Lithuania, my country… Kresy and their discourse, ethnic identity, and the voices of the subaltern

The article tackles Polish history and the issues of Polish ethnic identity from the perspective of postcolonial studies. In particular, it deconstructs the myth of Eastern Kresy, a foundation of Polish identity, embedded in the educational programme of several generations of Poles. The prevailing interpretation of history presents Poland as a victim of imperial and colonial expansion of its historical powerful neighbours. However, the article focuses on Polish colonial aspirations and shows its lost eastern provinces (Kresy), believed to be the Poland’s “lost heart”, from the perspective of their indigenous inhabitants, the subaltern. The polonocentric myth of Kresy is presented as a discursive device shaping not only the ways in which Poles imagine their relations with their current eastern neighbours, but also capable of managing Poles’ internal relations with their minorities