Odczuwając naród: estetyka martyrologii mesjanistycznej w Polsce

Abstrakt

Based on archival and ethnographic research on Polish martyrology, this article shows that national mythology is structured by history, embodied in visual and material culture, enacted in ordinary and extra-ordinary practices, and consumed in everyday commodities. I argue that it is the convergence and exchange between diverse sites of material expression and sensory perception that makes national
mythology especially resilient. Even so, as historically constructed, contingent and contested systems of myths, the extent to which national mythologies can shape national identity or mobilize toward nationalist action depends on the specific historical contexts in which they are deployed. Theoretically, this article joins historical and phenomenological approaches to propose a framework for thinking about the constitution, persistence and shifting social and political valences of national mythologies.