The Conference “Summer in the City. Different Aspects of Culture”. ****************************************************************************************** * Hedvika Novotná ****************************************************************************************** Conference Report: Summer in the City. Different Aspects of Culture [Lato v mieście. Różne 25th-26th June 2009, Krakow, Poland. Another of the series of conferences devoted to urban ethnology/anthropology took place in in June. It was organized by the Polish Academy of Sciences, the Institute of Archaeology Department of Ethnology; the Polish Academy of Arts and Sciences; the Polish Academy of Sc on Ethnological Sciences, the Committee for Urban Anthropology and the Polish Society of U This time, a seemingly light topic was chosen by the organizers: Summer in the City. Professor Bronislawa Kopczyńska-Jaworska opened the conference by summarizing the reasons beginnings of the interest in ethnology/anthropology in the city and the development of th studies. The use of ethnographic methods for urban studies was indicated to be a special a characteristic. At the end of her opening speech she highlighted the difference between an urban studies and anthropology in the city. This contrast penetrated the whole conference The presented papers varied significantly in themes, theoretical background and methodolog summarize them in several clusters constructed according to emphasized aspects of the give Blanka Soukupová presented the city in a holistic perspective using historical ethnology. Prague and Praguers in Modern Times (from the 1890 s to the mid- 20th Century). A Contribu Anthropology of the City [Praha a Pražané v létě v moderní době (od 90. let 19. do polovin Příspěvek k antropologii města], she described a dynamic change in living in Prague in the pools, markets...) as well as in places where Praguers can spend the summer outside the ci respect to socio-political changes of the first half of the 20th century. Similarly, Franc a historian of literature, followed in his paper Summer in Past Krakow (Turn of the 20th C w dawnym Krakowie (przełom XIX i XX wieku)] a picture of the summer in Krakow mainly as a connected with different traditional religious and secular festivities. Renata Hołda also contemporary Krakow in her paper called Summer, or the Time of Getting Away from Routine [ zawieszonej codzienności]. She analyzed the use of the summer in the city by both tourists and adopted the view that the summer (holiday) in the city tends to carnivalization and th all aspects a period when routine revolts against normality. The aspect of getting away from routine through festivities formed a significant line reap papers. On the basis of three case studies, Ryszard Kantor observed theWorld of Streets an Forming of a New Folk Habit [Święta ulil i dzielnic. Kształtowanie się nowego zwyczaju lud Krakow. He concentrated on life in public spaces using the metaphor of "street carnival." hand, Grzegorz Odoj in his paper Off-Festival in Mysłowice. Creating of a New Post-industr Festiwal w Mysłowicach. Kreowanie wizerunku nowego miasta post-przemysłowego] and Magdalen paper Festival Horizons of Holiday City Těšín [Festiwalowe horyzonty wakacyjnego Cieszyna] Węcławowicz read the paper) dealt with the change of the town caused by a summer festival. that a music or film festival always changes the face of a city, even for its inhabitants. of Krakow itself, the city where the conference took place, there is a multitude of cultur as was shown in the paper Art Forms in the Offer in Krakow in the Summer in the last five artystycznego uwiedzenia w ofercie letniej miasta Krakowa w ostatnym pięcioleciu] by Stani director of the Department of Culture and National Heritage, Municipality of Krakow. Other speakers chose parts of the city for their analyses. Jolanta Kowalska in her paper W of Past Żoliborz [Dzikie pola starego Żoliborza] followed dynamic changes of this Warsaw q the 17th to the 20th century. On the example of the Summer Salons of Warsaw [Letnie salony Ciagłość i zmiana], Andrzej Stawarz described the stability and change of the genius loci the turn of the 20th century. While both the above-mentioned authors worked with methods o ethnology, Andrzej P. Wejlandconnected phenomenological tradition with reflexive autobiogr Anthropologist in the Park. My Epiphany of Routine [Latem w parku. Epifanie codzienności]. of perspectives of anthropologist and flâneur enabled him to see the manifestation of tran to uncover the so-far unlearned as well as to understand oneself or the nature of epiphany of an anthropologist is crucial in the divulgence of the nature of a given place - Lodž Pa interpretation in Alfred Schutz' phenomenology of routine. The commonplace involves not just the world of things (though, they are of course the easi describe), but also the world of smells, flavors and noises. Aleksandra Krupa in her paper and Bad Smells. Olfactory Picture of a City [Aromaty i smrody. Olfaktoryczny pejzaż miasta perspective of osmo-sociology. On the base of smell perception of Lodž, she created five c 1. human smells, 2. bad smells of different provenance (e.g. subway, sewer), 3. market sme gastronomic smells by Seweryn Wisłocki who in his paper Wawel and Skałka. Sacral Space and to Desacralize It [Wawel i Skałka. Przestrzeń sacrum i próba jej desakralizacji] dealt wit commercialization of the riverbank under the Wawel in Krakow. Piotr Jordan Śliwiński devot to a particular phenomenon of the city summer - Beaching in the City (Especially in the Ca [Plażowanie w mieście (szczególnie na przykładzie Krakowa]. Focusing on the theme through of "surmodernité" ("supermodernity" or "hypermodernity"), he described beaching as a way o through symbolic zooming out from civilization in different city spaces. Grażyna Ewa Karpińska used the theme of the conference as a metaphor and devoted her paper Summer. The Hell of Occupation Heterotopy [Getto latem. Piekło okupacyjnej heterotopii] to of the Lodž Ghetto between 1941 and 1942, i.e., before deportations (that is why she used summer). Using Foucault's heterotopia as a space of illusion that exposes every real space the routine of the Lodž Ghetto with its institutions and organization structure symbolizin city; using the concept of heterochrony the ghetto provisional arrangement is perceived as Because of the ongoing floods, Magdalena Parikova did not participate at the conference wi Summer in the City. Time and Space for Relax or Culture Change [Leto v meste. Čas a priest alebo kulturnu zmenu]. The conference was divided into five blocs which were concluded by interesting discussions theories were debated - e.g. defining and delimiting the "present," possibilities and pote anthropology, differentiating between the image of the city and its identity, etc. Many pa spontaneous responses usually concentrating on comparisons of given aspects of other Polis end, Róża Godula-Węcławowicz, chief conference organizer, summarized the course of both da "The conference did not answer the question of what anthropology of a city is or how anthr city should be done. It presented various ways of anthropological seeing of the city." Aft of perspectives is typical for anthropology and represents one of the aspects that make an interesting. Hedvika Novotná [ URL "LM-276.html "]