Bieganski : the brute Polak stereotype, its role in Polish-Jewish relations and American popular culture / / by Danusha V. Goska

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910807179703321
• Autore: Goska Danusha V (Danusha Veronica)
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Boston, : Academic Studies Press, 2010
• ISBN: 1-61811-025-X
• Edizione: [1st ed.]
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (342 p.)
• Collana: Jews of Poland
• Disciplina: 305.891/85
• Soggetti: Antisemitism - Poland - History - 20th century; Stereotypes (Social psychology) - Poland - History - 20th century; Ethnicity - Poland - History - 20th century; Jews - Poland - Public opinion - History - 20th century; Jews - United States - Public opinion; Polish people - United States - Public opinion; Stereotypes (Social psychology) - United States; Popular culture - United States; Poland Ethnic relations History 20th century; United States Ethnic relations
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Note generali: Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references and index.
• Nota di contenuto: Bieganski lives -- Bieganski in the press -- Bieganski takes root in America -- Bieganski in American cinema -- Bieganski as a support for Jewish identity -- The peasant and middleman minority theory -- The necessity of Bieganski : a shamed and horrified world seeks a scapegoat -- Interviews -- Bieganski lives--next door to Shylock -- Final thoughts.
• Sommario/riassunto: In this study, Goska exposes one stereotype of Poles and other Eastern Europeans. In the "Bieganski" stereotype, Poles exhibit the qualities of animals. They are strong, stupid, violent, fertile, anarchic, dirty, and especially hateful in a way that more evolved humans are not. Their special hatefulness is epitomized by Polish anti- Semitism. Bieganski discovers this stereotype in the mainstream press, in scholarship and film, in Jews' self-definition, and in responses to the Holocaust. ; Bieganski's twin is Shylock, the stereotype of the crafty, physically inadequate, moneyed Jew. The final chapters of the book are devoted to interviews with American Jews, which reveal that Bieganski-and Shylock-are both alive and well among those who have little knowledge of Poles or Poland.