Paper short abstract

The paper investigates the way a once proscribed religious-national group can become valued for its 'authentic tradition', 'distinctive culture', and 'closeness to nature' and how this change fits well with the demands of tourism, as well as policies of and discourses on national minorities.

Paper long abstract

Analyzing one ethno-revivalist ritual, the paper investigates the way a once proscribed religious-national group can become a commoditized national minority valued by toursits and locals for its 'authentic tradition', 'distinctive culture', and 'closeness to nature'. It points out wider social processes in Poland and Eastern Europe that lie behind the maintenance of boundaries between Roman Catholic Poles and Greek Catholic Ukrainians and argues that the organic narrative on religious-national cultures fits well with the demands of tourism and heritage preservation, as well as with Europe-wide and nation-state policies and discourses on national minorities. More generally, the paper illuminates the relationship between ethno-tourism and social change and the ambivalence it causes among ordinary Catholics in south-east Poland.

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