In Russian-Polish relations there were periods of improvement and deterioration, UPS and downs, due to both historical reasons and internal political changes and the influence of external factors. In these difficult political circumstances, the sphere of culture, education and science have always served as a reserve and a platform for maintaining contacts between the two countries. Of special importance are regular meetings of experts in international Affairs to discuss topical and theoretical problems of world politics and bilateral relations between Russia and Poland.

Silesia has always been a challenge for scientists as well as politicians, most importantly however – its people. Not many analysts and practitioners succeeded in coping with this challenge. Strategic character of this land made its inhabitants hostages to geopolitical interests of states representing diff erent cultures, languages and religions. Remaining at the front line of (what Samuel Huntington would call) civilizations, Silesia was expossed to this long-lasting process which resulted in specifi c type of identity, which the author dares call hybrid identity. It also resulted in a number of paradoxes, like for example unique model of modernization based on industrial infrastructure development accompanied by adequate work culture and civilizational patterns from one side, and from the other side closing Silesian communities in tribalism and traditionalism.

The basis of European communities’ integration is diversified. Some of its aspects are particularly emphasized, like the dynamics of economic development, which creates new quality of life for millions of Europeans. Much attention is devoted to the common historical past and the common democratic political values. The attention is focused, to a lesser extent, on what constitutes the real basis of cultural identity for European societies, namely law and the attitude to it. It is law and values attributed to it as well as legal institutions, which have been the strongest links of cultural chain connecting Europeans. Except for a basic issue, that is the Roman law tradition, one can point at a great common achievement with essential practical qualities. Lex mercatoria in the field of commercial law. Traditions of European constitutionalism, including the second, in the terms of the time of creation, modern constitution which was Polish constitution of 1791. Modern civil law becoming widespread due to the French Napoleonic Civil Code, which at the beginning of the 19th century was binding on the eastern European territory within such borders, which are now the European Union’s borders. The exchange of ideas and legal doctrine from the Middle Ages at European Universities. Promoting in these discussions, starting from the 16th century, modern solutions in the area of law, like the postulate of departing from capital punishment and equal rights. A systematic development of subjective rights, human rights, equal rights for women, rights of minorities and rights of the disabled. Introducing these rights to the positive law and ensuring their international and institutional protection.

Goethe wrote: „Mankind walks steadily forward, but the person remains the same”. Customs as a normative tradition ways of behavior are the important social community and have the power to unwritten laws. Are primarily trans­mitted orally or by imitation, once established are very slow to change. The article discusses the problem of looking at the reality of the two opposite poles.

Economic Freedom and Migration from Ukraine: the Case of Well-Educated Youth.

This paper is based on the idea that there is a special pattern in migration of the well-educated youth from Ukraine connected with the difference in levels of economic freedom that include higher salary and welfare. The survey was conducted in order to obtain data regarding influence of the level of economic freedom on the decision to leave and choice of the target country. The analysis of the survey results was carried out in terms of economic freedom and its importance to the respondents, that has brought authors to the conclusion that economic freedom is indeed important factor for educated youth when the decision to leave is made.

In the article, the question is raised whether human knowledge, abilities, emotions and socialization are capable of shaping social structures according to the idea of multiculturalism (which faces a critical situation), introducing the humanistic quality to the principles of coherence and integration. With my own research results in the background (diagnostic polling and individual interviews), integration and identity are presented as strategies determined by aims, subjects (players) and profits (rewards). What has been indicated is the idea worth promoting in the field of pedagogy, in educational institutions and in whole societies, i.e., shaping the culture which re-builds the real power of group life. The postulate to shape such culture in multicultural communities is very hard to implement, but not impossible. The presented results of the studies conducted on a specific group of young Europeans – the participants of a short-term international voluntary workcamp – indicate and illustrate the development of cognitive functions, motivation and interactive activity of kindness- based character.
The interpretative tracks and motifs for the obtained results are sought in K. Illeris’s holistic concept of learning and in other theories of various origin, not much known in the field of pedagogy: H. Simon’s concept of bounded rationality and R. Aumann’s theory of repeated games (otherwise called the theory of “conflict and cooperation” or “interactive decisions”). Applying two different approaches into the discussed issues – the theoretical and empirical, detailed and partially generalized approach – is cognitively interesting and useful in the practical dimension. This might help both to specify the stimuli which cause the evolution of human attitudes and strategies of acting and to design and organize education.

This paper is a report of some studies conducted by the author in the Roma community in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. After a brief introduction and characteristics of the surveyed group, the theoretical basis of the research and the methodological approach was presented. The project was supposed to be an attempt to show the difference between the education of Roma and of the dominant community in their country of residence. The research objective of the project was to identify the Roma perception of education and school duty, to identify and understand the relationship between the Roma identity and their relation to education and participation. Three areas were analysed: identities, culture, and education. The identification of their identities, their participation in culture and the education of the culturally dominant group are indicated. The conclusions concern the current situation of the Roma in these areas and possible recommendations or solutions for the future.

The submitted article is based on a fragment of a thesis entitled “The Image of the Roma and Artistic Bohemia in the Literature of the Young Poland”. The subject matter of the research is the description of two communities living in the period of the Young Poland: the Roma people, and Bohemians. The adopted research method embraces the range of broadly defined anthropological research, including analysis and interpretation of texts in a cultural context, and, above all, various aspects of life referring to Bohemians and the Roma community in Poland at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries. The research objective of this article is to show the similarities and differences between Bohemians of the Young Poland and the Roma living in this period, concerning originality of their lifestyle, customs, outfit and other phenomena. The in-depth analysis of the life aspects of the Roma and Bohemians from the Young Poland has demonstrated the similarities and differences between the two groups. They both functioned as “others” who had no relationship with the society. They were accompanied by a sense of loneliness, outsiderness, consciousness of rejection, tragedy of their situation and a sense of incomprehension and injustice.

„Art disappearance” (2012)2 is a film by Bartosz Konopka and Piotr Rosołowski, qualified by the authors of the document, but not entirely located within the traditionally understood documentary3. „Art disappearance” combines various genres: classic dokument, found footage and mocumentary. The axis, around which the narrative of the film focuses, is in fact a romantic concept of messianism of the Polish nation by Adam Mickiewicz. Less obviously, however, it is inspired by anthropological reflection of Ryszard Kapuscinski. The author analyzed those topics, associations and inspiration appearing in the film which allow the reader to include „Art of disappearing” among the works of the complicated structure of intertextual references.

Autor traktuje kulturę jako czynnik różnicujący ludzi i grupy i w tym kontekście wskazuje na problemy tożsamościowe przyjmując, że nikt nie jest zakładnikiem odziedziczonej kultury. Na przykładzie Piotra Lachmana, poety i pisarza, przedstawia problem jednoczesnego bycia Polakiem i Niemcem, problem ustawicznego bycia na pograniczu kultur, prowadzenia wewnętrznego dialogu tożsamościowego. Odwołując się do filozofów dialogu i innych autorytetów ukazuje wartość relacji z Innym w procesie własnego rozwoju.
Autor tekstu zwrócił uwagę na zakodowane w umysłach ludzkich dogmaty jako zagrożenie w rozwoju tożsamości oraz wskazał na zadania edukacji międzykulturowej w procesie kształtowania tożsamości ponadnarodowej, transkulturowej. Przedstawił, jak istotne obecnie, w kształtowaniu społeczeństw wielokulturowych, jest uznanie i rozumienie nowych, dynamicznych tożsamości hybrydowych.

Autorka tekstu podejmuje problematykę relacji między językiem a edukacją. Egzemplifikacją jest kultura kaszubska. Postrzega język jako element gry o tożsamość etniczną (kulturową). Ponadto opisuje proces zmiany statusu (prestiżu) języka kaszubskiego, co odzwierciedla się w podejściu do formalnej edukacji kaszubskiej. Uznanie mowy kaszubskiej jako języka przekłada się na uznanie prawa do edukacji kaszubskiej.

China’s soft power

The notion of soft power introduced by American political scientist J. S. Nye is becoming increasingly popular not only in science but also in journalism. In short, this term should be understood as the use of ideology, culture and diplomacy to build the international position of a given state. The masters in the application of soft power are generally considered Western states. However, it is forgotten that for many centuries before the West soft power to build its power was successfully used by China. Also today, rebuilding its international power, China is using soft power in its mastery of the world.

Europa posiada wyraźne odmienności kulturowo-cywilizacyjne, określane na przestrzeni dziejów jako cywilizacja łacińska, chrześcijańska, europejska oraz zachodnia. Przełom ideowy w rozwoju tej cywilizacji spowodowała przede wszystkim rewolucja francuska (1789–1799), przewartościowując w istotnym zakresie wcześniejsze wartości i idee społeczności europejskich. Niemniej obecny charakter cywilizacji zachodniej – ujawniający kryzys dotyczący szczególnie warstwy aksjologicznej – ukształtowany został w długim procesie dziejowym, pod wpływem idei, które uznawano za najbardziej nośne w poszczególnych epokach historycznych.

Socrates and Confucius constitute roots of western and eastern civilization respectively and represent very different cultural values and educational traditions. Both of the philosophers lived around 4 – 5th century B.C.E., but there were huge differences in the social and cultural environments in which they lived. Different cultural and social factors in ancient Greece and China led to differences in Socratic and Confucian approaches to learning. Their educational philosophies have been discussed on the base of the aim of education, the content of education, the teaching process, and the nature of the contemporary education. The method used in the described study is hermeneutics, or interpretation of the literary (here scientific) texts, thus the study is cross-cultural in nature and concerns the features of the contemporary education in both cultures.

Deriving from the very concept, colere (culture) should indicate a significant, and at the same time, the main factor which is a human society. Culture exists in close proximity to people and their activities. Subsequently, through participation in a particular social group, everyone may create a system which is called culture. The foregoing interaction highlights the impact of culture on human behaviour and the people’s ability to model and create “the foundations of culture”. Culture forms the human individuality, which over time improves and enriches it, or on the contrary – affects its gradual loss. This means that man exists due to culture – and culture positively coexists or negatively disappears through human actions.
Dynamic trends in the civilizational development of countries, changes in the environment, progress in science, engineering and technology, and in particular information lead to the appearing of new socio-cultural tools for new policy scenarios of military security.
The constant dynamism of these phenomena requires, from our currently formed Armed Forces, mainly bearing the burden of maintaining military security, but also new, unconventional and at the same time resolute response, even to minor regional conflicts which incidentally may become dangerous for Poland over time. Responding to emerging threats will not be unilateral or brief, as the experiences in the former Yugoslavia and in the Middle East indicate.
For a long time, the security of the states was based on military force. Force and sovereignty were the cornerstones of the system of national states. The rest of the military structure was subordinated to the remaining components of the state, e.g., natural resources, geographic location, demographic potential, scientific and technological advancement, etc. Over time, this condition has changed. After the Second World War, two alliances of states centered around the empires of powerful military forces were formed. The rise of military potentials on both sides did not cause the necessity to their use. These potentials have become a great means of deterrence and political influence on their opponents.

This paper discusses issues related to the participation in culture of adults with moderate intellectual disabilities. The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a study interpreting and constructing participation in culture by members of this group. I was interested in how such people experience culture and how they interpret it and what significance they attach to its various manifestations. This piece of research was located in the current of constructivist and interpretative studies, which has enabled the application of the biographical method. The research project used four individual, in-depth and partially structured interviews and narrative analysis.
The narratives told by the interviewees reveal the subjective sense and meaning imparted by people with intellectual disabilities to their own participation in culture. The narratives have shown the difficult adulthood and the resulting problems of everyday life. The biographies of adults with intellectual disabilities living with their parents show the complexity of adulthood and the resulting attributes. Due to the difficulties of everyday life, the reality constructed by the narrators is filled with regret, anger, disappointment, sadness and longing for normality. Negative emotions do not allow them to develop, to open up to people, to build relations with them. This results in a limited participation of adults with intellectual disabilities in culture in a broad sense of the word.

The author presents activities of intercultural education that support the development of the identity of a modern man functioning in the conditions of multiculturalism. He analyzes three areas of intercultural education. The first, associated with the acceptance and giving meaning to inherited culture. The second one, focused on the development of individual identity, shaping the sense of freedom and responsibility for self-development in the process of learning about one’s culture and other cultures. The third is about shaping attitudes towards representatives of other cultures, awareness of universal values and acquiring dialogic skills in the numerous offers of the global world.

The article deals with the important issue of defining the role and place of the university in the contemporary world. Globalization processes force far-reaching changes in social institutions, universities are also not free of them, so it is necessary to re-read the university’s mission in the context of current cultural changes. The inspiration for the conducted analyzes are the assumptions of the social theory developed by one of the most versatile thinkers of the twentieth century – José Ortega y Gasset.
Using the analytical-synthetic method as well as the historical-comparative method, the topicality of the main assumptions formulated by Ortega y Gasset was demonstrated. Among them, the most important place is occupied by the postulates regarding the proper definition of the university mission. The basic thesis is the distinction between science and culture. While modern culture draws heavily on science – mainly technical and natural sciences – it is important to distinguish these two areas, giving decisive priority to culture. From this main assumption comes a number of logical consequences related to the necessary amendments to the university education profile. The general preparation of a humanistic profile, which is not only an introduction to the social reality but a sensitization to higher values, should definitely have greater significance. The education of professionals – specialists in narrow fields – can not be deprived of a broader reference to the cultural context. The University will properly implement its mission if, in addition to professional preparation, it will be able to prepare its graduates to live with others in the society.

The article presents the results of an Internet questionnaire examining high school graduates’ (general education high schools and technical high schools) perceptions on aesthetical and cultural education in the institutional context. The study was based on students’ narratives gathered by means of a purpose- designed interview questionnaire using the methodology of interpretive anthropology in relation to the perspective of an ‘insider’ or a ‘local’. The results were further organised accordingly with the strategy of horizonalisation, which made it possible to construct a model encompassing all the participants’ contributions.

Special character of cultural rights and its position in Polish Constitution – the attempt of characteristic and classification

The present paper is an analysis of the legal regulations on cultural rights in Polish Constitutional Legal system. The author claims that culture, as a unique value, has a special impact on personal development of every human being. As a consequence also cultural rights have a special importance for modern society and nation. Paper presents different meanings of culture, gives the definition of cultural rights and critically analyses constitutional provisions of article 5,6 and 73. Author also sug- gests the need for amendment of Chapter II of Polish Constitution which aim is to add provision guaranteeing the right to access to culture. The content of the article is a sum- mary of author’s Phd paper.