The Lemko Land Remembered: About the Research on the Memory of the Lemkos in Poland and Ukraine

Main Article Content

Patrycja Trzeszczyńska

Abstract

The paper concerns the collective and cultural memory of the Lemko community, members of which identify themselves as Ukrainians or as Russians (Carpathorussians). As a consequence of deportations the group experienced at the end of the Second World War in  communist Poland (1944-1947), most Lemkos now live scattered in western Poland and western Ukraine. The members of the group are unusually focused on the past and still build their identity on this historic reversal, which re-defined the meaning of being the Lemko. In the late 1980s, they began  intensive commemorative practices. I have explored the discourses of the Lemkos’ past shown in written and oral narrations, which I gathered in Poland and Ukraine. The results of ethnographic field research and the analysis of documentary literature  show the variety of memory discourse strategies which often lead to conflict, and which the Lemkos apply in their discussions of contemporary ethnic identity. 

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Article Details

How to Cite
Trzeszczyńska, P. (2016). The Lemko Land Remembered: About the Research on the Memory of the Lemkos in Poland and Ukraine. Anthropology of East Europe Review, 33(2), 1–25. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.iu.edu/journals/index.php/aeer/article/view/21954
Section
Articles