Paper short abstract:

Post-migrative communities of polish Western and Northern Lands still have problem with creation of their identity. However, many of cultural institution and NGO's try to establish new regional and local traditions which extract from heritage based on pre- and postwar memory of cultural landscape.

Paper long abstract:

Polish Western and Northern Lands include regions which socio-cultural structure has been marked by the history of resettlements of Polish and Ukrainian people and German expulsions after 1945. The exchange of population had significant impact on the deconstruction of cultural continuity. Regional heritage has been forgotten over the years. However, the next generation of new inhabitants of Polish "Recovered Territories" began the process of restoring local heritage. It shows that local community activities are an important region-creating factor, constituting a coherent image of a region or a "little homeland" based on multicultural heritage.

The multiculturalism demands specific strategies, development and promotion directions from cultural institutions. Local community and NGO's, apart from being subject to some external influences of institutions also undertake activities for the cultural heritage. These initiatives are related to Rappaport's concept of social ecosystem and aim mainly at: 1) strengthening group bonds and building a community, based on specific characteristics, such as cultural heritage (cultural resources of a local territory); 2) implementing necessary changes and improving the quality of life (economic resources of a local territory); 3) protecting and taking care of natural environment (natural resources of a local territory).

The presentation aims to show selected examples of cultural heritage promotion in post-migrative communities. The analysis will be taken in relation to the glocality theory of modern society.

*Project "Creating Regional and Local Identity in Western and Northern Lands (with Special Consideration Given to Żuławy and Powiśle)" is funded by National Science Center in Poland.