Etnolog i pisarz. O autokreacji w romologicznej spuściźnie Jerzego Ficowskiego

Abstract

This text analyses the self-creation strategy of Jerzy Ficowski, a Polish Romologist, who studied the Roma community in Poland from the end of World War II, publishing his findings in two texts Cyganie polscy (Polish Gypsies; published in 1953 and reprinted, in changed forms and under different titles in 1965, 1985 and 1989) and in a memoir titled Demony cudzego strachu (Demons of others’ fears; published in 1986). This strategy stretches between the poles of the extreme reduction of the speaker’s “I”, limiting itself to the coverage of sources, and the autobiographical narrative which maintains an intimate tone. The subject that emerges is a modernist ethnographer who uses the language of discursive domination and orientalising clichés. This is particularly evident in the passages devoted to the poetic genius of Bronisława Wajs-Papusza, which reproduces the classical concepts of tragedy and the sublime.

Keywords

• Roma Studies
• Jerzy Ficowski
• the Roma in Poland
• ethnography
• self-creation