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Stereotyping and the Cosmopolis

—Martyna Borowicz

Many political refugees come to England hoping to find a better life. Among the newly arrived we also find people who come to Albion for less dramatic reasons: because it is nice to study in London, earn some money, meet some other foreigners. The author of ‘Cosmopolis – the tale of a Polish immigrant in multicultural London’ (Rising East Online, January 2007), Natalia Paszkiewicz came to London because she could not stand mono-ethnic and mono-religious monotony in her own country.

However, for centuries Poland was multicultural even if today’s ethnic monolith makes it hard to believe. In the year 1334 King Kazimierz Wielki opened the country for Jews persecuted at the time in all Western Europe. The structures of their commercial activity were to survive in Poland until the Second World War. The Polish politics of religious tolerance reached its peak at the beginning of the XVI century with the arrival of Protestants persecuted in many European countries. This was also the age of a unique religious movement of Polish Brothers claiming pacifism, liberation of the third state, and propagating the modern idea of human dignity. In opposition to Western European tendencies the Counter-Reformation of the XVII century took a much gentler course in Poland. From the XVIII century till 1918 Poles, assimilated Jews, Germans, Tatars, Russians, Lithuanians, Belarusian, Ukrainians, Greeks and other nationalities were constantly fighting for the independence of Poland against German and Russian imperialists.

The feeling of menace and defeat helped nationalist tendencies to grow. At the beginning of the XX century the wave of anti-Semitism crossing Europe reached Poland as well. After 1945, the German policy of annihilating our cultural variety, our multinational intelligentsia, was continued by the Soviets. Today we are “mono-ethnic” as Natalia Paszkiewicz describes. I regret it as deeply as she does. However this letter proves that our multicultural heritage is still vigorous despite years of communism. My compatriot’s mentality seems to be marked by the idealised image of a mythic country of cultural diversity.

But even the desire for diversity does not explain some expressions in my compatriot’s article, such as “dirty milk” to describe the colour of our faces, and the assimilation of all Poles to the condition of “xenophobic, narrow-minded, conservative Catholics”. It sounds a bit like a racial, or at least a chauvinistic discourse - quite surprising for an anthropologist, quite sad for a Pole. Natalia’s self-portrait forces me to write some banalities: many of my Polish friends are feminist but they can cook, are Catholic but are not xenophobic nor narrow-minded, have blue eyes, but are not blond; still, they are Poles!

I too have experienced ethnic and cultural diversity abroad. I spent the last year of my studies in Paris. I was discovering the old Black faces full of dignity that even a hard life couldn’t break, the Asian sobriety and contemplative look, the charm of a French style. Still, I wonder if I first saw what I was told to see first. However, I was enjoying fascinating conversations with French wo/men, Arab wo/men, Danes, and Africans. Cultural and physical differences are fascinating indeed. But perceiving the Other as an exiting aesthetic element of a foreign culture is unhealthy. Even if your intentions are noble, you cannot avoid the question: “Am I your friend for who I am, or are you my friend because I’m Black?”

Seeing human despite even the most beautiful skin colour, or appreciating individual nature despite external cultural marks, can be a challenge for anyone. It is especially important in an anthropologist’s observation. Cultures, just like their representatives, are dynamic phenomena. Whether black, white or yellow we are much more than elements of the cosmopolitan décor of London, Paris or Polish cities. We are all looking for a place to be and we all need to be attentive to stereotypical thinking, also about ourselves.

And we all deserve “social justice” for which Natalia Paszkiewicz fights. I would like to make this phrase sound less ironic, because I know that Natalia’s involvement in the cause of minorities is sincere and enduring. This was apparent to me in Poland many years ago when I first met this natural born fighter.

Martyna Borowicz is a Pole living in Poland, translating French materialist feminist authors into Polish, writing about gender and gesture in French medieval literature, and playing traditional songs from Poland, Ukraine and Belarus. martynaborowicz@yahoo.fr

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