Paper short abstract:

Based on ethnographic research I will elaborate on how the memoryscape of Białowieża, once Tsarist's private property, is perceived. Who relates to the Tsar's time in Białowieża as oppressive, and who recalls the opposite? How is this linked to contemporary control of resources and discourse?

Paper long abstract:

There has been discussion on defining the situation of East-Central Europe as a postcolonial condition (Cervinkova 2012, Chari, Verdery 2009). Much of it covers the imperialism of Tsarist Russia, which led to the research project on how institutional actors and local communities dealt with heritage/s from tsarist times in various parts of Poland.

In my presentation, I will focus on Białowieża - a big village settled in the heart of the Białowieża Primeval Forest (BPF) with a multi-ethnic and multi-religious community. Based on discourse analyses, 20 IDI, and ethnographic observations I will elaborate on how the memoryscape of Białowieża (whose dominant layout originated when Białowieża Forrest was a Tsarist's private property with the palace in the centre) has been treated and is variously remembered.

Not only the complexity of state and ethnic heritage but also the presence of a powerful symbolic resource as the last primeval forest make Białowieża not a typical village (Franklin 2000; Niedziałkowski et al. 2012; Winiarski et. al. 2012). During my research, I mapped vital sources of divisions and a sense of oppression among part incumbents related to the establishment of Polish statehood in 1918 and the arrival of the uniformed services of State Forest and National Park, which complicate the identities of colonisers. Thus I will provocatively propose the application of the perspective of “green colonialism” (Kwashirai 2009; Normann, 2020; Kartveit 2021) coined in reference to former colonies in Africa, and put it on the discussion about this case study.