Paper short abstract:

This paper is devoted to an amateur ethnographic work from the beginning of the 20th century. It is an artistic combination of autobiographical memories and scientific documentation, interpreted here as a practice of dwelling in the cultural landscapes.

Paper long abstract:

“Ethnographic fragments collected personally in Podolia as the second part of the diary” by Jan Pastuszenko is an amateur ethnographic monograph from the beginning of the 20th century. Dozens of handwritten pages with drawings, schemata and photo, myths and legends, stories about neighbourhoods, minorities such as Jews and Roma are mixed together with descriptions of agricultural tools and home equipment and furnishings. On the one hand, it is an artistic presentation of autobiographical memories, but on the other hand it is a kind of scientific documentation, inspired by a monumental work, “Die Sitten der Völker” by George Buschan. In analyzing this ethnographic diary I describe the ethnographer as an author who resides in a multi-dimensional reality. I would like to interpret research and writing as personal experiences embedded in interactions with people, cultures, memory and identity.