Palimpsestic Memoryscape: Heterotopias, “Multiculturalism” and Racism in Białystok.

This article examines the palimpsestic memoryscape of Białystok to illuminate the ongoing struggle in contemporary Poland between two memory regimes: the declarative “multiculturalism” and the submerged racism. It employs the concept of “heterotopia” and the method of walking in order to study the J...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:History & Memory Vol. 34; no. 2; pp. 33 - 76
Autor principal: POLYNCZUK-ALENIU, KINGA
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Indiana University Press Fall/Winter2022
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:This article examines the palimpsestic memoryscape of Białystok to illuminate the ongoing struggle in contemporary Poland between two memory regimes: the declarative “multiculturalism” and the submerged racism. It employs the concept of “heterotopia” and the method of walking in order to study the Jewish Heritage Trail (JHT) as an attempt to recover the memory of bygone multiethnicity and, in doing so, to mint a new “multicultural” brand for the city. By analyzing the postJewish spaces located on the JHT—all of which have been appropriated, erased and/or marginalized—the article shows that this new “multicultural” memory regime actually reproduces the inequalities and segregation that structured interethnic relationships in the past.