Going beyond poles of power to examine the poles: A review of racism/anti‐blackness in Poland

Abstract

AbstractThis article provides an overview of literature pertaining to anti‐blackness and racism in Poland. Much of the literature on anti‐blackness and racism in Europe has focused on certain hegemonic powers in Europe. This literature reviews seeks to add another country to explore the topic. The article first discusses how anti‐blackness conversations are formulated in general and then shifts to examine Poland, exploring how these conversations on immigration, economic issues and Islamophobia add to a broader discussion of Europe's problems with anti‐blackness more broadly. From here, the article examines and dismantles the notions that Poland is isolated from the African continent and that Poland's historical and contemporary population can be viewed as totally homogenous. Self‐identified Afro‐Poles are discussed as a focal population of Black Poles, showing that there are generational interactions between the African continent and Polish society in the last section. This review seeks to add a new case study into the discourse of anti‐blackness and racism in Europe. I argue that cases like Poland are valuable and necessary to develop fuller conceptualizations of anti‐blackness.