Opposite Poles

by Erdmans, Mary Patrice

• ISBN13: 9780271017358
• ISBN10: 027101735X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1998-03-01
• Publisher: Pennsylvania State Univ Pr

Summary

A close look at the relations and divisions between new Polish immigrants and established Polish American ethnics in Chicago.

Opposite Poles presents a fascinating and complex portrait of ethnic life in America. The focus is Chicago Polonia, the largest Polish community outside of Warsaw. During the 1980s a new cohort of Polish immigrants from communist Poland, including many refugees from the Solidarity movement, joined the Polish American ethnics already settled in Chicago. The two groups shared an ancestral homeland, social space in Chicago, and the common goal of wanting to see Poland become an independent noncommunist nation. These common factors made the groups believe they ought to work together and help each other; but they were more often at opposite poles. The specious solidarity led to contentious conflicts as the groups competed for political and cultural ownership of the community.

Erdmans's dramatic account of intracommunity conflict demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between immigrants and ethnics in American ethnic studies. Drawin

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix	(2)
List of Tables	xi
Introduction: Immigrants and Ethnics	1	(16)
1 Polishness in Twentieth-Century America	17	(40)
2 Immigrants, Wakacjusze, and Refugees	57	(27)
3 Culture and the Discourse of Communism	84	(40)
4 A Solidarity of Differences	124	(34)
5 Power, Competition, and Ownership	158	(36)
6 Identity and National Loyalty: The 1989 Election	194	(20)
Conclusion: Migrations and Generations	214	(19)
Bibliography	233	(16)
Appendix	249	(8)
Index	257