, confirms that the these four cases were not isolated. he German occupation and the ensuing Civil War devastated the Greek provinces to a point where “normal” life took years if not decades to be restored. Almost a million Greeks were let homeless during the occupation alone, and, during the same period, 70,000 Greeks were executed and 300,000 died from the Great Famine, a result of the collapse of the economy, the British blockade of continental Europe and of German food requisitioning. he Civil War made things worse: 158,000 people were killed and one million people were relocated. As a result, education at the villages was of low quality if it existed at all: school buildings were everywhere in a poor condition, and most schools were monothesia, meaning that the same teacher taught all the classes of the primary school. Health and nutrition were similarly bad10. It is then unsurprising, that all the informants agreed that their time in the childtowns was by now a good memory. When asked why this is so, the informants 8 Interviews with Antonis Venetis, August 10 and August 20, 2013. Interviews with homas heologis, June 16, 2013 and August 19, 2013. 10 M. Mazower, Inside Hitler’s Greece: the Experience of Occupation: 1941 – 44, New Haven 2001, p. 155; P. Voglis, Surviving Hunger: Life in the Cities and the Countryside during the Occupation [in:] Surviving Hitler and Mussolini: Daily Life in Occupied Europe, Gildea et al. (eds.), Oxford 2006, pp. 16 – 41, here 23; D.H. Close, Greece since 1945, London 2002, pp. 16 – 18. 9 “I Couldn’t Wait to Get away from My Village” 197 recall that they no longer had to work in the evenings as they did in the village and that they enjoyed the company of their peers and the care of their instructors at the childtowns. his, however, does not mean that they did not feel surprise, and even some fear when they first arrived at the childtowns: childtowns were very different from their places of origin. Galanis says that “the differences were huge”; Venetis recalls that upon arrival he wanted to go back to his family; heologis tells us that “we found ourselves in a place that was entirely different from what we knew, we were somehow lost”11. What was then so new for them in the childtowns? I interviewed Sia Daimonakou (b.1933), a graduate of the Marasleios Pedagogical Academy, who served as an instructor in the childtown of Larissa, in the late 1950s. As one might have expected, it was the children from remote mountainous areas that were impressed the most with childtowns: [they] had never seen [electric] light, [and when they saw light bulbs they said] “Wow, this is so luminous, so bright”; and mostly the sea, they had not seen the sea, they sat in front of the sea… and they were amazed, “Wow, how big it is, what a great river” and we told them “it is the sea”. hey would have seen the sea only on a map, and of course they could not imagine what the sea was like… [here was also] a little girl from a village… she had not seen food, I mean a diversity of dishes. At the beginning we suffered, because she wanted to eat only soaked bread with sugar, it took her time to get used to all the foods… also, once this kid, when we had for food pasta with minced meat, she said, “oh my, are we going to eat worms?”… his little girl was seven years old. She was scared to use the shower and to wear underwear… and I tell you this was in 1957, 1958. Some children from remote villages of Epirus did not know chocolate, they did not want even to try it, “what is this black thing?”; also bananas, they were impressed by them, “what is it?” [Some children from the mountains]… had never seen fish. Some day we had herring for food, she [=the same girl as above] was very impressed and asked “how do they grow?”, the older ones to make fun of her said “we plant them”, “where?” [she asked], “in the garden”, and they called me later “come see what she did, she went and planted the heads of herring”… he girl had believed that if you plant the head, new herring would come out12. 11 12 Interview with heologis, July 3, 2013; with Venetis, August 20, 2013. Interview with Sia Daimonakou, August 3, 2013. 198 Georgios Michalopoulos What the above passages suggest is that we should not underestimate what a transformative experience the childtowns were. he children came in touch with a different world, they literally learned to live and experience in a different way. Some of them must have been surprised by the new hygiene rules – Galanis, for instance, recalls that the instructors supervised them while taking a shower, since the children had never taken a shower before; similarly, heologis remembers that showers were a novelty: “my mother used to put us in a tub. here was no running water in the village”. he children were similarly supervised during sleep and there were also inspections for their beds and clothes. While at the childtown, the children were almost never let without supervision13. Even when it came to animals, the children came in touch with what they must have seen as a superior form of knowledge. Galanis recalls that the people in his village, although in constant contact with animals, did not know how to name them “properly”: “we did not know what it meant for two things to be same… we called them all animals”. Galanis says that villagers were unable to classify them into biceps, quadriceps, mammals, and birds, they only saw them as things to be used, and lacked a theoretical understanding of them. Such instances of “ignorance” confirmed to the minds of the children – which soon enough must have felt superior to their oten illiterate parents – that the world of the village was a backward one, doomed to stagnation, whereas the childtown represented a superior form of civilization, since it understood the world of the villagers better than the villagers could understand it themselves14. One of the main things that convinced the children to choose urban over rural values was healthcare. Chatziangelou recalls that she had scabies, and when she arrived on the childtown they put on her an ointment (“it smelled like brimstone and was yellow”) – before arriving there she had not received a treatment. he case of Galanis was the most impressive: [When I arrived to the childtown] they noticed that I was yellow, and they asked me, “What’s wrong with you?” “Fever” [θέρμη], [I said] this is how they had explained it to me [at the village]; I had seen a doctor, but he was a General Practitioner, for this problem [=the malaria] I had never seen the doctor, I had only gone to the doctor because I peed myself, I had never received medicine… 13 Interview with Galanis, July 9, 2013; Interview with heologis, July 3, 2013; M. Dalianis, M. Mazower, Children in Turmoil during the Civil War: Today’s adults (in Greek) [in:] Ater the War was Over: Reconstructing the Family, Nation and State in Greece: 1943 – 60, M. Mazower, Athens 2003 (Princeton 2000), pp. 105 – 119, here 113. 14 Interview with Galanis, July 9, 2013. “I Couldn’t Wait to Get away from My Village” 199 On the third day, I had a temperature of forty Celsius, they grabbed me… took me to the sanitarium [of the childtown], they let me stark naked, and wrapped me in a bed sheet… they started giving me quinine pills: one in the morning, two at noon, every six hours, I took five hundred sixty in total. My ears bumbled a lot and every two-three hours I became soaked with sweat, my sweat stank, the nurses came and wrapped me again in the bed sheet and put me on a different bed. One might think that Galanis found this experience painful, but this was not the case: “I felt great security… It was way better than the village”. Similarly, Galanis, Chatziangelou, and heologis recall that they were taught to brush their teeth, and other hygienic practices that require a daily routine. In childtowns there was a variety of activities (studying, eating, listening to fairytales, excursions, going to the cinema, theatre) and each had its own assigned timeslot. In general, time in the childtowns was more structured than in the village, where the day was usually divided between school and work – tellingly, Galanis did not know how to read a watch until he let his village and spent some time in the town of Karpenisi15. Coming in contact with people outside the geographical confines of the world of the village was also part of becoming modern. Greek provinces were backward and good streets were absent. Until going to the childtown, the informants – with the exception of Venetis – had little contact with the outside world. At the childtowns, children came for the first time in touch with children from all over Greece. he children soon learned to take differences as something normal rather than as something that they should made fun of: heologis recalls that differences in speech and manners let him unimpressed. Chatziangelou, on the other hand, recalls expressing her surprise at the accent of some girls, and being consequently bullied by them. She also noticed that the girls from Epirus and also the girls with origin from the Pontus danced and sang different songs, which she found rather annoying. For the first time in her life, Chatziangelou became aware of multiple versions of Greekness – different dialects, customs and dances16. Dialects are of particular interest here: all my informants spoke standard Greek, and in this respect, childtowns arguably played a role in the quick disappearance of dialects in postwar Greece. Tellingly, the two areas were Greek dialects survive to this day are two islands that were untouched by the Civil War: Cyprus and Crete. Daimonakou recalls that many children spoke dialectic Greek upon their arrival, 15 16 Interview with Galanis, July 9, 2013. Interview with heologis, June 16, 2013; with Chatziangelou, July 11, 2013. 200 Georgios Michalopoulos but they soon learned to speak Modern Greek. No coercion was necessary: peer pressure, and the allure of modernity were enough to alter the children’s accent17. he children also got used to the idea of holidays, and especially the king of holidays, Christmas. Chatziangelou recalls that she had never celebrated Christmas before. In the village they celebrated Easter – albeit in a simple manner – but Christmas was a minor holiday that went unnoticed. In the childtown, there was a “pandemonium” at Christmas: Santa Claus would come and distribute presents, and they ate meat to mark the holiday as something special. Christmas served as an introduction to consumerist practices which were unheard of before: Greek villagers still strived for self-sufficiency and ate and consumed mostly what they produced themselves18. heologis and Galanis were the ones who were the most impressed by the clothes of the childtowns. heologis recalls that a different way of life also meant different clothes: “the clothes of the village were rough… the clothes of the childtown were different. I had never before worn thin underpants. hey gave us undershirts, shirts, they took care of us”. Galanis also enjoyed the boy scout like uniform he was given19. But, together with healthcare, the one thing that impressed children the most was food. For Galanis, the change was truly dramatic: “[at the village] my food was potatoes and eggs. My mother had a couple of chickens. In the morning a boiled egg, two boiled eggs in the evening, and at noon – on the good days – an egg with potatoes”. As a result, Galanis was undernourished and his growth was delayed. his turned to be an advantage at the childtowns: “they all loved me because I was cute and small in size… Our breakfast was cocoa or milk and bread with butter or honey. he cook adored me, she [normally] put a small spoonful of cocoa, but for me she used a glass”. Food, healthcare, superior education – children went to the high school of the nearest town, and in general the care they were surrounded with gained their trust and made them embrace the new way of life that the childtowns stood for20. he children themselves are convinced that these experiences improved their lives. Chatziangelou comments that “had the childtown not been there, I do not 17 N. Nicholas, he Story of Pu: he Grammaticalisation in Space and Time of a Modern Greek Complementiser. December 1998, unpublished PhD hesis (University of Melbourne), http://www. tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/Work/thesis.html, p. 481. 18 Interview with Chatziangelou, July 11, 2013. 19 Interview with Galanis July 9, 2013; with heologis June 16, 2013. 20 Interview with heologis, July 3, 2013; interview with Galanis, July 9, 2013. “I Couldn’t Wait to Get away from My Village” 201 know, I had no place [to go], I would probably go back to the village with the rest of the people who returned there in 1949, when the village started being rebuilt, I would have been like the other kids of the village, a primary school graduate, they would find for me someone to get married to. Who knows… there were no prospects”21. Venetis thinks he would almost certainly have to go to the ecclesiastical orphanage of Paramithia, something his father – albeit being a priest – did not like, as he thought that the childtowns were “more secular, liberal, open”. heologis similarly thinks that “had I not gone to the childtown, many things would have been different… I would probably have spent my life like my brothers with the animals and the land, without having the opportunity to study”22. he children who stayed at the village agreed that those at the childtowns had an unfair advantage. he two groups rarely came in contact, except for the time of the summer camp: at this opportunity, the villagers gathered outside the camp at the time of siesta and threw stones to wake up the childtown inmates – siesta was a rare luxury at the time in Greek villages. Similarly, a female villager complained to Daimonakou about the sudden appearance of so many appealing young women: “Ah, you came here and our men have lost their minds”. But apart from such gestures of dissatisfaction there was nothing the villagers could do against the social transformation that was taking place. Daimonakou recalls that most of the children who spent their summer vacations back to the village with their parents instead of the childtown summer camp, actually regretted it, and said they would rather not return to the village23. Ater graduating from the childtown, my four informants sooner or later turned to the cities for a living. heologis studied political science in Switzerland and worked in the tourist industry; Galanis became a turner and now lives in a block of flats of his ownership in Perissos, a suburb of Athens; Venetis went to the prestigious Law School of Athens, and made a career as a lawyer; Chatziangelou went to the Finishing School and returned to the childtowns as an instructor. None of my informants returned to his village outside vacations24. In conclusion, time in childtowns had three major effects on the children. First, it impacted on their future profession. Second, it offered them more and better 21 Interview with Chatziangelou, August 20, 2013. Interview with heologis, August 19, 2013. 23 Interview with Daimonakou, August 3, 2013. 24 Interview with heologis, August 19, 2013; with Chatziangelou, August 20, 2013; with Galanis, July 9, 2013; with Venetis August 20, 2013. 22 202 Georgios Michalopoulos education than what was available at the villages. hird, it changed their habits and values, and gave them a new way of life. Critics can still argue that this came at a high price, namely the loss of a diversity of local traditions. What I think is impossible to argue is that the children were passive victims or that they were submitted to cruelty. If we examine – as we should – the childtowns in the context of contemporary standards it is clear that punishments there were less severe than outside them: when Galanis was punished corporally at the high school outside the childtown, the instructors of the childtown took his side and complained about the teacher’s behaviour; all informants agreed that there was no instances of corporal punishment inside the childtowns, which if true, is quite remarkable, given how widespread corporal punishment and in general violence were in Greece at the time. he lack of violence speaks volumes about the attraction of consumerism for children: the children became the converts of a different civilization. One plausible objection to my research would be that my research suffers from a selection bias. It could well be the case that the people who chose to give interviews were precisely the ones who had good memories. Still, as I mentioned in the introduction, Vervenioti had noticed – albeit with surprise – that her informants too had a good memory of the childtowns. he one group of children which might have had significantly different experiences from the rest are Slav-Macedonians: their different ethnic background might have singled them out for different treatment; it is also good to remember that a good 30% of the communist Democratic Army was composed of Slav-Macedonians, and that many of them wished Macedonia to secede from Greece. Despite my efforts, I was unable to find people from this group for research, but this is indeed of the most promising directions for future research. Still, I think it is clear that the childtowns were not the restrictive and oppressive institutions that partisan historiography has made of them: in their efforts to combat the anticommunist stereotypes of postwar Greece, letwing historians retold the same story, with the only difference that they assigned different people to the role of the good and the bad. heir story, like the one told by anticommunist authors, is one that sets the childtowns as part of a gigantic struggle between two ideologies, and where individuals can be heroes, victims, traitors or criminals but never complex human beings. his criticism does not, however, mean that we should give up entirely the study of childtowns as institutions; rather I would argue that instead of focusing on childtowns as the creations of anticommunist ideology, we should examine them as disciplinary institutions. hey are a good example of Foucault’s “gentle punishment” aimed at creating docile bodies. he lack of violence “I Couldn’t Wait to Get away from My Village” 203 and cruelty, in the end, testifies to the success of the childtowns: there was no need to resort to such measures. his is another interesting line that future research – free from the suffocating emphasis on ideology – may follow25. In the final analysis, the one thing I would like the reader to take from the above is that childtowns are indeed worthy of more and better research. History classes in Greek schools are dominated by Ancient Greek and Byzantine history and postwar Greek history is let completely out of the picture. his is nothing short of a disaster as school graduates take with them the lesson that the Battle of Marathon or Manzikert are more relevant to their present realities than the social transformations that happened in postwar Greece, to the point that they imagine themselves more as descendants of Aristotle and Basil the Bulgarian Slayer than as descendants of poor and oten illiterate Balkan peasants; I let the reader decide which of the two is closer to reality. Historians then have the task not only to carry out more research on the childtowns – which together with schools, the Army and the Church, served as the midwives of Modern Greece – but also to disseminate this research among the public. REFERENCES Interviews: Chatziangelou, Patra: July 11, 2013; August 20, 2013. Daimonakou, Sia: August 3, 2013. Galanis, Ioannis: July 9, 2013. heologis, homas: June 16, 2013; July 3, 2013; August 19, 2013. Venetis, Antonis: August 10, 2013; August 20, 2013. Secondary sources: Bærentzen L., he ‘Paidomazoma’ and the Queen’s Camps (in Greek) [in:] Studies in the History of the Greek Civil War: 1945 – 49, L. Bærentzen, J. Iatrides, O. Smith (eds.), Copenhagen 1987. Close D.H., Greece since 1945, London 2002. 25 M. Foucault, Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison, London 1977, ch. entitled ‘he Gentle Way in Punishment’, pp. 104 – 133. 204 Georgios Michalopoulos Danforth L., van Boeschoten R., Children of the Greek Civil War: Refugees and the Politics of Memory, Chicago 2012. Foucault M., Discipline and Punish: the Birth of the Prison, London 1977. Frederica, Queen of the Hellenes, Measure of understanding, London 1971. Gazi E., Fatherland, Religion, Family: the History of a Slogan: 1880 – 1930 (in Greek), Athens 2011. Karagiannakidis N., Childtown ‘Agios Georgios’ at Kavalla: its foundation and first year of operation: September 1947–September 1948 (chapter of a PhD in progress), http://tinyurl.com/kkyp6jd. Margaritis G., History of the Greek Civil War: 1946 – 49 (in Greek), 2 vols., Athens 2000. Mazower M., Dalianis M., Children in Turmoil during the Civil War: Today’s adults (in Greek), [in:] Ater the War was Over: Reconstructing the Family, Nation and State in Greece: 1943 – 60, M. Mazower (ed.), Athens 2003 (Princeton 2000). Mazower M., Inside Hitler’s Greece: the Experience of Occupation: 1941–44, New Haven 2001. Nicholas N., he Story of Pu: he Grammaticalisation in Space and Time of a Modern Greek Complementiser, December 1998, unpublished PhD hesis (University of Melbourne), http://www.tlg.uci.edu/~opoudjis/Work/thesis.html. Vervenioti T., Abducting and/or Saving Children (in Greek) [in:] History of 20th Century Greece: Reconstruction, Civil War, Restoration, Vol. IV:2, C. Chatziiosif (ed.), Athens 2009. Vervenioti T., he Children of the Greek Civil War. Saved or Kidnapped?, “Acta Universitatis Carolinae, Studia Territorialia” 2010, No. 1. Voglis P., Surviving Hunger: Life in the Cities and the Countryside during the Occupation [in:] Surviving Hitler and Mussolini: Daily Life in Occupied Europe, Gildea et al. (eds.), Oxford 2006. Voulgaris G., Greece from the Metapolitefsi to Globalization (in Greek), Athens 2009. Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) ISSN 1230-266X Ewa Duda-Mikulin University of Salford, United Kingdom CITIZENSHIP IN ACTION? A CASE STUDY OF POLISH MIGRANT WOMEN MOVING BETWEEN POLAND AND THE UK ABSTRACT Migration from the new European Union (EU) Member States to the United Kingdom (UK) has been identified as one of the most significant social phenomena of recent times and Accession 8 (A8) migration to the UK has been studied extensively particularly since 2004. Even though gendered studies of migration are now attaining recognition, there is limited literature in relation to Polish migrant women. What is more, there is now much evidence to support the view that migrant women constitute a large proportion of international migrants. In fact, when considering migration within the European context, migrant women now outnumber their male counterparts. Drawing on a review of secondary literature and preliminary findings from new fieldwork research undertaken in Poland and the UK in 2012, this paper explores how Polish migrant women exercise their rights as EU citizens to better their own and their families’ wellbeing. As the consequence of their newly acquired rights as EU citizens, Polish migrant women appear to be active agents who make use of the resources and opportunities that migration offers. It is concluded that migration within the EU presents positive opportunities for Polish migrant women to actively engage with and exercise national and EU citizenship rights. Key words: citizenship, EU, migrant women, Poland, UK, welfare 206 Ewa Duda-Mikulin 1. Theoretical background he notion of citizenship is a much disputed concept which still can, despite its ancient roots, generate much political controversy1. he concept of citizenship is also contextualised and its definition and understanding varies depending on the historical, social, political, and cultural context. Given that the term citizenship is used in various different contexts, a unanimously accepted definition is perhaps impossible. However, many commentators emphasise the conceptual differences between citizenship as a “status” and citizenship as a “practice”2. he former highlights the legal status which carries with it civil, political, and social rights that citizens are able to enjoy. he latter implies not only rights but also duties that are a necessary prerequisite for enjoyment of one’s citizenship rights. his citizenship status versus citizenship practice debate has its roots in two different traditions of thought: liberalism and civic republicanism/communitarianism. Civic republican tradition sees citizenship as obligation. It has its roots in the ancient Greece where political participation was considered civic duty of citizens as political beings. he notion of citizenship originates in the ancient city states of Athens and Sparta and the period between the 6th and the 4th centuries BC3. At the time of Aristotle, citizens were characterised by their readiness to actively engage with public duties within the polis, the city4. Liberalism stresses the importance of the individual and his5 rights and therefore may be linked to citizenship as a status. Here, more emphasis is put on the rights, thus citizenship is viewed as an entitlement. his rights approach emerged in the 17th century with civil and political rights as “the means by which the limited state guarantees the freedom and formal equality of the individual who is sovereign”6. Civic republicanism/communitarianism points to the obligations to the wider community by active participation; hence it can be linked to citizenship as a practice. he latter tradition regards an individual rational human being as a natural condition in passive possession of certain rights tied to their status as a member of some kind of community whilst civic republicanism and communitarianism tradition puts more emphasis on the significance of commu- 1 R. Lister, Citizenship: Feminist Perspectives, New York 2003. P. Dwyer, Welfare Rights and Responsibilities: Contesting Social Citizenship, Bristol 2000. 3 P. Dwyer, Understanding Social Citizenship. hemes and Perspectives for Policy and Practice, Bristol 2010. 4 Aristotle, Politics, Oxford 1948. 5 Women were not considered citizens at the time (nor were all men of course – only free men). 6 R. Lister, op.cit., p. 13. 2 Citizenship in Action? 207 nity and duties shared by its members. Here, loyalty to other members is of great importance. In fact, the discussion around whether citizenship as a form of membership is primarily concerned with the rights it ensures or the obligations it expects fulfilled and the nature and balance between both elements have become increasingly salient. It can be argued that the concept of citizenship can provide a point of reference against which people’s status may be compared and assessed. his opens up the discussion of inclusion and exclusion as membership of a certain community suggests that some are its members, and thus are included, while others must be excluded in order for such a concept to hold value (e.g. the EU: the EU Member States’ nationals – included; third country nationals – excluded). Citizenship is inextricably linked to notions of rights and responsibilities which depend on the extent of the citizen’s involvement with society in any of the following capacities: civil, political, economic, and/or social7. For the purpose of this paper, citizenship shall be loosely defined as follows: “citizenship refers to an individual’s status as a full member of a particular political community”8. For comparison, other definitions9 emphasise three different features of citizenship. he first claims that citizenship connects the state with the individual. he second highlights the fact that citizenship involves membership of some kind of community. he third refers to citizenship as a social status that enables individuals to make claims in regard to state-organised welfare services. Arguably, all three claims are applicable when considering the EU, all one has to do, is replace the word “the state” with “a community”. Although citizenship traditionally has been linked to membership of a nation state, the EU challenges this to some extent. his paper aims to shed some light on the concept of gendered citizenship by looking at Polish migrant women’s experiences as they move between two countries: Poland and the UK. he following section provides historical background to the European Union and the EU citizenship. hen Poland as part of the “new” Europe is discussed. Ater that the idea of active European citizens is explained in relation to recent Polish migrants to the UK. he section that follows provides an account of the methods used for data collection. he paper is then concluded with discussion of the initial findings that emerge from early analysis. 7 L. Ackers, H. Stalford, A Community for Children? Children, Citizenship and Internal Migration in the EU, Hampshire 2004. 8 U. Vogel, Is Citizenship Gender-Specific? [in:] he Frontiers of Citizenship, U. Vogel, M. Moran (eds.), London 1991, p. 62. 9 G. Lewis, Citizenship [in:] Imagining Welfare Futures, G. Hughes (ed.), Oxon 1998, p. 104. 208 Ewa Duda-Mikulin 2. EU citizenship – historical background he substantial growth of the European Union (EU) which at present incorporates 28 countries (with a total population of over 500 million people) challenges the idea of citizenship as attached to one independent state. Citizenship based on belonging to a certain nation state on which traditional debates are based may no longer be relevant to the contemporary world which is characterised by increasing interconnectedness between different nations. he processes of globalisation are highly visible and the existence of supranational institutions questions the validity of national citizenship10. he European Union and its relatively recent enlargement is particularly relevant to this research. When the so-called Accession 8 (A8) countries were admitted to the EU, many migrants from those Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries exercised their newly acquired rights to free movement and migrated to the United Kingdom. Arguably, from the beginning of the EU in 1957 (which was then named the European Economic Community) we have been observing its gradual enlargement when it comes to its territories and its role as the safeguard of its members’ rights. As the EU was primarily concerned with free movement of workers and economic and trade ties, it aimed to protect their rights to live and work in any of the EU countries. herefore, Member States approved certain social security provisions for migrant workers which mainly dealt with employment and economic policy. hroughout the years, EU social policy continued to be established and protected by the Community Charter of the Fundamental Social Rights of Workers (1989), the Maastricht Treaty (1992) and the Lisbon Agenda (2000), to name just a few11. When the status of citizenship is considered, it is presumed that many would link it to a nation state that offers and ensures the rights attached to being a citizen. As demonstrated earlier, the notion of citizenship evidently points to the concepts of inclusion and exclusion. hose two are central to citizenship as they ensure that the citizenship status, which is oten seen as prestigious, is given to the “right” (“deserving”) people. It can, however, be asserted that the citizenship of a nation state is in crisis. his is mainly the result of the European community gradually growing in strength. As the European Union expands further to incorporate more countries12, its influence and power grow. Moreover, the EU puts in place various policies (e.g. the Maastricht Treaty which sets out the EU citizens’ rights) to protect 10 11 12 A. Geddes, Immigration and European Integration. Beyond Fortress Europe?, Manchester 2008. P. Dwyer, Understanding Social Citizenship…, op.cit. Croatia joined the European Union on the 1st July 2013. Citizenship in Action? 209 its members’ rights. hose members are predominantly seen as workers since the EU’s primary aim has been stimulating the economic growth of the European community by free movement of migrant workers. herefore, it seems as though the EU plays a similar role to a nation state in the sense that it protects its members’ rights and it is clear who is included and who is excluded from the benefits of being a citizen13. It is also evident that the existence of such supranational bodies as the EU makes national citizenship problematic14. 3. The new Europe On the 1st May 2004 ten new countries joined the EU. Among those were: he Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Cyprus, and Malta. he first eight of those countries are referred to as the Accession 8 (A8, they are also referred to as EU8) countries15. In 2004 the UK was one of only three countries16 to open its labour market to the A8 nationals. he UK, as opposed to the other Member States, fully opened its labour market to the new A8 which was based on the need for workers rather than altruism. Besides, the predictions were that only a small number of migrant workers would arrive in the UK; however, the actual numbers were greatly beyond statisticians’ predictions17. he presence of supranational bodies and particularly the EU expansion in 2004 is pertinent to this research. As the new states from Central and Eastern Europe joined the EU, many of their nationals almost immediately decided to exercise their newly won rights to free movement which resulted in large numbers of people moving to the UK. As mobile citizens many migrants thought they could improve their lives and remit money home as a result of wage disparities and relatively low unemployment rate in the UK. his phenomenon was then named one of the most significant social phenomena of current times18. Arguably, it is the EU 13 S. Currie, Migration, Work and Citizenship in the Enlarged European Union, Surrey 2008. L. Morris, Legitimate Membership of the Welfare Community [in:] Welfare: Needs, Rights and Risks, M. Langan (ed.), London 1998. 15 he other two: Cyprus and Malta are beyond the focus of this research project; however, there were no restrictions imposed on the nationals of those countries. 16 he other two were Ireland and Sweden; both permitted immediate and unrestricted free movement of labour from the EU8. 17 S. Currie, op.cit. 18 N. Pollard, M. Latorre, D. Sriskandarajah, Floodgates or Turnstiles? Post-EU Enlargement Migration Flows to (and from) the UK, London 2008. 14 210 Ewa Duda-Mikulin membership that enabled people to migrate, therefore in this particular case it is not citizenship of the nation state but EU citizenship associated with an enlarged EU that mattered. In the run-up to the signing of the Treaty of Accession in 2003, there were many debates around granting the right to free movement of persons to the “less-privileged” EU citizens; that is the new EU8. he original Member States (i.e. EU15) feared the consequences this may have on their economies and the general wellbeing of their citizens. hey feared increased immigration from the poorer new Member States, which could potentially impact on the wages and un/employment rate of their nationals. herefore, transitional arrangements were agreed as a compromise and resulted in the denial of full access to the EU law for Central and Eastern European nationals (EU8/A8 and EU2/A219). he UK, for example, by opening up its labour market post 2004 enlargement may appear to have acted altruistically, but it did so in order to fill job positions that were proving unpopular with the national workforce20. he temporary mobility restrictions were imposed to safeguard the original Member States’ economies but could be in place for a maximum of seven years ater the accession of the new Member States. With regard to the EU8, these restrictions were lited on the 1st May 2011. he EU15 were not allowed to monitor migration from the new Member States, but they were entitled to determine the conditions which the EU8 had to fulfil in order to access employment. However, those migrants from the new Member States who did find employment had the right to be treated equally with nationals in regard to the work conditions, access to housing, and social and tax advantages. he restrictions were addressed predominantly to workers, migrant workers to be precise, and a distinction was made between workers and self-employed persons. he latter category is excluded from the restrictions imposed on workers. What is more, those who lived and worked in the EU15 countries prior to the 2004 EU enlargement were not subjected to the transitional provisions, given that they did so for a continuous period of 12 months21. In regard to the national implementation of transitional restrictions, there were considerable differences between the EU15 states as the decisions were made independently by each Member State whether and what restrictions to implement. he UK opted for labour market access given that migrants registered on the Work19 EU2 or A2 refers to Bulgaria and Romania which joined the EU on the 1st January 2007, but is outside the scope of this research. 20 S. Currie, op.cit., p. 31. 21 Ibidem, p. 19. Citizenship in Action? 211 er Registration Scheme (WRS)22. his type of restriction may be seen as reasonable, but it is in fact misleading. he UK did not allow the EU8 workers full access to the rights and benefits of migrant workers, instead the authorities decided to take advantage of the national insurance and tax contributions of the EU8 workers giving them no welfare entitlements in return23. his could be seen as problematic, especially since many of the EU8 workers were and oten still are incorporated in the so-called “3D jobs” – dirty, dull and dangerous24. 4. Active European citizens In the last two decades, the essence of diversity in the UK has changed considerably. We have observed a rise in net immigration with a greater variety of countries of origin. here have been new immigration laws designed (e.g. Citizenship and Immigration Act 2009). here was also a rapid increase of different immigration statuses and migration channels which indicates “diversification of diversity”25. he UK remained an attractive destination for migrants for most of this time due to relatively low unemployment, labour shortages, and generally high economic performance, especially when compared to Central and Eastern Europe. On the other hand, there have been increasing inequalities in the developing world, growing multilingualism, religious diversity, and a vast variety of different categories of immigrants (i.e. migrant workers, international students, asylum seekers, etc.). he type of migratory movement determines immigrants’ legal status and what comes with it, their eligibility to make use of public services which then impacts on their likelihood to stay or re-emigrate. hose processes signal, what Vertovec26 named – superdiversity. Moreover, the “migration-asylum nexus” suggests that it is currently difficult to differentiate between migrants and asylum seekers27. However, 22 Among the restrictions the UK imposed on the A8 nationals in 2004 was registration under the government Worker Registration Scheme and the requirement to complete twelve months of continuous employment before being eligible to access certain welfare rights. 23 Ibidem. 24 A. Favell, he New Face of East-West Migration in Europe, “Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies” 2008, No. 34, p. 704. 25 S. Vertovec, Superdiversity and Its Implications, “Ethnic and Racial Studies” 2007, No. 30, p. 1025. 26 Ibidem. 27 S. Castles, N. Van Hear, Developing DfID’s Policy Approach to Refugees and Internally Displaced Persons, COMPAS, http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/publications/reports-and-other-publications/dfidapproach-to-refugees/ [Access date: 08.08.13]. 212 Ewa Duda-Mikulin this concept could also be applied to the fluidity between immigrants and citizens, particularly in Britain. he fact that the national citizenship status is oten accompanied by the European Union membership makes the concept of citizenship increasingly tricky. It has recently been highlighted that A8 migration is linked to “the proactive and defensive engagement of social citizenship”28. his refers to A8 migrants as active agents when it comes to seeking ways of minimising costs and energy. It can be asserted that they perfected the way they combine the two ways of engaging with their national and transnational rights and responsibilities that are linked to their national and EU citizenship status (e.g. Polish and EU citizenship). herefore, we can observe many of the recent migrants travelling to their country of origin to access certain services (e.g. a dentist, undergo prenatal tests, etc.) and/or purchase goods (e.g. cigarettes, alcohol, meats, etc.) that are less costly or they perceive them to be of better quality than in their country of residence. his is how they demonstrate their proactive engagement with the opportunities they were granted when the eight Eastern Bloc countries joined the EU in May 2004. At the same time, A8 migrants’ engagement with members of local host communities is oten minimal. he established communities seem to share this feeling and are mutually wary in regard to the new arrivals. It has been suggested to name this phenomenon “defensive engagement”29 as the host country nationals oten view migrant workers as competitors for scarce resources, jobs and housing in particular. his may be true, particularly in the current economic climate. Moreover, A8 nationals in the UK are known for their tendency of “ghettoisation”30. his refers to many A8 migrant workers living in one specific area which has previously experienced A8 workers’ inflows. hey mostly visit their local shops that sell products from their home countries and interact among each other almost exclusively. his translates to minimising their contact with the native population and/or other existing communities and engaging with them only when it is unavoidable. Furthermore, “the concept of citizenship implies a notion of equality in that citizens are said to share a common status in respect to the rights and duties that they hold”31. his poses the question of a possibility of citizens of the world (or Europe perhaps), who decided to make the UK their home, being equal in terms of their rights and responsibilities. Among those, there are the eight new accession 28 J. Cook, P. Dwyer, L. Waite, Accession 8 Migration and the Proactive and Defensive Engagement of Social Citizenship, “Journal of Social Policy” 2012, No. 41, p. 329. 29 Ibidem, p. 338. 30 L. Hunt, A. Steele, J. Condie, Migrant Workers in Rochdale and Oldham, Salford 2008. 31 P. Dwyer, Understanding Social Citizenship…, op.cit., p. 11. Citizenship in Action? 213 countries (A8). It can be argued that the EU citizenship is based on the A8 nationals’ attachment to their nation states. he two are intertwined and closely linked to each other. Hence, “the precise nature of the social rights on offer to a Community migrant will therefore depend upon the country of immigration”32. Polish nationals, as citizens of the Republic of Poland, are in consequence citizens of the EU. Polish nationality comes first though, given that a Polish national would not be a citizen of the EU if s/he had not first been born in Poland. Arguably, the EU citizenship is complementary to national citizenship33. 5. Active migrant women citizens? It has been widely accepted that migration is gendered34. Although women play a crucial role in contemporary migrations, previously they have been “sociologically invisible, although numerically and socially present”35 and the presence of women has been finally acknowledged when they entered waged labour market. For many women, the change from unpaid work in the home to paid work in the labour market came about through migration. he contrast between women’s migrations in the 19th and 21st centuries lies in the reasoning of their travels and the way it is recorded; “in fact, gender (i.e. perceived roles, responsibilities and obligations – or the lack thereof) may be the single most important factor influencing the decision to migrate”36. Whilst gender is one of the most significant characteristics of human world and has a major impact on people’s lives, it has been regularly sidelined from scholarly research37. Nonetheless, we can now observe a “feminisation of migration”38. here is currently much evidence to support the view that migrant women constitute 32 L. Ackers, Shiting Spaces. Women, citizenship and migration within the European Union, Bristol 1998, p. 4. 33 G. Lewis, op.cit. 34 E. Kofman, Gendered Global Migrations: Diversity and Stratification, “International Feminist Journal of Politics” 2004, No. 6. 35 M. Morokvasic, Women in Migration: Beyond the Reductionist Outlook [in:] One Way Ticket: Migration and Female Labour, A. Phizacklea (ed.), London 1983, p. 13. 36 L.B. Engle, he World in Motion. Short Essays on Migration and Gender, International Organisation for Migration (IOM), Switzerland 2004, p. 6. 37 R. Pessar, S.J. Mahler, Transnational Migration: Bringing Gender in, “International Migration Review” 2003, No. 37. 38 S. Castes, M. Miller, he Age of Migration. International Population Movements in the Modern World, Basingstoke 2009. 214 Ewa Duda-Mikulin a large proportion of international migrants who have entered the UK. In fact, when considering migration within the European context, migrant women already outnumber their male counterparts39. In terms of A8 migrants’ arrivals to the UK, the WRS statistics show that the male/female ratio was 50:50 at the end of 2008 and beginning of 2009. Even though this highlights an even split, it is assumed that there is a proportion of women who did not register as they were stay-at-home mothers and full-time homemakers40. Arguably, women are likely to be underrepresented in the WRS figures. In order to begin to understand women’s experiences as citizens, a consideration of interrelated dependencies and interdependencies is required. Many feminists argue that the public–private dichotomy is the primary cause of women’s limited access to the full and equal citizenship status41. Traditionally and stereotypically, women were assigned a place in the private sphere and therefore it is difficult for them to be active in the public arena on an equal basis with men. Certain social citizenship rights are dependent on women being in full-time employment (e.g. pensions), which is difficult to achieve if they have caring responsibilities in the home. he value assigned to women’s caring responsibilities makes them unable to exercise full citizenship status. It has been suggested that informal, familial care should be incorporated into citizenship and both men and women should be given the opportunity to combine paid work and familial caring. 6. Methods his paper presents preliminary analysis in regard to the impact of the migratory process on the gendered lives of migrant women. It draws on recently completed fieldwork (Oct 2012–Feb 2013) conducted with 32 Polish migrant women resident in both Poland and England. In this article, the researcher would like to present preliminary findings in regard to the impact of the migratory process on gendered lives of migrant women. his qualitative study focuses on gendered experiences of Polish migrant women in regard to work (paid versus unpaid) and welfare (formal versus informal). Migration has, for a long time, been androcentric, with women 39 H. Zlotnik, he Global Dimensions of Female Migration, Migration Information Source, http:// www.migrationinformation.org/feature/display.cfm?ID=109 [Access date: 09.11.11]. 40 Accession Monitoring: Report May 2004–March 2009, United Kingdom Border Agency (UKBA), http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20100422120657/http:/www.ukba.homeoffice.gov. uk/sitecontent/documents/aboutus/reports/accession_monitoring_report/ [Access date: 19.08.13]. 41 Cf. R. Lister, op.cit. Citizenship in Action? 215 essentially being invisible; hence this approach is suitable for examining gender roles and migrant women42. It is noteworthy that feminist researchers for instance, argue that research should be based on women’s experiences and that “the cultural background of the researcher is part of the evidence”43. his is significant as the researcher is also a Polish migrant woman who, in 2008, decided to move to the UK. he project is underpinned by the view that knowledge in social sciences has a male bias and balance is needed44. Qualitative in-depth semi-structured interviews were the chosen research tools. Each interview, on average, lasted 45 minutes. he sample consisted of two groups of Polish migrant women: migrants who at the time of the interview were based in the UK (16 interviews); and returnees45 who were based in Poland as they migrated to the UK post-2004, but have subsequently relocated back to Poland (16 interviews). First, interviews with Polish migrant women in the North West of England were conducted. his part of England was chosen as the area with the second highest population density in England46. What is more, this area was selected due to the established links with the migrant community. his was followed by interviews in Poland with returnees. he empirical research focused on the migratory movements of women moving between Poland and the UK and the way in which these movements may shape their perception of gendered responsibilities. Strategic purposive sampling was adopted47. Snowballing was also used to identify suitable individuals who fit the selection criteria48. Snowball sampling was found particularly useful for accessing participants based in Poland. he sample included individuals aged between 20 and 57 years of age and have been (in case of migrants) or were (return migrants) in the UK for a period of between six months and nine years. 42 M. Morokvasic, ‘Settled in Mobility’: Engendering Post-Wall Migration in Europe, “Feminist Review” 2004, No. 77. 43 N. Blaikie, Approaches to Social Enquiry, Cambridge 2007, p. 166. 44 J. Finch, Feminist Research and Social Policy [in:] Women’s Issues in Social Policy, M. Maclean, D. Groves (eds.), London 1991. 45 In this paper return migrants are not dealt with separately. 46 Regional Profiles – Population and Migration – North West, Office for National Statistics (ONS), http://www.ons.gov.uk/ons/rel/regional-trends/region-and-country-profiles/population-and-migration/population-and-migration---north-west.html [Access date: 25.07.12]. 47 J. Mason, Qualitative Researching, London 2002. 48 J. Ritchie, J. Lewis, G. Elam, Designing and Selecting Samples [in:] Qualitative Research Practice, J. Ritchie, J. Lewis (eds.), London 2003. 216 Ewa Duda-Mikulin hematic analysis of the data generated in the fieldwork is currently being conducted. his type of analysis is particularly well suited as it is an interpretive process. It can be asserted that it is the most accessible type of analysis, therefore especially useful for early career researchers49. 7. Reporting preliminary findings he presence of supranational bodies and particularly the EU expansion in 2004 is relevant to this research. As the new states from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) joined the EU, some of their nationals practically immediately decided to exercise their newly won rights to free movement which resulted in what was oten reported as masses of people moving to the UK. It is the membership of the EU that enabled this, therefore in this particular case, it is not the citizenship of the nation state, but the citizenship associated with the enlarged Europe that mattered. It can be argued that Polish migrants exercising their newly acquired rights to free movement act as active EU citizens50. Many of them, by moving between Poland and the UK ensure their own and their families’ wellbeing. heir mobility patterns are oten circular, which may prove to be even more beneficial to the migrants. hey actively engage with the opportunities that lie before them and take advantage of what has been offered. hey make use of the resources available in both countries. Polish migrants moving between the UK and Poland could be seen as active agents making the most of their newly-granted EU citizenship. he quotations below illustrate this process by showing how complex migrants’ thinking about their prospects for the future proved to be. Maja (29, Poland-based): When I finish university and I can find [work], (…) if I am able to find a job and my husband also comes back [still in the UK] and finds work and it’s good enough for us to be able to live here, then we would definitely stay in Poland 100%, but if it turned out that it’d be difficult, because you know, here, there are no opportunities and, what’s more, moving to a city costs so much that I don’t know if we’d manage, but we’ll see, so if everything works out then we’ll stay and if not, then we’ll probably go back [to the UK]. 49 V. Braun, V. Clarke, Using hematic Analysis in Psychology, “Qualitative Research in Psychology” 2006, No. 3. 50 Cf. J. Cook, P. Dwyer, L. Waite, op.cit. Citizenship in Action? 217 It is clear that the migrants rationalise their decisions, actively engage with the options they have and choose the one that suits them best. hey consider a variety of factors that may have an impact and “pick and mix” on the basis of what they know about the places in question. It is noteworthy that this activity can be most effectively undertaken by those who have previously migrated and lived in both countries. he longer they spent in the UK, the better informed they have become about the available opportunities. Only then they are equipped with the necessary knowledge to make their choices and “pick and mix” between the two countries. It is intentional that the reference is made to the popular type of sweets, the “pick and mix” (pick ‘n’ mix), which is widely available across the UK, especially in cinemas. Arguably, it is a particularly useful term when applied to the Polish migrants in the UK. By using this term, it can be highlighted that just like in cinemas where a person is offered a wide variety of different sweets that can probably satisfy every taste, s/he picks those s/he is interested in and pays for what s/he managed to “mix” together. Similarly, a migrant is faced with a wide variety of choices that lie before him/her. It has, for instance, been previously stressed that Polish migrants frequently decide to go back to Poland to receive a dentist treatment. By making this decision, they choose their “mix”, they “pick” the things they favor in the host country and “mix” that with what they appreciate in the home country. It is noteworthy that similar findings have previously been reported in regard to older EU migrants and health care51 and how they use public and private systems and their EU and national citizenship to sort out their “best deal” over time and space. Maja (29, Poland based): Even today when I go to the UK to make some money, I go to places like Primark52 and I normally stock up on basic things that I need, I dunno, like knickers, tights, socks or some T-shirts (…), I’ll go from Poland and shop in the UK, my sister oten came to stay with me and brought money from Poland, she paid it into our account and we’d take it out for her so she didn’t lose money on the exchange rate, and she’d also go shopping in the UK for her child because everything was better value for her. Here [Poland], a stupid pair of children’s tights costs 20PLN. here [in the UK] for 20PLN, well for £4 really, Jesus, for £1 over there you could maybe [buy] two pairs of tights so how many can you get for £4? 51 52 P. Dwyer, Understanding Social Citizenship…, op.cit. A low-cost clothes shop. 218 Ewa Duda-Mikulin Maja’s “pick and mix” involves living (with her young son) and studying in Poland, occasionally making some extra money in the UK, whilst her husband continues to live and work in the UK. As she explained, she wanted to re-qualify and studies in Poland seemed more logical as her mother could look ater the child while she was at the university. At the same time her husband has a permanent, well paid job in the UK. Maja clarified that they would struggle financially if he quit his job in the UK and found another in Poland, as one Polish wage would not be sufficient. For Polish nationals it was more beneficial to migrate and work in the UK in 2004, when one pound sterling was valued at 7PLN, in comparison to 4PLN in 200853. Wage differentials between Poland and England remain and can be seen as direct advantages of migration that basically came about via the EU citizenship his, however, could reflect the fact that Maja became accustomed to a higher standard of living which she was able to attain in the UK or that “individuals strategically choose to secure the best deal for themselves”54. Marta (28, UK based): I didn’t get unemployment benefit [in Poland], as justification they wrote to me saying that when I was in the UK, I didn’t send money to Poland, and that’s true, my parents don’t need my money and I kept the money for myself. hey wrote – ‘my affairs were not in Poland but in the UK’ because I didn’t come back to Poland when I was there and so I thought sarcastically, did they want me to fly back every weekend because I missed my mum’s pierogi [stuffed dumplings], come on. So basically it was complete rubbish because I thought about coming back to Poland with my partner and when we were in the UK we bought a flat in Poland. We didn’t think about whether to spend the savings we were able to put together over the years we were in the UK on a flat here or a holiday abroad or on Prada shoes, and our hardearned money was put aside for a mortgage and a deposit on a flat in Poland; so my affairs were of course in this country [Poland], but well it was taken away from me, they took away any opportunity for me to get any kind of support while I was looking for work, even though I came back alone and with a child and if it weren’t for my parents I wouldn’t have anything to eat, that was my welcome home from the state. Marta’s example is particularly interesting. Having lived in the UK for a considerable amount of time and given birth to her first child, Marta and her partner 53 Index Mundi, Złoty to Pound Sterling exchange rate. http://www.indexmundi.com/xrates/ graph.aspx?c1=PLN&c2=GBP&days=2826&lastday=20080929 [Access date: 07.05.12]. 54 P. Dwyer, Understanding Social Citizenship…, op.cit., p. 325. Citizenship in Action? 219 decided to relocate back to Poland to be able to raise their son in a more familiar cultural setting with extended family close-by. A few years back they bought a flat in Poland which was being rented. Unfortunately, they were far from being positively surprised. hey could not get along with Marta’s family. Perhaps more importantly, Marta was refused any financial assistance from the Polish authorities (she applied for the British equivalent of Jobseeker’s Allowance – zasiłek dla bezrobotnych), even though she is technically a single mother, as she explained, with a young child and wanted to go back and settle in her home country. As a result, they were considerably worse off financially and decided to return back to the UK. Marta (28, UK based): If you compare the income from a basic job and your basic expenditure, for a basic flat, basic food, simply having a basic job doing normal hours, you can afford to live a basic life [in the UK], in Poland, if you have a basic job and do normal hours you can’t afford to live a basic life and that’s the difference. Another interviewee, Amelia, appears to be very conscious of the choices she makes. She regularly travels to Poland to spend the summer holiday there where her children can be close to her family and enjoy the countryside. It is evident that Amelia makes informed choices based on the knowledge she acquired while she lived in Poland and compares that to what she has learned in the UK. Arguably, it is a matter of choosing the lesser of two evils, e.g. the healthcare in the UK is seen by her as inadequate when compared to the Polish healthcare, the latter however, is perceived to be expensive (i.e. the private healthcare which seems to be more commonly accessed). She recognises the benefits of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK, but she is unhappy with the cultural differences regarding antibiotics. Amelia has been living in the UK for a considerable amount of time (8.5 years), although she is still drawn to Poland. Ater the birth of her two children, Amelia has been less satisfied with her life in the UK which, she explained, is related to the shit from working to looking ater the family. It can be asserted that Amelia’s caring responsibilities and the assumption they are her duties, impacted on her career development and overall sense of happiness. Amelia (29, UK based): Well pills for the children, generally medicine, we get everything for free [in the UK], if you have a child aged up to 16 you also get their pills for free and contraception is also free and children’s medicine and glasses, braces, that’s the only good thing in this country, except I’m not happy with my doctor because you go to the doctor, your child’s ears are inflamed and you get paracetamol, and if you were in 220 Ewa Duda-Mikulin Poland you’d definitely get antibiotics right away, and here not so much, and you have to wait a long time for every appointment yeah, but the only good thing is that you don’t have to pay for it. EDM: What about Poland, what is it like in there? Amelia: I went to Poland on holiday and I had to pay 100PLN to the allergy specialist for my child, I had to pay for a cream that cost 260PLN in one pharmacy, we went to another town and paid 160PLN. Well, in Poland that’s very expensive, so if you just go to see the doctor you need at least £200 – 300 with you, the laryngologist is 100PLN for one child; the gynaecologist is 50PLN for an appointment. Olga, on the other hand, also acted on the opportunity she was faced with. However, her circumstances are different to others quoted above. Olga is single and is yet to start family; thus, her choices were not informed by the necessity to provide for the family, but rather by her curiosity and willingness to gather new experiences. She also acted as an active agent but chose to move to the UK “just to try it” and was not burdened by her family until fairly recently when she needed to return to Poland as her late grandfather required care. It was assumed and expected of her to voluntarily give up her time in order to provide care as the youngest in the family. Olga, like many other migrants, intended to stay in the UK for a relatively short period of time. On the one hand, she was unsure of her prospects in Poland; on the other hand, she enjoyed her stay in the UK. Perhaps Olga became accustomed to a comfortable life in the UK. Nevertheless, she was needed in Poland to look ater her elderly relative. Arguably, migration gives some women the space to reinvent themselves in the new setting and challenge gender roles55. However, it is not that simple as Olga felt bound to return. he data confirms previous research56 on how women are pulled back due to gendered expectations about them doing the caring. Olga (28, Poland based): Well, I’m telling you there was an opportunity and I thought ok, I’ll improve my English, … so I looked at the map and we [with friends] thought about where they speak English as we thought it would be easier, but honestly I never thought I’d go abroad and live abroad, but there was the option err, why not try it and it was just to try, it was for two years and I was supposed to go back ater two years and do my master’s in Poland and so on. EDM: Why did you come back to Poland then? 55 56 J. Cook, P. Dwyer, L. Waite, op.cit. Cf. L. Ackers, Citizenship, Migration and…, op.cit. Citizenship in Action? 221 Olga: well, it was a lot of things, some things piled up and I thought ‘ok, let’s try it, I haven’t burned all the bridges’, err I gave myself a year and thought that if during this year I won’t like it here [Poland] and I won’t sort myself out, then I’m going back [to the UK]... and so well work was one of the reasons [I went back], another err it was that many of my friends were going back... and another reason was that my grandfather was very ill and err my grandma couldn’t handle it any more, my parents were working and you could tell that it’s grandpa’s last year you know. And I got back at the end of January and in October he died, and so this whole thing also mattered. 8. Conclusions he preliminary findings presented here demonstrate that the respondents often act as active agents choosing as they see fit from the opportunities they were offered post 2004. When Poland joined the EU, this resulted in a broader range of opportunities. In the age of migration57 and superdiversity58, many chose to take advantage of this situation and decided to move to another country, oten a western country perceived by many as superior, wealthier, and more developed. Frequently, this country proved to be the UK as English is widely taught in Polish schools and colleges, which, in theory, should enable relatively easy job search, for instance. Geographical proximity made the move even easier. A number of those who migrated benefited greatly from their move; others came back with nothing or remained in the UK living on the streets as destitute people. What is more, this research shows that women are oten greatly intertwined with familial responsibilities which shape their decisions to migrate, return or re-emigrate. Hence, gendered expectations and citizenship rights may not always be compatible because familial care responsibilities may seriously impede women’s citizenship status. It is noteworthy that women throughout their lives are oten entangled in “three interrelated aspects of dependence: the labour market, male breadwinners, and the state”59. Even though they may have perfected the way they proactively engage with their national and transnational rights and responsibilities that are linked to their citizenship status, the ghost of the past – gendered patterns of dependence are still being reproduced today. 57 S. Castles, M. Miller, op.cit. S. Vertovec, op.cit. 59 L. 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Zlotnik H., he Global Dimensions of Female Migration, Migration Information Source, http://www.migrationinformation.org/feature/display.cfm?ID=109 [Access date: 09.11.11]. Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) ISSN 1230-266X REVIEWS–REPORTS Iwona Galewska (rev.): Pamięć jako kategoria rzeczywistości kulturalnej [Memory as a Category of Cultural Reality], J. Adamowski, M. Wójcicka (eds.), Maria CurieSkłodowska University Publishing House, Lublin 2012, pp. 300. The series “Tradycja dla współczesności. Ciągłość i zmiana” [Tradition for Modernity. Continuity and Change], a result of cooperation between the Institute of Polish Culture and the Institute of Rural and Urban Sociology of the Maria CurieSkłodowska University in Lublin, prepared under the creative control of dr hab. Jan Adamowski, associate professor of the MCSU, and professor dr hab Józef Styk, has completed its sixth volume, Pamięć jako kategoria rzeczywistości kulturalnej [Memory as a Category of Cultural Reality]. It is a compilation of academic articles, partially presented in the form of lectures during the conference on the subject of memory which took place in Baranów Sandomierski on June 6–8, 2011. The articles mainly deal with the multi-aspect role of memory in various contexts of tradition, from language to national cultures. Volume six was edited by Jan Adamowski and Marta Wójcicka. he book is divided into six parts, each focused on a different context of memory – cultural memory (three articles), linguistic memory (four articles), memory and oral history (two articles), narrative memory (six articles), memory and cultural identity (four articles). It was written by authors from various research centres, including: Bratislava, Cieszyn, Katowice, Kielce, Cracow, Lublin, Łódź, Opole, Toruń, Warsaw, and Wrocław. All articles are appended with a list of source references and a short summary in English and Russian, except one, which lacks both the bibliography and the summary. In addition, some articles in the book are in Slovakian. The first article, written by Barbara Szacka, highlights that a wave of interest in the memory of the past emerged as a significant aspect of social life as early as in the 1980s. Additionally, the author emphasises that there is no need for differentiating between the terms “collective memory” and “social memory”. In her article, professor Szacka analyses the works of German researcher Jan Assmann and the division of the sphere of collective, social and cultural memory into three distinct segments: of history as a story about the past recognised as science, collective memory as a vision of the past circling within the society, and the 226 Connertonian cultural memory as a memory of habits. Among other articles in the part devoted to the theory of memory, there is also an article by Jan Kajfosz that deals with the issue of cognitive and social conditioning of memory and a text by Stefan Bednarek on Polish topoi of memory, in which the author argues that the Greek word mnemotopos and its derivatives – mnemotope, mnemotopoi, and topoi of memory – should forever enter the Polish language as a term referring to the place of memory. he second part of the book focuses on cultural memory. In one of the articles, Ewa Kosowska touches upon the issue of memory as a cultural phenomenon despite knowing that, in the European tradition, memory is primarily considered a psychological phenomenon, grounded in biology. he author boldly states that “cultural memory is a fundamental defence mechanism, protecting one against the invasion of culturally alien solutions, preferences, and choices”. Next, Anna Gomółka’s article, which is devoted to the cultural role of memory and its history embedded in the Polish identity, is a result of the author’s belief that the cultural memory has two intertwining aspects, temporal and personal, as it links people from the present with those from the past and the future through a network of mutual, direct and indirect relations. Next, Anna Zalewska, in her article, Archeologia (uspołeczniona) w polu pamięci, tradycji i wiedzy [(Socialised) Archaeology in the Field of Memory, Tradition and Knowledge], points at the motifs proving REVIEWS–REPORTS that archaeology, which is based on the unique quality of signs/archaeological sources, can be viewed as a significant, and for some historical periods, even the primary, means of stimulating interest in the past, of creating, nurturing, and retrieving knowledge about the past, as well as of maintaining the memory of the past. he next part of the publication touches upon the issues of linguistic memory in the articles: Polszczyzna o pamięci [Memory in the Polish Language], Pamięć ujęzykowiona [Linguified Memory], Co pamięta język: krzyk jednostki czy echo zbiorowości [What Does the Language Remember: Scream of a Unit or Echo of Community], and Fantomy pamięci. Pamięć semantyczna pocałunku [Shadows of Memory. he Semantic Memory of a Kiss]. In her text, Anna Pajdzińska argues that memory is highly significant, both in the individual and the social dimension. his is not only because it reveals the temporal nature of human existence, but also because it makes the impossible possible, allowing the realization of longtime dreams, such as travelling back in time (e.g. recalling a past event, or “resurrecting” a deceased person in one’s mind). Next, Wojciech Chlebda in his article confirms the theory that human identity is “linguified”. Even though he admits that this theory is no breakthrough, he proposes a new understanding of “memory linguification”, stating that “the elements that constitute our memory to a specified degree (or, to be more exact, to a degree that requires specification) have verbal representation (linguistic exponent). In the act of remembering REVIEWS–REPORTS and in the act of speaking of memories the author distinguishes four constituents: the subject of memory (one who remembers), the object of memory (what is being remembered), the substance of memory (built out of psychological components and experienced through various physical relations [narrations]), as well as the observer (one who observes the substance of memory and informs others about the narrations in these relations). Next, Przemysław Łozowski considers in his text the role of an individual’s experiences in the process of creation of the collective memory coded in the language of a given community. What is interesting, in almost the entire article he uses plural, firstperson narration (e.g. “thus, we assume the existence”, “we could say”, “let us say”), as if the readers did not need to follow the author’s train of thought and instead accepted it as their own. his may strike one as irritating. In the last article of this part of the book its author, Ewa Masłowska, answers the following questions: which notional preschemes shaped the etymological meaning of a kiss; did the semantic memory of that notion maintain that meaning on the subsequent stages of the evolution of meaning; in what way did the cognitive paths determine the further semantic memory development of the notion and what metaphorical images have been created; which components of the etymological meaning have remained unchanged in the derivative meaning and what place did they take in their hierarchic structure; what symbolic substance does the notion of a kiss carry; in what myth does it originate; in which ritualistic cognitive 227 scenes is the symbolic image re-actualized and in what way does the symbol insert meaning into the general concept of the world (into a network of semantic links constituting the conceptual system). he fourth part of the book deals with memory and oral history and features only two articles, one in Slovakian, written by Zuzanna Profantova, and the other, written by Halina Pelcowa and titled Pamięć i historia mówiona (na przykładzie wypowiedzi mieszkańców lubelskich wsi) [Memory and Oral History (on the Example of Statements by Inhabitants of Villages Near Lublin)]. In the latter text, the author points at three contrasting types of informers: one who passes information heard from others, the proper source (the author of the message) and the third type, which combines both forms of information transmission, by being a messenger as well as a commentator and reviewer of both the past and the contemporary reality. he second to last part of the book is devoted to memory and narration and is the largest in terms of the number of articles. he opening article by Marta Wójcicka focuses on memory as a part of the folk artistic style. In the text, the author tackles the multi-layered issues of: folk artistic style as seen by folklore researchers, memory as a category of the world view and a source of collectiveness, memory as a pillar of morality, the formula as the primary product of memory, and memory seen as a repository of folklore in contrast with folklore seen as a narrative about memory. he article was appended with a glossary of abbreviations. 228 The next article, Żegnaj moja wiosko… Pamięć o Machowie i kulturze lasowiackiej w twórczości Marii Kozłowej [Goodbye My Village… Memory of Machow and Lasowian Culture in the Works by Maria Kozłowa] by Elżbieta Wiąca, views home as an anthropological category in an attempt to analyse the symbolic function of the image of a home in the works by Maria Kozłowa. he article was additionally appended with photos. his part of the book also features an article in Slovakian, written by Eva Krekovicova. Next, Joanna Bielska-Krawczyk, in her article, Obraz pamięta… Relacja pamięć – obraz na przykładzie twórczości Jana Lebensteina [The Image Remembers – The Memory-Image Relation on the Example of Works by Jan Lebenstein], presents her belief that because of iconographic quotations and stylistic allusions the works by the Parisian painter have become a memory of the European pictorial tradition and of cultures that are long since gone. his memory has given these works a unique quality, turning them into bridges between the past and the present and giving them a hint of reflectivity. In the next article Janina Hajduk-Nijakowska analyses latent memory in the context of the Silesian martyrology. According to the author, in the case of the tragic experiences of the Silesians, their memoirs bear features of latent memory, or, in other words, of memories which, for various reasons, are not revealed to outsiders, instead being exchanged (cultivated) mainly in family and in local tradition, between the trusted and the well-known. In the fith part of the volume there is also the article Od REVIEWS–REPORTS reliktu do refleksji [From Relic to Reflection] by Grzegorz Żuk, dealing with education in places of remembrance. In the text, the author analyses such a place – the museum created on the grounds of the former concentration camp in Majdanek, which is the first such institution, as it originated as early as during World War II. he sixth and final part of the publication edited by Jan Adamowski and Marta Wójcicka is devoted to the relation between memory and cultural identity. It features the following articles: Kult świętego Rocha jako przejaw pamięci społeczności lokalnej w parafii mikstackiej [he Worship of Saint Roch as an Example of Memory of the Local Community in the Misktat Parish] by Małgorzata Strzelec, Tradycyjna funkcja dzwonów kościelnych w świadomości współczesnego człowieka [he Traditional Role of Church Bells in the Consciousness of Contemporary People] by Lidia KwiatkowskaFrejlich, Twórczość ludowa jako element transmisji międzypokoleniowej [Folk Art as a Part of Inter-generation Transmission] by Kinga Czerwińska, and Muzycy ludowi – rodzinna transmisja kompetencji i pasji muzycznych [Folk Musicians – Family Transmission of Competence and Passion for Music] by Karolina Targowska. In her article, Małgorzata Strzelec utilizes a source database consisting of the parish chronicle, texts published in academic and regional press, participant observations, as well as results of empirical studies. hese studies were conducted in 2009 with 123 students between the fourth and the sixth year of their primary school education and REVIEWS–REPORTS 117 students between the first and the third year of their secondary school education. A total of 240 students that were born in the Misktat parish and were living there during the research participated in the studies. On the basis of the results of the empirical research the author tries to answer the question: do young Misktat parishioners know the origin of the church of Saint Roch and do they know why blessings are given to animals in Misktat. he studies reveal that the remembrance of the intercession of Saint Roch, which granted the grace of rescue to the townspeople of Misktat, lives on in both the non-physical and the physical form. he large participation of the citizens, also the youngest ones, in church fairs proves that they see the need to remember that legacy and pass it on to the next generation. Next, Lidia Kwiatkowska-Frejlich analyses statements supporting and opposing the use of church bells in cities. he informative, organisational, atmosphere- and rhythm-setting functions are most often quoted as arguments. he second to last article in the publication, written by Kinga Czerwińska, touches upon issues that include: the role and place of folk art in the contemporary culture, as well as folk art in the activity, the objective, and the subjective aspect of tradition. he publication is concluded by an article by Karolina Targowska, who discusses whether folk musicians are artists and, if so, what can support that claim. his article is a result of studies conducted by a team of sociologists from the University of Lodz as a part of the international project AMIEUROPE and covering 229 the years 2010–2011. he main aim of the studies was to picture customs and folk culture in multi-generation families in central Poland. he studies clearly show that the methodology and form of passing on competence from generation to generation remains standardised: it starts from inner need, progresses through observation of others, visual repetition, repetition by the ear, up until the achievement of competence in the form of knowledge of notes, scale and tone in the case of the first and the second generation. To sum up, the contemporary commonness of culture globalisation causes many people to be anxious about losing their ethnic and regional separateness and to seek support for identity awareness and connections with their place of birth or residence. his always was and still is guaranteed by cultural passed on from generation to generation and based on common culture. he issues tackled in the book are interdisciplinary and highly interesting. he variety of the subjects discussed in the publication, together with its clear thematic structure makes the book a very significant source of information in the studies of memory. Analyzed problems are connected with broadly defined tradition – not only (as implied by the title) with the culture, but perhaps even closer to the social sphere. It should be noted that the previous volume, the third, fourth and fith series of “Tradycja dla współczesności. Ciągłość i zmiana” [Tradition for Modernity. Continuity and Change] were devoted to the category of social reality or contexts of social tradition, 230 REVIEWS–REPORTS so one would expect that the publication will have proper proportion. Unfortunately, the readers are stroked by different level of knowledge contained in another articles. Many of them are descriptive, although the subject itself is very interesting, there is no adequate methodology (e.g. scientific problems), some of the articles unfortunately have lost its value. Proportion of the number of pages (one article should have about 13 pages) of the various parts is rather preserved, though not without exceptions. Unfortunately 8–10 typed pages with bibliography and an abstract of the research paper seems to be very small. The reviewed “Pamięć jako kategoria rzeczywistości kulturalnej” [Memory as a Category of Cultural Reality], but mainly the whole series of publications, plays a significant role in interdisciplinary scientific inquiries concerning tradition. Continuity in subsequent volumes (two per year, exception in 2010) also provides a continuous actuality of the tested material. herefore, we follow up on the outcomes of these conferences and meetings in the form of publications and subsequent volumes of “Tradycja dla współczesności. Ciągłość i zmiana” [Tradition for Modernity. Continuity and Change]. he advantage of the publication is a variety of thematic. he major criticism of the work is the lack of a clear ending, that could be a kind of summary of the main points of work or answers to questions. Iwona Galewska Opole University, Poland Joanna Marszałek-Kawa: A report from VII International Academic Conference “Asia in the 21st Century: Challenges, Dilemmas, Perspectives: Debating Economics, Politics, Security, Culture, and Education in Contemporary Asia,” Toruń, 16–17 May 2013 On 16–17 May 2013, Toruń hosted the seventh international scientific conference on Asia entitled, “Asia in the 21st Century: Challenges, Dilemmas, Perspectives: Debating Economics, Politics, Security, Culture, and Education in Contemporary Asia”. he conference was held under the patronage of Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski. he conference was organized by the Association for Asia and Pacific, the Marshal’s Office of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodship, Professor Czesław Mojsiewicz’s International Cooperation Support Fund, and the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies at the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. he interest in the conference – which was an important event not only in the scientific endeavors of the university, but also in the whole region – far exceeded the organizers’ expectations. Over 280 presentations were submitted to the organizing committee, which chose 210 and divided them into 35 panels. A few panels were held in English, such as Evolutions: “In the shadow of the Great Game” – Internal Dynamics of Central Asia, he New Geopolitics of Asia, Civil Society and National Identity Question in Asia, and Regional Economic Cooperation in Asia: Current Situation and Future Prospects. Guests from China, Germany, REVIEWS–REPORTS Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Pakistan attended the conference. A number of eminent scholars representing the most important academic centers in Poland were also invited. Among them, we should mention prof. Jerzy Jaskiernia from the Jan Kochanowski University in Kielce; prof. Hassan A. Jamsheer from the Warsaw Management Academy; prof. Tadeusz Wallas, Dean of the Faculty of Political Science and Journalism at Adam Mickiewicz University; prof. Jacek Sobczak from the Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities; prof. Edward Olszewski from the Higher School of International Relations and Social Communications in Chełm; prof. Zbigniew Wiktor from the University of Wrocław; prof. Sylwester Gardocki from the University of Warsaw; prof. Kazimierz Starzyk from the Warsaw School of Economics; prof. Ewa Oziewicz, prof. Tadeusz Dmochowski and prof. Krystyna Żołądkiewicz, all of whom are from the University of Gdańsk; prof. Adam Gwiazda from the Casimir the Great University in Bydgoszcz; prof. Maria Bernat from the Opole University of Technology; prof. Jolanta Młodawska and prof. Bartosz Wojciechowski from the University of Łódź; prof. Arkadiusz Gut from the John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin; prof. Robert Jakimowicz from Cracow University of Economics; prof. Renata Gałaj-Dempniak from Szczecin University; prof. Teruji Suzuki from the Leon Kozmiński Academy of Entrepreneurship and Management; and professors Marek Szulakiewicz and Piotr Grochmalski from the Nicolaus Coperni- 231 cus University in Toruń. he main research areas included the following issues: Asian diplomacy; the internal security of Asian states; the comparison of the geopolitical potential of Asian states; the global economic crisis in Asia; U.S.-Asian relations in the first decade of the 21st century; the system of values in Asian states – tradition, modernity; the past and the present day of Asia; aspects of the economic policy of Asian states; their expansion into the global market; and educational systems. In the last two decades, we have seen the growing role of Asian states in the international arena. hrough their rapid development, these countries have increased their share in global production and trade. Politicians, scholars, experts, and analysts pay close attention to processes occurring in these states. It is estimated that the Asian tigers are now playing a significant, if not the dominant, role in the economic and political spheres. It is obvious that their economic success determines their political status and the strength of their political clout. As a result, Asian leaders are putting more and more emphasis on pursuing effective ways and methods of protecting their own interests and securing their position on the global level. In particular, Asian leaders are accomplishing this by developing their military potential. What is of utmost importance, however, is the influence of contemporary Asian states on the international situation in the political, cultural, and educational spheres. he conference was opened in the Youth Culture Centre by Joanna Marszałek-Kawa, 232 Ph.D., from the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies of the Nicolaus Copernicus University, the initiator and Chief Scientific Officer of the conference. Her opening talk was followed by speeches by Adam Marszałek, Ph.D., Chairman of the Association for Asia and Pacific; Piotr Całbecki, Marshal of the Kujawsko-Pomorskie Voivodship; Michał Zaleski, President of the City of Toruń; and prof. Roman Backer, Dean of the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies of the Nicolaus Copernicus University. Plenary sessions in English were moderated by prof. Krzysztof Pałecki from Jagiellonian University in Cracow. he conference in Toruń was attended by four ambassadors: His Excellency Xu Jian, the Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Poland; His Excellency Murad Ali, the Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan to Poland; Her Excellency Patricia Ann V. Paez, the Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines; and His Excellency Piotr Świtalski, Ph.D., the Council of Europe Policy Planning Director. Each ambassador gave a speech during the first part REVIEWS–REPORTS of the session. Ater dinner, panels were simultaneously held in two venues: in five conference rooms of the Marshal’s Office and two rooms of the Academic Hotel. Zajazd Staropolski, a restaurant serving traditional Polish dishes, hosted the ceremonial banquet, which was accompanied by the musical and dance performances. On the second day of the conference, panels XV to XXXV were held until dinner, during which most participants continued their discussions on the conference subjects. To conclude, it must be pointed out that the participants of the 7th Asian Conference raised some important, topical, and relevant research problems in their presentations. here is no doubt that the interest in this event reflects the growing attention paid to Asian issues. Moreover, it is an indictment of the appreciation bestowed on the organizers’ work. Like in previous years, some presentations will be published in the form of articles in a few volumes in Polish and English. Joanna Marszałek-Kawa Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland Kultura i Edukacja 2013, No. 6 (99) AUTHORS Mariusz Baranowski Department of the History of Sociology Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań ul. Szamarzewskiego 89, 60-568 Poznań, Poland mariusz.baranowski@amu.edu.pl Beata Bonna Department of Music Pedagogy Institute of Pedagogy, Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz ul. J.K. Chodkiewicza 30, 85-064 Bydgoszcz, Poland beata@bonna.pl Izabella Bukraba-Rylska Department of Rural Sociology Institute of Rural and Agricultural Development Polish Academy of Sciences ul. Nowy Świat 72, 00-330 Warszawa, Poland ibukraba@irwirpan.waw.pl Joanna Cukras-Stelgowska Department of Adult Education Faculty of Educational Sciences Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń, Poland ul. Gagarina 9, 87-100 Toruń joanstel@umk.pl Ewa Duda-Mikulin Department of Social Policy School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work, College of Health & Social Care University of Salford Salford, M5 4WT, UK - 0161 295 5000, United Kingdom e.a.duda-mikulin@edu.salford.ac.uk Iwona Galewska Department of European Studies Institute of Political Science, Faculty of History and Pedagogy Opole University pl. Kopernika 11A, 45-040 Opole, Poland iwonagalewska@gmail.com Marcela Kociaczuk Department of Semiotics of Culture Institute of Cultural Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań ul. Szamarzewskiego 89A, 60-568 Poznań, Poland marcelak@wp.pl Gregory Króliczak Action and Cognition Laboratory Institute of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań ul. Szamarzewskiego 89B, 60-568 Poznań, Poland krolgreg@amu.edu.pl Carl Marklund Centre for Baltic and East European Studies Södertörn University Alfred Nobels allé 7, 141 89 Huddinge, Sverige, Sweden crlmarklund@gmail.com 234 Joanna Marszałek-Kawa Department of Polish Republic Political System Faculty of Political Sciences and International Studies Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń ul. Batorego 39L, 87-100 Toruń, Poland kawadj@box43.pl Georgios Michalopoulos Faculty of History University of Oxford George Street, Oxford OX1 2RL, United Kingdom georgios.michalopoulos@history.ox.ac.uk Jakub Stelgowski Department of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology Faculty of History Authors Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń ul. Władysława Bojarskiego 1, 87-100 Toruń, Poland stelag@doktorant.umk.pl Jacek Tittenbrun Department of the History of Sociology Institute of Sociology, Faculty of Social Sciences Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań ul. Szamarzewskiego 89, 60-568 Poznań, Poland jacek@amu.edu.pl Przemysław Wewiór Department of Social and Political Philosophy Institute of Philosophy, Faculty of Social Sciences University of Wroclaw ul. Koszarowa 3/20, 51-149 Wrocław, Poland pwewior@gmail.com