“Either we defend our polishness or there will be no Polonia”. Practices of negotiating national identity among the Polish diaspora members in Cleveland

Abstract

The article presents the findings of a pilot study on the ways of negotiating national identity within the Polish community (Polonia) in the American city of Cleveland. The study showed the complex ways of maintaining and building cultural boundaries (and thus constructing collective identity) by the Polish diaspora in the situation of unequal power relations with the host society, but also within Polonia itself. These practices are conducted not only in opposition to the American society but also to members of their ethnic group, as a result of which there are simultaneous processes of strengthening and weakening diasporic ties, including and excluding individual members and groups. These processes are being reinforced by the existence of multifaceted divisions within this community (generational, social class-based, spatial, and political), which shape its condition and the patterns of its members’ participation.