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Piotr Majewski

Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Faculty of Cultural Studies and Modern Langauges, Adjunct

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Address: Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland

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Papers by Piotr Majewski

Whose nation? Whose history?

Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism, 2021

Comments on the article by Piotr Żuk (2018): "Nation, National Remembrance, and Education – Polish Schools as Factories of Nationalism and Prejudice," Nationalities Papers, DOI: 10.1080/00905992.2017.1381079 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00905992.2017.1381079

Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism: School History Education in Poland

Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism

This book analyses the relationship between history education and nationalism in the context of t... more This book analyses the relationship between history education and nationalism in the context of the dominant structures of collective memory in Poland. Drawing on original qualitative research with history teachers, it explores the ways in which teachers understand the aims of history teaching and how they teach history, with some contesting or negotiating official and hegemonic nationalist memory projects, while others predominantly reproduce or radicalise them. A study of teachers' tendencies to approach history through the prism of nationalism, this study reveals a view of history lessons as a means of instilling national identity in students, as the past is constructed in nationalist terms and no contradiction is identified in viewing history as both an objective science and a 'nationalising' tool. An examination of the means by which a dominant nationalist discourse is reinforced through historical education, Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism will appeal to scholars of sociology and education with interests in nationalism and memory studies.

Naród w szkole. Historia i nacjonalizm w polskiej edukacji szkolnej

Wydawnictwo Naukowe Katedra, 2019

Nationalism, but what kind?

Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism, 2021

Polska dla Polaków, nie żaden kurwa Ahmed – analiza narracji islamofobicznych w polskim rapie

Kultura Popularna, 2018

The “invented” Muslim-migrants became contemporary “folk devils”. They are portrayed by the media... more The “invented” Muslim-migrants became contemporary “folk devils”. They are portrayed by the media – which play a crucial role in this process – as deviants, who pose a threat to the social order, national culture and values shared by all the Polish people. Thus, refugees, perceived en masse as Islamic fundamentalists, became an object of media symbolization. This mechanism allows for a mobilization against those who would like to welcome refugees to Poland – various traitors of the fatherland, lefties, liberals, post-communists or opposition politicians, who “collaborate” with the European Union and the Venice Commission. Paradoxically, the hunt for “Muslim witches” does not intend to eliminate them, but rather discursively construct them through moral panic. The Islamophobic rap demonstrates the relationship between the Polish and the followers of Islam through binary oppositions. The Muslims and the Polish are presented as two antagonistic civilizations, although the positive conn...

Teaching the nation: history and nationalism in Polish school history education

British Journal of Sociology of Education, 2017

Abstract This article aims to analyse Polish history teachers’ understanding of the role of teach... more Abstract This article aims to analyse Polish history teachers’ understanding of the role of teaching history. Drawing on the results of qualitative research conducted in Wroclaw, we argue that teachers see history education through the prism of nationalism. Teachers construct the past in equivocally nationalist terms. They regard nationalist representations of the past as taken for granted. Moreover, teachers reproduce a dominant nationalist discourse by using history to promote the idea of the homogeneous nation. We argue that teachers see their role primarily in terms of imposing the dominant structures of collective memory on the pupils. We also discuss the differences between teachers pertaining to the understanding of the concept of the nation, the way of teaching Polish history and the type of obligation towards the nation. We also demonstrate that teachers do not see a contradiction between history defined as an objective science and history understood as a ‘nationalising’ tool.

Rap jako muzyka tożsamościowa: od czarnego getta do polskiego pop-nacjonalizmu

Sprawy Narodowościowe, 2016

Rap as identity music: from the black ghetto to Polish pop-nationalismIn today’s world, cultural ... more Rap as identity music: from the black ghetto to Polish pop-nationalismIn today’s world, cultural products, technologies, information and ideologies more and more permeate from one society to another, crossing all kinds of borders in the least expected way. Rap career is an illustration of this process. It was created in the late seventies and eighties of the twentieth century in New York ghettos and today it represents one of the most popular genres on the global scale. Rap is not only a symbol of revolution and the domination of Western capitalist business practices but also a cultural tool by which different groups, often marginalized or considering themselves as such, express their own identity. I am analyzing the indicated above phenomenon using two, extreme at first glance, examples. First, I present the story of the emergence and development of hip-hop culture in the United States. I try to show how rap music, which is an important element of this culture, allowed a marginaliz...

Analiza sposobów i strategii opisywania Polski i Polaków w kontekście EURO 2012 w oficjalnych i nieoficjalnych mediach europejskich

Taki mały, taki duży może świętym być. Proces mitologizacji Todora "Tose" Proeskiego w macedońskiej kulturze popularnej

Kultura Popularna, 2013

Przeglądanie się w Cyganie-obraz innego w prozie Andrzeja Stasiuka

Sprawy Narodowościowe, 2008

The essay attempts to reconstruct the picture of Roma people which is included in Andrzej Stasiuk... more The essay attempts to reconstruct the picture of Roma people which is included in Andrzej Stasiuk prose, famed and extremely influential Polish writer, whose books are one of the major source of information – for what is told its audience – about, among other things, Romani population in Central-East Europe. Starting from theory of critical discourse analysis, the author shows that Stasiuk imagination of Gypsy based on dangerous and dominant stereotypes which could be compare to racist and apartheid ideology.

The politics of sport in Poland after 1945

Sport, Statehood and Transition in Europe, 2020

Politics of memory in Upper Silesian schools: Between Polish homogeneous nationalism and its Silesian discontents

Memory Studies

The article discusses the connections between nationalism and history teaching in the context of ... more The article discusses the connections between nationalism and history teaching in the context of dominant structures of collective memory in Poland. Drawing on qualitative research in Upper Silesian schools, the article analyses in detail how the state-sponsored history is enacted and resisted by the teachers in school practice. The article also demonstrates the advantages of processual conceptualisation of collective memory. It provides further theoretical insight by bringing together three strands of literature: memory studies, nationalism studies and critical media analysis.

Dziedzictwo EURO 2012 w cyberprzestrzeni – warszawski Stadion Narodowy i studium trzech przypadków

Gdy jestem pytany o "dziedzictwo EURO 2012" albo to, "co po EURO?", jako pierwszy powraca obraz z... more Gdy jestem pytany o "dziedzictwo EURO 2012" albo to, "co po EURO?", jako pierwszy powraca obraz z kilku miesięcy mijającego roku. Jest więc ciepłe bądź upalne popołudnie, najlepiej weekendowe, i wówczas można obserwować dziesiątki ludzi przemierzających pieszo, niespiesznie, most Poniatowskiego. Po raz pierwszy od dziesiątków lat most ten-przypomnijmy: główny szlak tranzytowy podczas mistrzostw Europy, łączący Stadion Narodowy ze strefą kibica przy Pałacu Kultury-stał się atrakcją: modnym i godnym obiektem nadwiślańskiego flaneuryzmu. W podobnie spontaniczny sposób została zaanektowana plaża (precyzyjnie mówiąc: ciąg plażowy) po praskiej stronie Warszawy. Jest swoistym signum temporis, że od razu pojawili się tam misjonarze konsumpcji, którzy postanowili ową dzikość nawracać po swojemu, z miernymi, póki co, na szczęście, efektami, jakkolwiek nie mam wątpliwości, po czyjej stronie będzie zwycięstwo. Stadion Narodowy-przyjmuję tu z biograficznych powodów warszawską perspektywę-stał się obiektem "widzialnym" w podwójnym znaczeniu tego słowa. Po pierwsze więc, jest on wizualnie dostępny z rozlicznych miejsc: i wtedy, gdy stoi się na Placu Zamkowym, i wówczas, gdy pokonuje się pociągiem odcinek między Dworcem Centralnym i Wschodnim (mijając także po drodze zharmonizowany z obiektem

Majewski P., (Re)konstrukcje narodu. Odwieczna Macedonia powstaje w XXI wieku, Wydawnictwo Katedra, Gdańsk 2013

Dziedzictwo EURO 2012 w cyberprzestrzeni – warszawski Stadion Narodowy i studium trzech przypadków

Gdy jestem pytany o "dziedzictwo EURO 2012" albo to, "co po EURO?", jako pierwszy powraca obraz z... more Gdy jestem pytany o "dziedzictwo EURO 2012" albo to, "co po EURO?", jako pierwszy powraca obraz z kilku miesięcy mijającego roku. Jest więc ciepłe bądź upalne popołudnie, najlepiej weekendowe, i wówczas można obserwować dziesiątki ludzi przemierzających pieszo, niespiesznie, most Poniatowskiego. Po raz pierwszy od dziesiątków lat most ten-przypomnijmy: główny szlak tranzytowy podczas mistrzostw Europy, łączący Stadion Narodowy ze strefą kibica przy Pałacu Kultury-stał się atrakcją: modnym i godnym obiektem nadwiślańskiego flaneuryzmu. W podobnie spontaniczny sposób została zaanektowana plaża (precyzyjnie mówiąc: ciąg plażowy) po praskiej stronie Warszawy. Jest swoistym signum temporis, że od razu pojawili się tam misjonarze konsumpcji, którzy postanowili ową dzikość nawracać po swojemu, z miernymi, póki co, na szczęście, efektami, jakkolwiek nie mam wątpliwości, po czyjej stronie będzie zwycięstwo. Stadion Narodowy-przyjmuję tu z biograficznych powodów warszawską perspektywę-stał się obiektem "widzialnym" w podwójnym znaczeniu tego słowa. Po pierwsze więc, jest on wizualnie dostępny z rozlicznych miejsc: i wtedy, gdy stoi się na Placu Zamkowym, i wówczas, gdy pokonuje się pociągiem odcinek między Dworcem Centralnym i Wschodnim (mijając także po drodze zharmonizowany z obiektem

The UEFA European Football Championship 2012 and pop nationalism in Poland: between confirmation and contestation

Identities, 2015

ABSTRACT Poland and Ukraine jointly hosted the European Football Championship in 2012. The Polish... more ABSTRACT Poland and Ukraine jointly hosted the European Football Championship in 2012. The Polish media and government portrayed Euro 2012 as the culmination of the post-communist transformation that started in 1989, a great national celebration and proof that Poland belonged to the family of ‘modern’ nations. Drawing on ethnographic research, we look beyond the official discourse and analyse Euro 2012 ‘from below’ in our paper. We focus on analysing the different meanings attributed to Euro 2012 in Poland in the context of the dominant discourse. Referring to Stuart Hall, we distinguish and analyse three readings of Euro 2012, namely the dominant (‘celebrators’), negotiated (‘indifferentists’, ‘modernisers’) and oppositional (‘radical nationalist’, ‘rebels’) readings.

Krzysztof Jaskulowski, Piotr Majewski, Politics of memory in Upper Silesian schools. Between Polish homogeneous nationalism and its Silesian discontents, “Memory Studies”, ahead of print, DOI: 10.1177/1750698017741933

by Krzysztof Jaskulowski and Piotr Majewski

The paper discusses the connections between nationalism and history teaching in the context of do... more The paper discusses the connections between nationalism and history teaching in the context of dominant structures of collective memory in Poland. Drawing on qualitative research in Upper Silesian schools, the article analyses in detail how the state-sponsored history is enacted and resisted by the teachers in school practice. The paper also demonstrates the advantages of processual conceptualisation of collective memory. It provides further theoretical insight by bringing together three strands of literature: memory studies, nationalism studies and critical media analysis.

Project “Skopje 2014” – “À la recherche du temps perdu”

Cultures of Crisis in Southeast Europe Part 2, Apr 1, 2017

The development of the urban renewal project "Skopje 2014" has evoked one of the most controversi... more The development of the urban renewal project "Skopje 2014" has evoked one of the most controversial debates over public issues in the short history of the Macedonian Republic. It has divided Macedonian citizens into national, religious, and social counter-formations. The major dispute runs along the most important identity narrations on the contemporary Macedonians ethnogenesis. It additionally overlaps with the political preferences of the parties in dispute, as well as their national attachments, religion, and stance they take on the subject of public space and its architectural function. Elite groups -politicians, architects, scientists or publicists -play a key role in the conflict, even though "casual" citizens take part in this dispute by either supporting, negotiating or opposing the development of the project. The main goal of this article is to examine some specifics of state architectonic practices in post-socialist Macedonia. I would also like to analyse disputes that accompany these practices and present the interrelations of the conflict and its culture modelling potential. This article summarizes four years of my research based on intensive ethnographic fieldwork, which covered the period from 2009 to 2013. Other data was acquired through research of media sources.

Whose nation? Whose history?

Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism, 2021

Comments on the article by Piotr Żuk (2018): "Nation, National Remembrance, and Education – Polish Schools as Factories of Nationalism and Prejudice," Nationalities Papers, DOI: 10.1080/00905992.2017.1381079 https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00905992.2017.1381079

Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism: School History Education in Poland

Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism

This book analyses the relationship between history education and nationalism in the context of t... more This book analyses the relationship between history education and nationalism in the context of the dominant structures of collective memory in Poland. Drawing on original qualitative research with history teachers, it explores the ways in which teachers understand the aims of history teaching and how they teach history, with some contesting or negotiating official and hegemonic nationalist memory projects, while others predominantly reproduce or radicalise them. A study of teachers' tendencies to approach history through the prism of nationalism, this study reveals a view of history lessons as a means of instilling national identity in students, as the past is constructed in nationalist terms and no contradiction is identified in viewing history as both an objective science and a 'nationalising' tool. An examination of the means by which a dominant nationalist discourse is reinforced through historical education, Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism will appeal to scholars of sociology and education with interests in nationalism and memory studies.

Naród w szkole. Historia i nacjonalizm w polskiej edukacji szkolnej

Wydawnictwo Naukowe Katedra, 2019

Nationalism, but what kind?

Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism, 2021

Polska dla Polaków, nie żaden kurwa Ahmed – analiza narracji islamofobicznych w polskim rapie

Kultura Popularna, 2018

The “invented” Muslim-migrants became contemporary “folk devils”. They are portrayed by the media... more The “invented” Muslim-migrants became contemporary “folk devils”. They are portrayed by the media – which play a crucial role in this process – as deviants, who pose a threat to the social order, national culture and values shared by all the Polish people. Thus, refugees, perceived en masse as Islamic fundamentalists, became an object of media symbolization. This mechanism allows for a mobilization against those who would like to welcome refugees to Poland – various traitors of the fatherland, lefties, liberals, post-communists or opposition politicians, who “collaborate” with the European Union and the Venice Commission. Paradoxically, the hunt for “Muslim witches” does not intend to eliminate them, but rather discursively construct them through moral panic. The Islamophobic rap demonstrates the relationship between the Polish and the followers of Islam through binary oppositions. The Muslims and the Polish are presented as two antagonistic civilizations, although the positive conn...

Teaching the nation: history and nationalism in Polish school history education

British Journal of Sociology of Education, 2017

Abstract This article aims to analyse Polish history teachers’ understanding of the role of teach... more Abstract This article aims to analyse Polish history teachers’ understanding of the role of teaching history. Drawing on the results of qualitative research conducted in Wroclaw, we argue that teachers see history education through the prism of nationalism. Teachers construct the past in equivocally nationalist terms. They regard nationalist representations of the past as taken for granted. Moreover, teachers reproduce a dominant nationalist discourse by using history to promote the idea of the homogeneous nation. We argue that teachers see their role primarily in terms of imposing the dominant structures of collective memory on the pupils. We also discuss the differences between teachers pertaining to the understanding of the concept of the nation, the way of teaching Polish history and the type of obligation towards the nation. We also demonstrate that teachers do not see a contradiction between history defined as an objective science and history understood as a ‘nationalising’ tool.

Rap jako muzyka tożsamościowa: od czarnego getta do polskiego pop-nacjonalizmu

Sprawy Narodowościowe, 2016

Rap as identity music: from the black ghetto to Polish pop-nationalismIn today’s world, cultural ... more Rap as identity music: from the black ghetto to Polish pop-nationalismIn today’s world, cultural products, technologies, information and ideologies more and more permeate from one society to another, crossing all kinds of borders in the least expected way. Rap career is an illustration of this process. It was created in the late seventies and eighties of the twentieth century in New York ghettos and today it represents one of the most popular genres on the global scale. Rap is not only a symbol of revolution and the domination of Western capitalist business practices but also a cultural tool by which different groups, often marginalized or considering themselves as such, express their own identity. I am analyzing the indicated above phenomenon using two, extreme at first glance, examples. First, I present the story of the emergence and development of hip-hop culture in the United States. I try to show how rap music, which is an important element of this culture, allowed a marginaliz...

Analiza sposobów i strategii opisywania Polski i Polaków w kontekście EURO 2012 w oficjalnych i nieoficjalnych mediach europejskich

Taki mały, taki duży może świętym być. Proces mitologizacji Todora "Tose" Proeskiego w macedońskiej kulturze popularnej

Kultura Popularna, 2013

Przeglądanie się w Cyganie-obraz innego w prozie Andrzeja Stasiuka

Sprawy Narodowościowe, 2008

The essay attempts to reconstruct the picture of Roma people which is included in Andrzej Stasiuk... more The essay attempts to reconstruct the picture of Roma people which is included in Andrzej Stasiuk prose, famed and extremely influential Polish writer, whose books are one of the major source of information – for what is told its audience – about, among other things, Romani population in Central-East Europe. Starting from theory of critical discourse analysis, the author shows that Stasiuk imagination of Gypsy based on dangerous and dominant stereotypes which could be compare to racist and apartheid ideology.

The politics of sport in Poland after 1945

Sport, Statehood and Transition in Europe, 2020

Politics of memory in Upper Silesian schools: Between Polish homogeneous nationalism and its Silesian discontents

Memory Studies

The article discusses the connections between nationalism and history teaching in the context of ... more The article discusses the connections between nationalism and history teaching in the context of dominant structures of collective memory in Poland. Drawing on qualitative research in Upper Silesian schools, the article analyses in detail how the state-sponsored history is enacted and resisted by the teachers in school practice. The article also demonstrates the advantages of processual conceptualisation of collective memory. It provides further theoretical insight by bringing together three strands of literature: memory studies, nationalism studies and critical media analysis.

Dziedzictwo EURO 2012 w cyberprzestrzeni – warszawski Stadion Narodowy i studium trzech przypadków

Gdy jestem pytany o "dziedzictwo EURO 2012" albo to, "co po EURO?", jako pierwszy powraca obraz z... more Gdy jestem pytany o "dziedzictwo EURO 2012" albo to, "co po EURO?", jako pierwszy powraca obraz z kilku miesięcy mijającego roku. Jest więc ciepłe bądź upalne popołudnie, najlepiej weekendowe, i wówczas można obserwować dziesiątki ludzi przemierzających pieszo, niespiesznie, most Poniatowskiego. Po raz pierwszy od dziesiątków lat most ten-przypomnijmy: główny szlak tranzytowy podczas mistrzostw Europy, łączący Stadion Narodowy ze strefą kibica przy Pałacu Kultury-stał się atrakcją: modnym i godnym obiektem nadwiślańskiego flaneuryzmu. W podobnie spontaniczny sposób została zaanektowana plaża (precyzyjnie mówiąc: ciąg plażowy) po praskiej stronie Warszawy. Jest swoistym signum temporis, że od razu pojawili się tam misjonarze konsumpcji, którzy postanowili ową dzikość nawracać po swojemu, z miernymi, póki co, na szczęście, efektami, jakkolwiek nie mam wątpliwości, po czyjej stronie będzie zwycięstwo. Stadion Narodowy-przyjmuję tu z biograficznych powodów warszawską perspektywę-stał się obiektem "widzialnym" w podwójnym znaczeniu tego słowa. Po pierwsze więc, jest on wizualnie dostępny z rozlicznych miejsc: i wtedy, gdy stoi się na Placu Zamkowym, i wówczas, gdy pokonuje się pociągiem odcinek między Dworcem Centralnym i Wschodnim (mijając także po drodze zharmonizowany z obiektem

Majewski P., (Re)konstrukcje narodu. Odwieczna Macedonia powstaje w XXI wieku, Wydawnictwo Katedra, Gdańsk 2013

Dziedzictwo EURO 2012 w cyberprzestrzeni – warszawski Stadion Narodowy i studium trzech przypadków

Gdy jestem pytany o "dziedzictwo EURO 2012" albo to, "co po EURO?", jako pierwszy powraca obraz z... more Gdy jestem pytany o "dziedzictwo EURO 2012" albo to, "co po EURO?", jako pierwszy powraca obraz z kilku miesięcy mijającego roku. Jest więc ciepłe bądź upalne popołudnie, najlepiej weekendowe, i wówczas można obserwować dziesiątki ludzi przemierzających pieszo, niespiesznie, most Poniatowskiego. Po raz pierwszy od dziesiątków lat most ten-przypomnijmy: główny szlak tranzytowy podczas mistrzostw Europy, łączący Stadion Narodowy ze strefą kibica przy Pałacu Kultury-stał się atrakcją: modnym i godnym obiektem nadwiślańskiego flaneuryzmu. W podobnie spontaniczny sposób została zaanektowana plaża (precyzyjnie mówiąc: ciąg plażowy) po praskiej stronie Warszawy. Jest swoistym signum temporis, że od razu pojawili się tam misjonarze konsumpcji, którzy postanowili ową dzikość nawracać po swojemu, z miernymi, póki co, na szczęście, efektami, jakkolwiek nie mam wątpliwości, po czyjej stronie będzie zwycięstwo. Stadion Narodowy-przyjmuję tu z biograficznych powodów warszawską perspektywę-stał się obiektem "widzialnym" w podwójnym znaczeniu tego słowa. Po pierwsze więc, jest on wizualnie dostępny z rozlicznych miejsc: i wtedy, gdy stoi się na Placu Zamkowym, i wówczas, gdy pokonuje się pociągiem odcinek między Dworcem Centralnym i Wschodnim (mijając także po drodze zharmonizowany z obiektem

The UEFA European Football Championship 2012 and pop nationalism in Poland: between confirmation and contestation

Identities, 2015

ABSTRACT Poland and Ukraine jointly hosted the European Football Championship in 2012. The Polish... more ABSTRACT Poland and Ukraine jointly hosted the European Football Championship in 2012. The Polish media and government portrayed Euro 2012 as the culmination of the post-communist transformation that started in 1989, a great national celebration and proof that Poland belonged to the family of ‘modern’ nations. Drawing on ethnographic research, we look beyond the official discourse and analyse Euro 2012 ‘from below’ in our paper. We focus on analysing the different meanings attributed to Euro 2012 in Poland in the context of the dominant discourse. Referring to Stuart Hall, we distinguish and analyse three readings of Euro 2012, namely the dominant (‘celebrators’), negotiated (‘indifferentists’, ‘modernisers’) and oppositional (‘radical nationalist’, ‘rebels’) readings.

Krzysztof Jaskulowski, Piotr Majewski, Politics of memory in Upper Silesian schools. Between Polish homogeneous nationalism and its Silesian discontents, “Memory Studies”, ahead of print, DOI: 10.1177/1750698017741933

by Krzysztof Jaskulowski and Piotr Majewski

The paper discusses the connections between nationalism and history teaching in the context of do... more The paper discusses the connections between nationalism and history teaching in the context of dominant structures of collective memory in Poland. Drawing on qualitative research in Upper Silesian schools, the article analyses in detail how the state-sponsored history is enacted and resisted by the teachers in school practice. The paper also demonstrates the advantages of processual conceptualisation of collective memory. It provides further theoretical insight by bringing together three strands of literature: memory studies, nationalism studies and critical media analysis.

Project “Skopje 2014” – “À la recherche du temps perdu”

Cultures of Crisis in Southeast Europe Part 2, Apr 1, 2017

The development of the urban renewal project "Skopje 2014" has evoked one of the most controversi... more The development of the urban renewal project "Skopje 2014" has evoked one of the most controversial debates over public issues in the short history of the Macedonian Republic. It has divided Macedonian citizens into national, religious, and social counter-formations. The major dispute runs along the most important identity narrations on the contemporary Macedonians ethnogenesis. It additionally overlaps with the political preferences of the parties in dispute, as well as their national attachments, religion, and stance they take on the subject of public space and its architectural function. Elite groups -politicians, architects, scientists or publicists -play a key role in the conflict, even though "casual" citizens take part in this dispute by either supporting, negotiating or opposing the development of the project. The main goal of this article is to examine some specifics of state architectonic practices in post-socialist Macedonia. I would also like to analyse disputes that accompany these practices and present the interrelations of the conflict and its culture modelling potential. This article summarizes four years of my research based on intensive ethnographic fieldwork, which covered the period from 2009 to 2013. Other data was acquired through research of media sources.

"Polska dla Polaków, nie żaden kurwa Ahmed" – analiza narracji islamofobicznych w polskim rapie, Kultura Popularna 2017; 3 (53): 111-120

Kultura Popularna 2017, 2017

The “invented” Muslim-migrants became contemporary “folk devils”. They are portrayed by the media... more The “invented” Muslim-migrants became contemporary “folk devils”. They are portrayed by the media – which play a crucial role in this process – as deviants, who pose a threat to the social order, national culture and values shared by all the Polish people. Thus, refugees, perceived en masse as Islamic fundamentalists, became an object of media symbolization. This mechanism allows for a mobilization against those who would like to welcome refugees to Poland – various traitors of the fatherland, lefties, liberals, post-communists or opposition politicians, who “collaborate” with the European Union and the Venice Commission. Paradoxically, the hunt for “Muslim witches” does not intend to eliminate them, but rather discursively construct them through moral panic. The Islamophobic rap demonstrates the relationship between the Polish and the followers of Islam through binary oppositions. The Muslims and the Polish are presented as two antagonistic civilizations, although the positive connotations of this notion are rather reserved for the Polish Catholics, the sole guardians of the Christian Europe. Within this narrative the category of “Muslim” (Islamist, Arab, refugee, etc.) is essentialized, as well as the category of the “true” Polish (patriot, Catholic, heterosexual man, etc.). Anti-Muslim rappers firmly announce that if Poland decided to accept any refugees, the Polish would become a minority in their own country, stripped of their culture and faith, possibly even persecuted. They seek evidence for such extraordinary claims in the alleged transformations that other European states underwent. These radical changes are the result of an array of criminal policies introduced by the European elites, who consciously unleashed an ideological war, instrumentally utilizing Muslims as a weapon.

Comments on the article by Piotr Żuk (2018): “Nation, National Remembrance, and Education – Polish Schools as Factories of Nationalism and Prejudice,” Nationalities Papers, DOI: 10.1080/00905992.2017.1381079

by Krzysztof Jaskulowski and Piotr Majewski

Comments on the article by Piotr Żuk (2018): “Nation, National Remembrance, and Education – Polis... more

Conference Discourses of Historical Education

by Krzysztof Jaskulowski and Piotr Majewski

submission extended until 15 August

Conference: Discourses on Historical Education

by Krzysztof Jaskulowski and Piotr Majewski

Call for papers. Conference Discources on Historical Education. More information in the attached ... more

Piotr Majewski - Rap w służbie narodu. Nacjonalizm i kultura popularna.

Rap w służbie narodu. Nacjonalizm i kultura popularna., 2021

Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism School History Education in Poland, Routledge, 2022 https://www.routledge.com/Teaching-History-Celebrating-Nationalism-School-History-Education-in-Poland/Jaskulowski-Majewski-Surmiak/p/book/9780367463908

by Krzysztof Jaskulowski and Piotr Majewski

book, 2022

his book analyses the relationship between history education and nationalism in the context of th... more his book analyses the relationship between history education and nationalism in the context of the dominant structures of collective memory in Poland. Drawing on original qualitative research with history teachers, it explores the ways in which teachers understand the aims of history teaching and how they teach history, with some contesting or negotiating official and hegemonic nationalist memory projects, while others predominantly reproduce or radicalise them. A study of teachers’ tendencies to approach history through the prism of nationalism, this study reveals a view of history lessons as a means of instilling national identity in students, as the past is constructed in nationalist terms and no contradiction is identified in viewing history as both an objective science and a ‘nationalising’ tool. An examination of the means by which a dominant nationalist discourse is reinforced through historical education, Teaching History, Celebrating Nationalism will appeal to scholars of sociology and education with interests in nationalism and memory studies.

M. Dudkiewicz, P. Majewski, Cudzoziemcy w Warszawie, czyli jak zmierzyć się z nieuniknionym, m.st. Warszawa, Uniwersytet SWPS, Fundacja Obserwatorium, Warszawa 2017

red. M. Dudkiewicz, P. Majewski, Cudzoziemcy w Warszawie, czyli jak zmierzyć się z nieuniknionym, m.st. Warszawa, Uniwersytetu SWPS, Fundacji Obserwatorium, Warszawa 2017, 2017

Przed Warszawą, jako najbardziej zróżnicowanym kulturowo i narodowościowo miastem w Polsce, stoi ... more Przed Warszawą, jako najbardziej zróżnicowanym kulturowo i narodowościowo miastem w Polsce, stoi trudne zadanie stworzenia polityki integracji migrantów. Mieszkańcy i władze stolicy zaczynają dostrzegać ich obecność w rozmaitych sferach życia i podejmować działania zmierzające do włączania różnych grup cudzoziemskich do swojej społeczności. Jesteśmy przekonani, że – zwłaszcza w obliczu sytuacji międzynarodowej – działaniom tym należy poświęcić szczególną uwagę i powinien być im nadany priorytet.
Publikacja, którą Państwu prezentujemy, nie dotyczy wyłącznie uchodźców, lecz sytuacji wielu różnych grup migrantów/cudzoziemców mieszkających w Warszawie. Mamy nadzieję, że będzie ważnym głosem w debacie publicznej na temat współczesnych zjawisk migracyjnych i polityk integracyjnych. Powstała ona na podstawie badań socjologicznych i etnograficznych prowadzonych w ramach projektu zatytułowanego „Wzmocnienie trafności i skuteczności działań na rzecz cudzoziemców w Warszawie”, który realizowany był przez Fundację Obserwatorium w partnerstwie z Centrum Komunikacji Społecznej Miasta Stołecznego Warszawy, Stowarzyszeniem VOX HUMANA i Ośrodkiem Ewaluacji w ramach Programu Obywatele dla Demokracji, finansowanego z Funduszy EOG. W realizacji badań udział brali studenci kulturoznawstwa Uniwersytetu SWPS.