Neither German nor Pole: Catholicism and National Indifference in a Central European Borderland
by James Bjork
University of Michigan Press, 2008 Cloth: 978-0-472-11646-1 | eISBN: 978-0-472-02529-9 Library of Congress Classification BX1567.S55B56 2008 Dewey Decimal Classification 282.438509034
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
ABOUT THIS BOOK
"This is a fascinating local story with major implications for studies of nationalism and regional identities throughout Europe more generally."
---Dennis Sweeney, University of Alberta
"James Bjork has produced a finely crafted, insightful, indeed, pathbreaking study of the interplay between religious and national identity in late nineteenth-century Central Europe."
---Anthony Steinhoff, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Neither German nor Pole examines how the inhabitants of one of Europe's most densely populated industrial districts managed to defy clear-cut national categorization, even in the heyday of nationalizing pressures at the turn of the twentieth century. As James E. Bjork argues, the "civic national" project of turning inhabitants of Upper Silesia into Germans and the "ethnic national" project of awakening them as Poles both enjoyed successes, but these often canceled one another out, exacerbating rather than eliminating doubts about people's national allegiances. In this deadlock, it was a different kind of identification---religion---that provided both the ideological framework and the social space for Upper Silesia to navigate between German and Polish orientations. A fine-grained, microhistorical study of how confessional politics and the daily rhythms of bilingual Roman Catholic religious practice subverted national identification, Neither German nor Pole moves beyond local history to address broad questions about the relationship between nationalism, religion, and modernity.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
James E. Bjork is a lecturer in the History Department of King's College London.
REVIEWS
"This valuable study fills a significant void in the English-language literature on Upper Silesia and deserves careful consideration from Polish and German scholars working in the field."
—Robert E. Alvis, Saint Meinrad School of Theology, American Historical Review
— Robert E. Alvis, American Historical Review
"Whether or not one agrees with all of Bjork's efforts to assign broader applicability to his findings, he has produced the only modern English-language account, based on wide reading and a thorough plumbing of provincial archives, of political developments in this key borderland---important not just because of its unique ethnic mix, of course, but also because it was imperial German's second most important (and post-1922 Poland's most important) industrial region. His study adds significantly to our understanding of the ethnic, political, and especially confessional dynamics of a particular stage in the evolution of the German-Polish relationship, and for that reason alone will be of interest to historians of Germany and Poland alike."
—Richard Blanke, Slavic Review
— Richard Blanke, Slavic Review
"James Bjork has written a landmark study, a stunningly original analysis of the crystallization of national identity out of the spirit of 'anationality' and 'national indifference' that will become standard reading for scholars of nationalism, ethnic borderlands, and the history of religion and its intersection with ethnicity....And he has written a work of enduring significance, which will shape the field for many years."
—Helmut Walser Smith, Journal of Modern History
— Helmut Walser Smith, Journal of Modern History
Winner: Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 2010 Kulczycki Prize in Polish Studies
— Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
TABLE OF CONTENTS
\rrhp\
\lrrh: Contents\
\1h\ Contents \xt\
\comp: set page numbers on page proofs\
Acknowledgments
Place-Name Equivalents
Notes on Language and Names
Introduction
Chapter 1: Priests, Editors and the Struggle for the Catholic Milieu
Chapter 2: Down with the Center: The Growth of Alternative Nationalisms
Chapter 3: The Retreat from Nationalist Politics
Chapter 4: The Vicissitudes of War
Chapter 5: Either/Or: The Plebiscite of 1921
Conclusion
Selected Bibliography
Index \to come\
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
Neither German nor Pole: Catholicism and National Indifference in a Central European Borderland
by James Bjork
University of Michigan Press, 2008 Cloth: 978-0-472-11646-1 eISBN: 978-0-472-02529-9
"This is a fascinating local story with major implications for studies of nationalism and regional identities throughout Europe more generally."
---Dennis Sweeney, University of Alberta
"James Bjork has produced a finely crafted, insightful, indeed, pathbreaking study of the interplay between religious and national identity in late nineteenth-century Central Europe."
---Anthony Steinhoff, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
Neither German nor Pole examines how the inhabitants of one of Europe's most densely populated industrial districts managed to defy clear-cut national categorization, even in the heyday of nationalizing pressures at the turn of the twentieth century. As James E. Bjork argues, the "civic national" project of turning inhabitants of Upper Silesia into Germans and the "ethnic national" project of awakening them as Poles both enjoyed successes, but these often canceled one another out, exacerbating rather than eliminating doubts about people's national allegiances. In this deadlock, it was a different kind of identification---religion---that provided both the ideological framework and the social space for Upper Silesia to navigate between German and Polish orientations. A fine-grained, microhistorical study of how confessional politics and the daily rhythms of bilingual Roman Catholic religious practice subverted national identification, Neither German nor Pole moves beyond local history to address broad questions about the relationship between nationalism, religion, and modernity.
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
James E. Bjork is a lecturer in the History Department of King's College London.
REVIEWS
"This valuable study fills a significant void in the English-language literature on Upper Silesia and deserves careful consideration from Polish and German scholars working in the field."
—Robert E. Alvis, Saint Meinrad School of Theology, American Historical Review
— Robert E. Alvis, American Historical Review
"Whether or not one agrees with all of Bjork's efforts to assign broader applicability to his findings, he has produced the only modern English-language account, based on wide reading and a thorough plumbing of provincial archives, of political developments in this key borderland---important not just because of its unique ethnic mix, of course, but also because it was imperial German's second most important (and post-1922 Poland's most important) industrial region. His study adds significantly to our understanding of the ethnic, political, and especially confessional dynamics of a particular stage in the evolution of the German-Polish relationship, and for that reason alone will be of interest to historians of Germany and Poland alike."
—Richard Blanke, Slavic Review
— Richard Blanke, Slavic Review
"James Bjork has written a landmark study, a stunningly original analysis of the crystallization of national identity out of the spirit of 'anationality' and 'national indifference' that will become standard reading for scholars of nationalism, ethnic borderlands, and the history of religion and its intersection with ethnicity....And he has written a work of enduring significance, which will shape the field for many years."
—Helmut Walser Smith, Journal of Modern History
— Helmut Walser Smith, Journal of Modern History
Winner: Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies 2010 Kulczycki Prize in Polish Studies
— Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies
TABLE OF CONTENTS
\rrhp\
\lrrh: Contents\
\1h\ Contents \xt\
\comp: set page numbers on page proofs\
Acknowledgments
Place-Name Equivalents
Notes on Language and Names
Introduction
Chapter 1: Priests, Editors and the Struggle for the Catholic Milieu
Chapter 2: Down with the Center: The Growth of Alternative Nationalisms
Chapter 3: The Retreat from Nationalist Politics
Chapter 4: The Vicissitudes of War
Chapter 5: Either/Or: The Plebiscite of 1921
Conclusion
Selected Bibliography
Index \to come\
REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE
If you are a student who cannot use this book in printed form, BiblioVault may be able to supply you
with an electronic file for alternative access.
Please have the accessibility coordinator at your school fill out this form.
It can take 2-3 weeks for requests to be filled.
ABOUT THIS BOOK | AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY | REVIEWS | TOC | REQUEST ACCESSIBLE FILE