Monika Baer
Monika Baer teaches social and cultural anthropology at the University of Wrocław. Her main research areas comprise postsocialist transitions and Europeanization processes in Central/Eastern Europe with a special attention given to gender/sexuality, activism, and political engagement of social sciences and humanities.
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Papers by Monika Baer
Analytical Strategy of Contemporary Anthropology
Since its very beginning, the concept of “otherness” has been in many
ways vital for highlighting the distinctiveness of anthropological practice. It has provided not only an important discursive dimension of the relationship between the figures of anthropologist and of his/her subject of study, but also of the anthropological praxis itself. Applying an auto-ethnographical approach, in the paper I investigate three research projects in which the “otherness” of my disciplinary perspective (as compared to those prevailing in respective research areas) was used as an effective tool for gaining a more sophisticated knowledge of the studied phenomena. However, while it made up for some deficiencies of the criticized discourses, the strategic “otherness” of my own epistemological/methodological location has always generated the new ones. In this context, the purpose of my “agonistic confessions” is not merely to take a critical look at the discipline of anthropology, but to reveal how its analytical devices are produced at the intersections of various processes of the contemporary as well as the relational nature of the anthropological “self”. This in turn should raise awareness that the strategic use of “otherness” should be always accompanied with (auto)reflexive insights.
Résumé : Le propos de cet article est d’analyser comment le caractère apparemment universel des dispositions légales dans la Pologne contemporaine – lesquelles font figurer l’orientation sexuelle dans la liste des motifs protégés uniquement dans le cadre de l’emploi – a identifié les initiatives du mouvement LGBT polonais fondées sur une politique identitaire et un paradigme de droits civiques de type (néo)libéral. Ses tentatives d’inclure les « minorités sexuelles » dans un concept hégémonique de citoyenneté par le biais d’un recours à des mesures législatives n’ont pas encore abouti. Mais le mouvement a réussi à introduire progressivement l’idée d’une citoyenneté culturelle et juridique LGBT dans l’imaginaire collectif de la société polonaise. Les résultats réels de cette situation au sens large à l’échelle nationale, européenne et mondiale, vont être abordés dans le contexte des interactions entre la municipalité et les résidents LGBT de Wroclaw. Alors que la municipalité affirme que les citoyens LGBT sont inclus dans les mesures générales de lutte contre les discriminations, les activistes LGBT assurent que la municipalité ne les reconnait pas en tant que tels et renâcle à coopérer. À l’inverse, d’autres résidents LGBT ne considèrent pas qu’une telle reconnaissance et/ou coopération soit souhaitable, ce qui, à son tour, problématise les principes fondamentaux d’un activisme LGBT polonais dominant.
The (Un)useful Law? City Policies and LGBT Experiences in Wroclaw, Poland
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyze how the apparently universal character of legal provisions in contemporary Poland, which list sexual orientation as a protected ground solely in the field of employment, has identified the initiatives of Polish LGBT movement based on identity politics and civil rights paradigm of a (neo)liberal type. Its attempts to include "sexual minorities" in a hegemonic concept of citizenship by the use of legislative measures have not yet succeeded. But, the movement has managed to gradually introduce an idea of LGBT cultural and legal citizenship into collective imagination of Polish society. The actual results of that broader situation, defined by national, European and global scales, are discussed in the context of interactions between the municipality and LGBT residents of Wroclaw (PL). While the municipality declares that LGBT citizens are included in general antidiscrimination frames, LGBT activists stress that the municipality does not recognize them and is unwilling to cooperate. Contrarily, other LGBT residents do not find such recognition and/or cooperation desirable. This in turn problematizes basic premises of the Polish mainstream LGBT activism.
In this paper I analyze the dynamics of narratives related to a planned takeover of a couple of villages of the Dobrzeń Wielki commune together with the Opole Power Station by the city of Opole (PL). In this context I focus on politics and ethics of emotions, feelings and affects which marked the discursive space and brought varied types of affective togetherness in the field of "political. " Because discursive practices of commune's inhabitants were shaped by anticipations of uncertain future, they evoked the "ethics of probability" and the "ethics of possibility. " While the former embodied fears connected to the planned division, the latter expressed hope for "good life. " They both inspired various forms of social protest. However, because concepts of "good life" usually relate to discernable ends and strategies, changing circumstances result in different politics and ethics of emotions, feelings and affects. Consequently, when the anticipated takeover became the daily present, the discourses of "authorities" and of "ordinary people" started to diverge. This, in turn, brought reconfigurations of affective togetherness, shifted poles of the field of "political, " and redefined the local scene of "politics. " The leaders who stuck on ideas defining the pre-partition period lost the latest municipal election to a faction who did not dwell on the past, but promised to work collectively for the better future.
peuvent pas être considérés comme des catégories identitaires fondant l’activisme politique. Pour construire la cohésion sociale, les liens informels entre les individus, interpersonnels, comptent tout autant. Si la diversité des opinions sur l’identité
et l’efficacité des stratégies politiques engendre des conflits, elle n’exclut pas la possibilité d’actions communes en faveur des droits des minorités sexuelles.
Mots-clés : Mouvement gay et lesbien. Activisme local. Identité sexuelle. Stratégies politiques. Pologne.
of Kim Fortun. The purpose of the suggested analytical devices is to destabilize the categories utilized in the discussed debate on the one hand, and to show its embeddedness in the wider context of the contemporary world on the other. Th is enables moving beyond dichotomous thinking and toward a more all-encompassing approach.
Books by Monika Baer
Analytical Strategy of Contemporary Anthropology
Since its very beginning, the concept of “otherness” has been in many
ways vital for highlighting the distinctiveness of anthropological practice. It has provided not only an important discursive dimension of the relationship between the figures of anthropologist and of his/her subject of study, but also of the anthropological praxis itself. Applying an auto-ethnographical approach, in the paper I investigate three research projects in which the “otherness” of my disciplinary perspective (as compared to those prevailing in respective research areas) was used as an effective tool for gaining a more sophisticated knowledge of the studied phenomena. However, while it made up for some deficiencies of the criticized discourses, the strategic “otherness” of my own epistemological/methodological location has always generated the new ones. In this context, the purpose of my “agonistic confessions” is not merely to take a critical look at the discipline of anthropology, but to reveal how its analytical devices are produced at the intersections of various processes of the contemporary as well as the relational nature of the anthropological “self”. This in turn should raise awareness that the strategic use of “otherness” should be always accompanied with (auto)reflexive insights.
Résumé : Le propos de cet article est d’analyser comment le caractère apparemment universel des dispositions légales dans la Pologne contemporaine – lesquelles font figurer l’orientation sexuelle dans la liste des motifs protégés uniquement dans le cadre de l’emploi – a identifié les initiatives du mouvement LGBT polonais fondées sur une politique identitaire et un paradigme de droits civiques de type (néo)libéral. Ses tentatives d’inclure les « minorités sexuelles » dans un concept hégémonique de citoyenneté par le biais d’un recours à des mesures législatives n’ont pas encore abouti. Mais le mouvement a réussi à introduire progressivement l’idée d’une citoyenneté culturelle et juridique LGBT dans l’imaginaire collectif de la société polonaise. Les résultats réels de cette situation au sens large à l’échelle nationale, européenne et mondiale, vont être abordés dans le contexte des interactions entre la municipalité et les résidents LGBT de Wroclaw. Alors que la municipalité affirme que les citoyens LGBT sont inclus dans les mesures générales de lutte contre les discriminations, les activistes LGBT assurent que la municipalité ne les reconnait pas en tant que tels et renâcle à coopérer. À l’inverse, d’autres résidents LGBT ne considèrent pas qu’une telle reconnaissance et/ou coopération soit souhaitable, ce qui, à son tour, problématise les principes fondamentaux d’un activisme LGBT polonais dominant.
The (Un)useful Law? City Policies and LGBT Experiences in Wroclaw, Poland
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to analyze how the apparently universal character of legal provisions in contemporary Poland, which list sexual orientation as a protected ground solely in the field of employment, has identified the initiatives of Polish LGBT movement based on identity politics and civil rights paradigm of a (neo)liberal type. Its attempts to include "sexual minorities" in a hegemonic concept of citizenship by the use of legislative measures have not yet succeeded. But, the movement has managed to gradually introduce an idea of LGBT cultural and legal citizenship into collective imagination of Polish society. The actual results of that broader situation, defined by national, European and global scales, are discussed in the context of interactions between the municipality and LGBT residents of Wroclaw (PL). While the municipality declares that LGBT citizens are included in general antidiscrimination frames, LGBT activists stress that the municipality does not recognize them and is unwilling to cooperate. Contrarily, other LGBT residents do not find such recognition and/or cooperation desirable. This in turn problematizes basic premises of the Polish mainstream LGBT activism.
In this paper I analyze the dynamics of narratives related to a planned takeover of a couple of villages of the Dobrzeń Wielki commune together with the Opole Power Station by the city of Opole (PL). In this context I focus on politics and ethics of emotions, feelings and affects which marked the discursive space and brought varied types of affective togetherness in the field of "political. " Because discursive practices of commune's inhabitants were shaped by anticipations of uncertain future, they evoked the "ethics of probability" and the "ethics of possibility. " While the former embodied fears connected to the planned division, the latter expressed hope for "good life. " They both inspired various forms of social protest. However, because concepts of "good life" usually relate to discernable ends and strategies, changing circumstances result in different politics and ethics of emotions, feelings and affects. Consequently, when the anticipated takeover became the daily present, the discourses of "authorities" and of "ordinary people" started to diverge. This, in turn, brought reconfigurations of affective togetherness, shifted poles of the field of "political, " and redefined the local scene of "politics. " The leaders who stuck on ideas defining the pre-partition period lost the latest municipal election to a faction who did not dwell on the past, but promised to work collectively for the better future.
peuvent pas être considérés comme des catégories identitaires fondant l’activisme politique. Pour construire la cohésion sociale, les liens informels entre les individus, interpersonnels, comptent tout autant. Si la diversité des opinions sur l’identité
et l’efficacité des stratégies politiques engendre des conflits, elle n’exclut pas la possibilité d’actions communes en faveur des droits des minorités sexuelles.
Mots-clés : Mouvement gay et lesbien. Activisme local. Identité sexuelle. Stratégies politiques. Pologne.
of Kim Fortun. The purpose of the suggested analytical devices is to destabilize the categories utilized in the discussed debate on the one hand, and to show its embeddedness in the wider context of the contemporary world on the other. Th is enables moving beyond dichotomous thinking and toward a more all-encompassing approach.