Persistent essentialism in Polish nationalist discourse

A Wittgensteinian critique

Bibliographic Data

ID2186931
AuthorsWitold Jacorzynski (0000-0002-9784-5653, Centro de Investigación y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social, corresponding author)
Year2020
Volume43
Issue2
Pages82-93
Publication date2020-04-02
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropology Southern Africa (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2332-3264 • E-ISSN: 2332-3256
PublisherInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/23323256.2020.1755875
OpenAlexW3042554566
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited15

Essentialism, an erroneous way of thinking that can be traced to classical philosophy, assumes a thing to hold necessary intrinsic characteristics. Such thinking has been commonly employed for a popular understanding of bounded groups of people, establishing imaginary communities and achieving political aims. This article explores different iterations of essentialist understanding of the Polish nation in naturalist, theogenic and primordialist ways. It then considers the persuasiveness of nationalist essentialism and argues that making the fallacy of such thinking visible is a necessary first step in anti-essentialist politics

Epistemology · Essentialism · Islam · Nationalism · Political science · Politics · Secularism · Sociology · Theology · Central European Literary Studies · Language and Culture · Law · Philosophy · Polish-Jewish Holocaust Memory Studies · Religious studies · Religious Studies

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