Authors

ANNA EWA PILARCZYK-PALAITIS¹;  ¹ Vytautas Magnus University/Center for Social Anthr, Lithuania

Discussion

This presentation explores how members of the Polish minority in Lithuania actively construct and renegotiate Polishness across shifting spatial and temporal contexts. Drawing on ethnographic research in Poland and Lithuania (2022–2024), I identify three recurrent strategies of Polishness: (1) a homeland-anchored “Proper Pole” stance rooted in communicative memories of pre-war Vilnius; (2) a Kresy discourse-inflected stance, where the national myth of “lost lands” frames self-understanding and may become commodified; and (3) a local/tutejszy and increasingly hybrid stance that normalizes cultural polyvalence and civic attachment to Lithuania. Rather than treating these as fixed types, I show how individuals toggle among them depending on situation, audience, and institutional field. For some, cross-border mobility (e.g., study, work, circular migration) repositions them within these fields, while for many younger actors the Kresy frame recedes in favor of regional and civic identifications. The analysis illuminates agentic forms of belonging and informal modes of integration that operate beyond state expectations and grand national narratives, highlighting how symbolic and geographical border-crossings intersect in everyday identity work.