On the Need for Translation of Knowledge Between Generations. the Case in Ukrainian Minority in Poland in Gendered Perspective

I conduct the research on three generations of Ukrainian women living in Poland, who are representants of the uprooted minority (displaced in 1947 during Operation „Vistula”). Each of these generations grew up in totally different political and cultural conditions, which determined diversified strategies of maintenance of their collective identity. Simultaneously, each of them had to adapt their knowledge (obtained in primary socialization from the previous generation) in order to further exploitation. In each of these gnerations especially women actively advocated the survival of Ukrainian culture under a constant risk of majorization. In this way, she-representants of successive generations of the minority have gone from the trauma of uprootment and subsequent hidden cultivating their own culture in new – usually hostile – local societies, through a phase of building the contact network in Polish diaspora, up to the contemporary phenomena of hybrydization and lack of rooting in local societies by own choice.

The dissimilarity of the three generations' experiences and observed cultural continuity recquired a common axis of analysis, which I seek in the concept of translation. This concept is widespread in a studies of multiculturalism, especially in the perspective of postcolonialism. I my speech the concept of translation will be used to analyze the variability of transferred knowledge of women which is customized by representatives of successive generations to the changing cultural and political reality. In this way I will try to point out its applicability in research on intergenerational cultural transfer of knowledge.

Presented results are a part of research in progress realized as the research grant of Polish National Science Center „Women in uprooted community. Agentic perspective in adversarially conditioned structure” [2013/11/D/HS6/04643].