Schlesierland. Testimony

cover
Published
30 September 2026

Details about this monograph

ISBN-13 (15)
978-83-226-4545-1

Synopsis

Schlesierland. Testimony is a book that takes on Silesia as the territory of home. Vast and separate. Physical, historical, civilizational, cultural, spiritual territory. Today we lack a pocket map – one that would be with us every day – to get to the size and quality of home. We lack the experience of the whole, to which only fragments of descriptions lead, scattered records of experiences, sounds of memories, less and less distinct traces of achievements, blurred images, and concepts, clumsily scattered photographs and postcards carrying places that are moving away from us, erasing home from our imagination. There remain collected fragments of observation spread over the observer's life, containing references to the lives of ancestors, there remains weakened intergenerational memory. Despite this fragmentation, the quality and individuality of Silesia are strangely evoked. This book grows out of the desire to return seriousness and presence to the heritage and spiritual model of Schlesierland. It does not fit into a coarse educational story, it does not harmoniously blend with the narrative of politicians and constructors of administrative and economic reality. We propose a separate, documented story about Schlesierland in three versions. First, we will look at Schlesierland as a testimony and spiritual testament. Then, we will delve into Schlesierland through Walter's life, extracting a specific theocentric treatise introducing Silesian connections between Nature, Ζωη(zōē), peace. Finally, we will focus on Schlesierland in the version of Robert's life, leading to the Silesian treatise on brotherhood in arms and the house, in which the idea of Kameradschaft, war, and longing resonate. The whole will be anchored in rich source material, including maps, documents, genealogies, photographs, notes, and chronicles, to precisely and in detail fill the spiritual home of Schlesierland.

Author Biography

Aleksandra Kunce, University of Silesia in Katowice

Professor of humanities at the Institute of Cultural Studies at the University of Silesia. She focuses on the issues of the local man, the intertwining of the finite and the infinite, the abysmal idea of settling down, humanities at the intersection of home and the world, as well as the spiritual foundation of Silesia. Author of the books: Tożsamość i postmodernizm [Identity and Postmodernism] (2003), Myśleć Śląsk [Thinking Silesia] (together with Z. Kadłubek, 2007), Antropologia punktów. Rozważania przy tekstach Ryszarda Kapuścińskiego [Anthropology of Points. Reflections on the Texts of Ryszard Kapuściński] (2008), Oikologia. Nauka o domu [Oikology. The Science of Home] (together with T. Sławek, Z. Kadłubek, 2013), Into the Noise. Anthropological and Aesthetic Discourses in Public Sphere (together with M. Popczyk, 2013); Człowiek lokalny. Rozważania umiejscowione [Local Man. Localised Reflections] (2016); Being at Home in the Place: The Philosophy of Localness (2019), Oikologia. Powrót [Oikology. Return] (together with T. Sławek, 2020); Gdzie dom styka się ze światem [Where Home Meets the World] (2022). In 2016, she received The Arts in Society International Award for Excellence (USA) for her publication The Philosophy of Localness and the Arts. [5.09.2025]

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