Polish ethnographic accounts from Siberia and Kazakhstan from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century in the context of the development of ethnology

The Polish presence in Siberia, Kazakhstan and other Asian regions of the Russian and Soviet Empire has played an important role in the formation of Polish national identity. Particular emphasis has been put on such aspects of that presence as martyrdom and the contribution of Poles to the scientific study of these territories. Today, Polish ethnographic accounts from the broadly-defined Siberia and from Kazakhstan (especially those written between the mid-19th century and the beginning of the 20th century) are considered an important part of the history of Polish ethnology (cultural anthropology), and their authors are often cited in books and articles on the history of this discipline in Poland. These scholars’ achievements, however, are outlined very briefly in most cases, and only selected passages from their accounts are sometimes reprinted. Complete works are not reissued (a notable exception being Maria Czaplicka’s My Siberian Year published in English in 1916 and in Polish in 2013). As those researching the history of Polish ethnology admit, Polish ethnographic accounts are better known in Russia or Kazakhstan than in Poland. To explain this situation, one has to point out that Polish ethnology (cultural anthropology) has, from its very beginning, developed in correlation with global ethnology (anthropology). Polish studies conducted in Siberia and Kazakhstan did not make any inspiring contribution in terms of methodological or theoretical development, which is understandable as their authors were often amateurs or representatives of other disciplines, such as geology, geography, history or linguistics. An exception was the research conducted by Maria Czaplicka and Stanislaw Poniatowski in the early 20th century in collaboration with leading American, British and Russian scholars, even though this work has gained little or no recognition in Russian and Soviet ethnology. For various reasons, the two ethnologists were unable to finish compiling the results of their research, and therefore their findings never became part of academic discourse. (Maria Czaplicka committed suicide in 1921, and her raw research notes from Siberia - sent to the United States - were lost. As regards Stanislaw Poniatowski’s Siberian research, only his expedition diary was published more than 20 years after his death). For the above reasons, Polish ethnographic accounts from Siberia and Kazakhstan are only relevant to ethnologists from these parts of the world as raw source material (in the absence of better sources). For Poles, they are part of the history and identity of Polish ethnology (cultural anthropology) and of national identity.

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