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group, but one that had to be identified through a close study of the terrain and an attention to the

voices of the peasants, rather than by the application of an objective check-list of linguistic or

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material criteria. Obrębski also aimed to unmask what he saw as pseudo-knowledge about the
Polish kresy, and he criticized arrogant self-identified “civilizers” who lacked an appreciation for the

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culture and psyche of local people. His politics were therefore far-removed from those of the

Endecja—and even from those espoused by members of the Sanacja who promoted the technocratic

mapping of the kresy for their own political and economic purposes.

At the same time, however, charting the publication and republication of “The Ethnic

Problem of Polesie” indicates not only that academics could be critical of heavy-handed political

schemes (and were not simply the pawns of state power), but also that the academic research that

they carried out could be presented in ways that supported opposing political programs. A 1936

article that appeared in the right-wing journal National Thought, for instance, reproduced the original

text from Ethnic Affairs, but added a commentary that drew political conclusions far removed from

Obrębski’s approach. “If Polesie is looking for a framework and civilizational context for its non-

ethnic existence,” the author asked, “why should the Polish state, having a mission of embracing

Polish civilization, which was given to it by the history of the area, teach the “Ukrainian” language in

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schools in Polesie and Volhynia?” Using the term “Ukrainian” in quotation marks, the author
deliberately questioned its authenticity as a national identity, adding to his argument that the Polish

state should Polonize those populations that Obrębski had described as not fully national.

46 Józef Obrębski, “Problem etniczny Polesia,” Sprawy Narodowościowe, t. 10, nr 1-2 (1936). He also made this
point when addressing participants at the first congress dedicated to the issues of the kresy which was held in
Warsaw in September 1936. See I Zjazd Naukowy Poswiecony Ziemion Wschodnim w Warszawie 20 I 21 wrzesnia
1936 r. Polesie, 33. See also, Morgane Labbe, “La statistique d’une minorité sans nom: les « Tutejsi » dans la
Pologne de l’entre-deux-guerres,” in Minorités nationales en Europe centrale. Démocratie, savoirs scientifiques et
enjeux de representation, edited by P. Bauer, C. Jacques, M. Plésiat, and M. Zombory (Prague, 2011), 131-153. On
his approach, see also Anna Engelking, “Poleska ekspedycja etnosocjologiczna Józefa Obrębskiego w latach 1934-
1937. Organizacja. Metody Badan. Problematyka. Uczestnicy,” Etnografia Polska 45, no. 1-2 (2001): 27.
47 Grażyna Borkowska-Arciuch “Perspektywa postkolonialna na gruncie polskim pytania sceptyka,” Teksty Drugie
(2010) 5: 40-52.
48 “Polesie szuka cywilizacji,” Myśl Narodowa, October 4, 1936, 639.

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