Paper Short Abstract:

This paper looks at the politics and discourse of polarisation in a small Polish town amidst 2023 election tensions, drawing on 13 months of ethnographic fieldwork to examine the affective experiences of political antagonism and its negotiation by political actors and the local community.

Paper Abstract:

This paper examines the politics and discourse of polarisation during a period of heightened political tension in the run-up to the parliamentary elections in Poland in October 2023. Based on 13 months of ethnographic fieldwork in north-central Poland, it looks at populist mobilisation and everyday politics in the eighth year of the rule of illiberal right-wing Law and Justice (PiS). The research sheds light on the ramifications of PiS's rise to power, which has been seen as emblematic of a crisis of the hegemonic ideal of European liberal democracy that emerged during Poland's post-1989 'transition' period. The two terms of PiS rule have been dominated by controversy and protests over the rule of law, disregard for liberal democratic principles and repeated clashes with the EU. On the one hand, there is mounting concern over deepening political polarisation and erosion of civic community; on the other, there is recognition that it has led to unprecedented political mobilisation.

Through exploring polarisation's affective resonances and grounded negotiations amongst a small-town community and local political actors, the paper looks at how multifaceted turbulence filters into localised contexts as Poland grapples with the complex entanglements and reverberations of economic, political and social crises. Furthermore, the paper reflects on the role of anthropology in elucidating the dynamics that shape the senses of solidarity and antagonism that underpin polarised contexts during times of political upheaval.