Identities, Borderlands, Diasporas.

Changing Anthropological Research Practices

Abstract

I present the history and experiences of Polish-Ukrainian research conducted by employees of the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the University of Warsaw in Ukraine and Ukrainian minorities in Poland in the years 1996-2016 from the perspective of a researcher and research organizer. I recall the cooperation with Ukrainian researchers and institutions, the problems it addressed, the main topics of grant projects, as well as a related educational project: an Ethnographic Laboratory, which enabled the involvement of many student groups in the research and the establishment of close, sometimes lasting contacts between Polish and Ukrainian students. I present my interpretation of the ethnographic method rooted in phenomenology. I show changes in research issues, embedded in research experiences and the changing political and cultural situation. I refer to my anticipatory experiences regarding the fate of the Ukrainian minority in the period of the Polish People's Republic. I provide examples of inspiration from historical and anthropological literature, as well as my own experiences and discoveries regarding identity on borderlands and in diasporas, perceived primarily from the perspective of religious culture.