Paper short abstract:

There are a lot of problems connected with mediatization of Polish contemporary rural life. In my paper I would like to present peasants ways of coping with problem of building cultural identity in mediatized world and also answer a question about specificity of Polish contemporary village.

Paper long abstract:

Everyday life in Polish villages is fulfilled by work, social interactions and media. Television and the internet are important factors in creating reality, which is therefore mediatized. Although the inhabitants of villages still consider local traditions as significant part of their lives, there is no doubt that local heritage play different role in people's life than in the past (f.e. 20-30 years ago). How they build their cultural identity in this situation? Do they look for values which comes from local traditions or do they prefer to use media content for that? During my ethnographic studies in Polish villages (2005-2013) I have observed that there is uncertainty in the assessment what values are the most "useful" in building cultural identity. Those which comes from local traditions sometimes seemed to be not congruent with reality. Those seen or heard in media (especially Polish TV series), which I described as elements of mediatized traditions, were considered as more helpful. There are a lot of problems connected with mediatization of contemporary life. In my paper I would like to present peasants ways of coping with this situation and also answer a question about specificity of Polish contemporary village.