Paper short abstract:

Idea of Europe is an important part of Polish identity. When asked strictly, most people say Europe is a geographical concept. But they also often say “Europe” meaning EU. Sometimes it is also imagined as a cultural space without clear borders: some people even doubt, whether Poland belongs to Europe.

Paper long abstract:

During my field research in four polish villages I tried to find out, what is the meaning of Europe as a mental category in contemporary Polish identity and where do people mark the border of Europe. There is the difference between answers people give when asked a strict question and some things they say casually.

The general answer to the question where does Europe end, was "on the Ural mountains, that's obvious!", so we name geographical content of the category as a very popular one.

But often the same people use this category meaning EU, or even Shengen zone: they speak about "entering Europe in 2004", about possibility to travel without visas "all over Europe", or about "stupid laws, that Europe introduces". Such statements indicate the importance of political/economical meaning of "Europe", which is supposed to be "just geography".

At the same time there is a third type of concepting Europe, which can be called cultural. In contrast to geographical and political ones, it has no strict criteria and therefore - no strict borders. For some people just old EU-states are real Europe, and Poland is only trying to match it. Others, on the contrary, think Europe's cultural space is wider, than EU - in fact, Ukraine and Belarus (sometimes even whole Russia) also belong to Europe. Some people even say that nowadays Europe is "all over the world".

All this is an important question of identity: if Poland has always belonged to Europe? What does it mean to be European?