Grått, tråkigt, totalkriminellt? Diplomatiska beskrivningar av Polen

Abstract

Grey, boring, completely criminal? A case study of swedish diplomatic descriptions of Poland. To communicate ethnical or national images is a crucial social activity in the context of the ongoing globalization. Knowledge about ethnical or national entities presented in a trustworthy way seems to be increasingly demanded. This sociological case study focuses the so called 'image politics' taking place in an interview with a Swedish diplomat in Poland. The diplomat expresses in different ways that she is expected to produce correct images of Poland and the Poles, and puncture or repudiate incorrect ones. This competence is also activated during my conversation with her. Among the images considered wrong are the description of Poland as an amazing market, as a grey, boring and criminal country and as a uniform cultural concept, without any cleavages between 'the new Poland' and 'theOld'. The diplomat's skills are also shown when she presents 'institutionalised surprises', i. e. situations and phenomena that are expected to puncture established pictures of Poland, using contrasting verbal techniques (e.g. 'a grey starting point' in viewing the country).

The diplomat's image politics is interpreted as a struggle between two conflicting discourses or networks of meanings: a post communist and a post-post communist. Whereas the former (and stronger) discourse portrays Poland with inevitable references to the communist past, the latter (and weaker) discourse may be characterised as normalizing, using a broader range of definitions.