Laudacja wygłoszona podczas ceremonii wręczenia Księdzu Profesorowi Wojciechowi Bębnowi Nagrody im. Benedykta Polaka

The article provides an outline of the career of Rev. Prof. Wojciech Bęben as a prominent ethnologist, experienced field researcher an expert in the indigenous peoples of New Guinea and Oceania. The author presents the biography and contribution of Wojciech Bęben, juxtaposing them with the achievements of other distinguished Polish researchers in this area – Jan Kubary and Bronisław Malinowski

Wdowy, polityczki, feministki i ja. Esej o antropologii na rogu ulicy

In the article, I tell the stories of a few female research partners of mine, who accompanied me during ethnographic fieldwork on forced displacement at the UNESCO World Heritage site in Hampi, India. These women differed in every respect: their ethnic origin and caste, religious affiliation, age, marriage status, social position, level of education, and person- ality. What they had in common was their agency in challenging social expectations and an extraordinary capability to be resilient. I scrutinize my close, albeit not always easy relationships with them, the process of rapport-building in the field, the power relations inscribed in ethnographic research and my own changing positionality vis-a-vis women from my street in Hampi.

Poznawać, wierzyć, kochać. O Wojciechu Bębnie i jego wielu światach

The article presents the prominent Polish ethnologist and missionary, Rev. Prof. Wojciech Bęben. First, the text outlines the scholar’s academic biography and describes four distinct stages of his work. The first stage was related to research in the Manam Motu Island,the second one involved long-term, in-depth fieldwork on the Bam (Biem) Island, the third included research among the peoples of New Guinea, while the last has been related to fieldwork in the Torres Strait Islands and has involved travels to Australia, New Zealand and Polynesia. In the second part, the text presents the scientific achievements of Wojciech Bęben, his publications, teaching legacy and his contribution to the organization of scientific activities.

Etnografia osobista. Antropolożka i antropolog w terenie

The article presents the idea of personal ethnography, i.e. the anthropologists’ individual experiences that include practical, existential, and emotional dimensions of ethnographic field research. Such experiences and their details are largely absent in scientific papers, due to their apparent irrelevance for research results. Nevertheless, they form an indispensable part of ethnographic research, influencing its scientific findings. This article not only emphasizes the need to include this aspect of ethnographic research in the methodological reflection, but also points out the differences and similarities between personal ethnography and autoethnography, following the main threads of personal experiences from fieldwork.

Relacja, zobowiązanie, współpraca. Założenia i wyzwania badań etnograficznych wśród osób niewidomych

The article presents the main assumptions and conditions of collaboration between the author and the vision-impaired research participants over several years of ethnographic research (2011–2017). Adopting the perspective of philosophy of dialogue, the author follows different stages of rapport, focusing on mutual expectations and emotions, as well as relationship dynamics and its underlying conditions in general. The author’s long-term research was inspired by concepts developed by Luke Lassiter in his collaborative ethnography and by Anna Wyka in her social research through shared experience, both of which marked the author’s ethical and methodological choices, including invitation extended to research participants to comment on the research findings. The second part of the article is based on research participants’ impressions and reflections on their role, engagement and relationship with the researcher.

Tworzenie wspólnego ciała, czyli o przetwarzaniu terenu wśród boliwijskich Moré

The aim of this anthropological essay is to present the emotional and intellectual processes accompanying me over the years of field research among the Bolivian Moré, who belong to the Chapacura language family. The narrative structure is twofold: addressing both topics and issues that motivated me intellectually to do the research, and the attitudes of Moré themselves, as well as conceptual categories around which their narratives seem to focus. Some passages of this essay take a more analytical form, as I focus on the impor- tance of unpredictable events, the context, and the transformation of field experience over time during the research process. I conclude that both sides of the fieldwork encounter face the task of getting to know the Other. Each gets to know the Other in a particular way through conceptual categories and ways of acting that result from their current way of being in the world.

W poszukiwaniu Bukowińczyków wśród społeczności polonijnej Brazylii. Kilka refleksji z badań w stanach Santa Catarina i Parana

The article presents an account of research among a group of immigrants in Brazil, con- sisting of people originating from Bukovina. The group is presented against the backdrop of history and contemporary life of the Polish community residing in the states of Santa Catarina and Paranaʾ. The article describes trajectories of people hailing from various parts of Poland, who migrated to southern Brazil at the turn of the 19th and 20th century following the so-called “Brazilian fever” (the economic bubble of the 1880s). It presents the results of field research carried out in 2016–2017 and 2019, most of which refer to the research participants’“ethnic condition” and identity.

Kangur – totem czy esencja? Dwie koncepcje krajobrazu

The paper analyzes landscapes of indigenous societies. Howard Morphy, in his work focusing on the Aborigines, treated the landscape as a representation of past mythical events. Such an approach involves taking a closer look at the material aspects of landscape and emphasizes the existence of realties between contemporary Aborigines and the past. A different theoretical approach was developed by Tim Ingold, conceptualizing landscape as a human-land relationship based on essence, where all beings derive their essential form and substance directly from the land, which embodies the creative forces of the ancestors. Ingold’s understanding of landscape led me to rethink my research in the Altai Mountains of Southern Siberia, conducted 25 years ago. I argue that the relationship with the land is crucial for the Altaian people. The land’s essence is not changeable and all living beings are its emanation. The landscape is therefore not a record of the past, but an active field in which the relationship between human and non-human subjects and the land is established.

Kartki z dziejów gdańskiego ośrodka etnologicznego

Ethnological Studies at the University of Gdańsk were established in 2009, making Gdańsk Ethnology Department the youngest department among anthropology-related researchinstitutions in Poland. The article discusses the history and development of Ethnology Studies in Gdańsk. It focuses on the academic profiles of scholars affiliated withthe Department, their research and the achievements of their students. In particular, the author discusses achievements of Father Wojciech Bęben (Professor of Ethnologyat the University of Gdańsk), who in 2009–2019 served as the Head of the Department of Ethnology (and Cultural Anthropology) at the University of Gdańsk.

Obrazki z terenu albo oniryczne reminiscencje Laboratoriów etnograficznych

I present multi-sensory memories from my field research that keep imbuing encounters with people and other beings with specific meaning. Such memories combine dialogues with pictures, sounds, smells and tastes, and can be conceived of as inspiration underly- ing ethnographic and anthropological research. In this context, I reflect on the method of teaching skills of ethnographic field research within “Ethnographic Laboratories”, a module introduced as part of the teaching curriculum at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology, University of Warsaw.