Manchester University Press
Epilogue
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Tomasz Grusiecki
Abstract
In order to connect the book’s discussion of transculturation to the present day and reinforce the importance of exploring deep histories of how such interrelations have worked since the early modern period, the epilogue moves us to today’s Kruszyniany, a village in northeastern Poland that is a home to one of the oldest mosques in this part of Europe. Rather than offering comfort, the Kruszyniany mosque causes cognitive dissonance, presenting us with a historic building in conflict with the all too often prevailing image of a modern, ethnically homogenous Polish state. Reading the Kruszyniany mosque as a Tatar building, Polish only in a qualified sense, removes the temptation of tracing every architectural and artistic form found in the present-day Republic of Poland to distinctively Polish national traits. Foregrounding unexpected connections, relationships, and dependencies between seemingly disparate cultures becomes increasingly important in the twenty-first century, a period which has seen a renewed interest in invidious nationalism both in North America and in Europe, including the Commonwealth’s four indirect successor states, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus. Today’s world is at a crossroads, in between cosmopolitanism and nativism, and it is through the stories like that of the Kruszyniany mosque’s transcultural manifestations that the clichés of national uniqueness and authenticity might finally be dispelled. While offering a summary of the book’s arguments, the epilogue is an appeal to thinking about the nation through the prism of its transcultural ramifications.
Abstract
In order to connect the book’s discussion of transculturation to the present day and reinforce the importance of exploring deep histories of how such interrelations have worked since the early modern period, the epilogue moves us to today’s Kruszyniany, a village in northeastern Poland that is a home to one of the oldest mosques in this part of Europe. Rather than offering comfort, the Kruszyniany mosque causes cognitive dissonance, presenting us with a historic building in conflict with the all too often prevailing image of a modern, ethnically homogenous Polish state. Reading the Kruszyniany mosque as a Tatar building, Polish only in a qualified sense, removes the temptation of tracing every architectural and artistic form found in the present-day Republic of Poland to distinctively Polish national traits. Foregrounding unexpected connections, relationships, and dependencies between seemingly disparate cultures becomes increasingly important in the twenty-first century, a period which has seen a renewed interest in invidious nationalism both in North America and in Europe, including the Commonwealth’s four indirect successor states, Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine and Belarus. Today’s world is at a crossroads, in between cosmopolitanism and nativism, and it is through the stories like that of the Kruszyniany mosque’s transcultural manifestations that the clichés of national uniqueness and authenticity might finally be dispelled. While offering a summary of the book’s arguments, the epilogue is an appeal to thinking about the nation through the prism of its transcultural ramifications.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of figures viii
- Acknowledgements xiii
- A note on names xv
- Map xviii
- Introduction 1
- 1 Where is Sarmatia? 30
- 2 How do you dress like a Pole? 57
- 3 Who speaks for Poland? 101
- 4 Where do Polish carpets come from? 147
- Epilogue 194
- Bibliography 203
- Index 237
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Dedication v
- Contents vii
- List of figures viii
- Acknowledgements xiii
- A note on names xv
- Map xviii
- Introduction 1
- 1 Where is Sarmatia? 30
- 2 How do you dress like a Pole? 57
- 3 Who speaks for Poland? 101
- 4 Where do Polish carpets come from? 147
- Epilogue 194
- Bibliography 203
- Index 237
