Virtual: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/7905645674
Codi: 1984

Title.- Polish historical demography and the folk turn in humanities

Abstract.-

I study social relations in Poland in the premodern period (1500-1800). I use quantitative and qualitative methods and sources. I deal with the mobility of peasants in the modern period. There is a lack of direct sources, so I use church registers (marriages, baptisms, burials), tax records, court records and population censuses. The first state censuses were conducted in 1791. After the fall of communism in Poland, national (heroic) history began to be rewritten. However, recently the increase of digitalization of archives and interest in the history of ordinary people influenced the enormous development of genealogical and regional research. Next came the so-called folk turn in Polish humanities. Peasant culture began to be popular, although at the same time there was a huge exodus of people from the countryside to the cities. The postcolonial perspective influenced new analyses of Polish social history. Attention is paid to the comparison of Polish peasants to American slaves. In this interpretation, the freedom and mobility of peasants was to be formally limited by the state authorities, composed mainly of the nobility. Meanwhile, research by historical demographers shows that the mobility of premodern society was enormous (as in the other parts of Europe).

Therefore, I am interested in comparing Spanish and Polish society in historical times (dominance of Catholicism, proximity of Turks or Arabs, multicultural and multiethnic societies). Peasants actively participated in the labor market. It can also be seen that the social classes of peasants, townspeople, and gentry were not separated from each other. In the registry books, one can find gentry as godparents and witnesses to marriages in peasant families. And vice versa. I am currently working on a book on inter-estate social relations.
 
Author: Mateusz Wyżga (b. 1981), PhD with habilitation, prof. at the University of the National Education Comission, Krakow. Employee of the Institute of History and Archival Studies, deals with socio-economic history of Poland, historical demography and history of peasantry; his last publication: M. Wyżga, 2022. Peasants’ Serfdom, Freedom and Mobility in the Cracow Province (1501-1800), Journal of Migration History. Contact:  mateusz.wyzga@uken.krakow.pl.