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Constructing Polish Exceptionalism: Gender and Reproductive Rights in Poland

Chandler, Meagan Genevieve Edwards
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397655426

Abstract Details

2014, Master of Arts, Ohio State University, Slavic and East European Studies.
Originating in response to Polish partitions of the 18th century, the concept of Polish exceptionalism asserts the cultural uniqueness and superiority of the Polish nation. As the 19th century progressed, this belief in a cultural exceptionalism quickly became gendered with figure of the Matka Polka (Polish Mother). As men went off to battle for national freedom, the Matka Polka became the symbolic protector of the hearth and the reproducer of national culture. Deeply associated with the domestic sphere and essentialized understandings of gender, the Matka Polka proved to be a strong cultural emblem of patriotic motherhood and duty. The deeply entrenched belief in Polish exceptionalism did not end with the partition era, but persevered, from state socialism to membership in the EU. Closely tied to reproduction, the Catholic Church, and cultural conceptions of femininity, exceptionalist appeals to the Matka Polka remain a central component of Polish identity formation. The cultural currency of Polish exceptionalism carried into the abortion debate of the early postsocialist era. Resulting in the revocation of women’s reproductive rights just as the nation gained its independence. The push for restrictive abortion legislation continued in the accession toward EU membership, pulling from nostalgic depictions of the national past in the formulation of a uniquely Polish identity within the shifting political environment. In this thesis, I will argue that appeals to exceptionalism and the political mobilization of the Matka Polka in the postsocialist abortion debate drew on invented traditions of the past and ultimately resulted in a limited, restrictive definition of what it means to be a woman citizen in Poland.
Jennifer Suchland (Advisor)
Jessie Labov (Committee Member)
Jill Bystydzienski (Committee Member)
77 p.
East European Studies; Gender; History; Slavic Studies
Poland; Polish exceptionalism; gender; postsocialism; reproductive rights; reproductive legislation; gender construction; European Union; democratization

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Chandler, M. G. E. (2014). Constructing Polish Exceptionalism: Gender and Reproductive Rights in Poland [Master's thesis, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397655426

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Chandler, Meagan. Constructing Polish Exceptionalism: Gender and Reproductive Rights in Poland. 2014. Ohio State University, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397655426.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Chandler, Meagan. "Constructing Polish Exceptionalism: Gender and Reproductive Rights in Poland." Master's thesis, Ohio State University, 2014. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1397655426

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1397655426
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© 2014, some rights reserved.Creative Commons License Constructing Polish Exceptionalism: Gender and Reproductive Rights in Poland by Meagan Genevieve Edwards Chandler is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at etd.ohiolink.edu.
This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.