The aim of the article is to characterized the theory of institutionalization of the region. Its author, Finnish geographer Anssi Paasi, described region as an effect of multiphase process that takes shape of an institutionalization. Such process starts when region has its territorial frame (territorial phase), then symbolic images are created and located in people’s consciousness inside and outside of the region (symbolic phase). In the next phase (called an institutional) symbolic images are transformed into formal institutions (law, strategies, organizations). In that phase regional actors operate in the field of a regional discourse. Region is a sociospatial phenomenon, a place where symbolic and institutional acting between different regional actors takes place. It is a constant process of legitimization specific images of regions, which is used to create a brand of the region and structuring the regional identity of people living in the region. The moment a regional identity and a regional brand is created by regional institutions is defined as a full phase of institutionalisation. Paasi’s theory is an important and interesting proposal, which can enrich the sociological surveys of the region, but it is necessary to supplement it. The process of institutionalization of the region involves all regional actors, Paasi argues that only formal organizations. Additionally, this process is dependent on the internal and external context and on the history of the region. These complements enriches heuristic value of the theory characterised in the article.

Autorka artykułu dokonuje próby opisu wyznaczników tożsamości mieszkańców Zagłębia Dąbrowskiego – regionu na pograniczu śląsko-małopolskim – ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem jego stolicy – Sosnowca. Do opisu tożsamości wykorzystuje Tadeusza Lewowickiego Teorię Zachowań Tożsamościowych, w której wyróżniono sześć obszarów uwarunkowań tożsamości i zachowań tożsamościowych. Autorka podkreśla, że nie bez znaczenia dla kształtowania się tożsamości regionalnej mieszkańców Sosnowca jest fakt zamieszkiwania na pograniczu śląsko-zagłębiowskim oraz historyczne podziały ziem polskich z czasów rozbiorów. Historyczne i geograficzne uwarunkowania przyczyniły się do powstania antagonizmów między Ślązakami i Zagłębiakami, które – w założeniu autorki – mogą przyczyniać się do wzmacniania tożsamości mieszkańców Zagłębia.

Przeobrażenia w sferze ekonomicznej, społeczno-kulturowej i politycznej w wymiarze lokalnym i globalnym składają się na złożoność uwarunkowań procesu kształtowania (się) poczucia tożsamości współczesnego człowieka. Podjęte rozważania zawierają opis profili tożsamości kulturowej badanych uczniów ze szkół średnich oraz próbę interpretacji ich wyborów tożsamościowych w odniesieniu do zastanych układów społeczno-kulturowych w miejskim środowisku lokalnym.

Significance of regional education in shaping regional identity before and in the pandemic times

The undertaken considerations concern the role of regional education in shaping the regional identity of children between 5–12 years old before and during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. The basis of scientific analysis is the experience of children and their mothers. Regional education should lead to the development of the individual and collective identity of an individual, root a young person in his own cultural heritage and enable him to function creatively in a multicultural society. An outcome of the conducted research indicates minor impact of regional education in the range of shaping a regional identity of examined children during the period before the pandemic and its exacerbating ineffectiveness in the Times of isolation and distance learning. Mothers propound the need of action in the area of regional education in order to make children aware of their responsibility for their place of residence, the local community, the protection and multiplication of the cultural heritage of the region. The research indicates the need of consideration both: the current condition of regional education in kindergarten and school space and its actual role in the process of shaping children’s and youth’s regional identity.

In Poland, the region where the phenomenon of multiculturalism is most strongly represented is Upper Silesia. Upper Silesia, its historical hosts, have been confronted with German, Polish and Czech nationalism since the mid-21st century. Initially, they were forced to determine their ethnic affiliation, then, due to the change of borders, they were forced to move to one or the other side of the newly established Polish-German border in 1922. After 1945, they were subjected to strong repression, deportation to forced labor camps, forced displacement, degrading verification of nationality, and then they were confronted with the Polish population who came to Upper Silesia. Most often, the Poles who arrived were hostile to the Upper Silesians. The aim of this article is to answer the question whether the experiences of integration of the indigenous population of Upper Silesia into the social, cultural, economic and political structures of the Polish state after World War II can be related to a similar process that will take place after the end of hostilities in the eastern regions of the Ukrainian state. . The starting point is the thesis that the Upper Silesian experience of the rehabilitation and citizenship verification procedures should serve as a warning against the mistakes made in Upper Silesia rather than as a useful reference point.