Eastern Race, Culture and Civilization in Zenon Leonard Fisz’s Account of his Travel to Turkey

Zenon Leonard Fisz (1820–1870) was a Polish writer and publicist related to Ukraine, an author of accounts of his travel to France, England, Italy and Turkey, where he travelled over the period 1857–1858. His opinions were given on the grounds of direct observation and, occasionally, he conducted a discourse with scholars’ views (for instance, he criticized the methods of George Cuvier). His personal impression, feelings and emotions were the things that mattered in order to present a profound image of life in a chosen place of Oriental East, and to show its local colours. The purpose of the article is not to present Fisz’s vision of the Orient, but to analyze his understanding of such concepts as race, civilization and culture, by the example of Turkey in relation to European West and Ukrainian Slavdom, in the context of other Romanticism authors’ views. Fisz matches the pattern of Polish romantic reflection perfectly, as while classifying humanity on the grounds of races, tribes and nations, made the cultural factor (language, history, customs, religion) more predominant than the division based on biological, physical and anatomic differences (skin color, hair color, skull shapes). Such approach derived not only from poor anthropological research development in the areas of Poland, based almost entirely on conclusions and works of foreigners; but also from the widespread belief in supremacy of spiritual bonds over physical ones, dominance of historical or cultural ties over blood ties. Even though in Fisz description, shows the concept of race biological as well as cultural importance, ultimately, what influenced conclusions of the author of the Turk and other people of East was the cultural factor.Artykuł powstał w ramach projektu badawczego nr 2016/21/B/HS3/03696, finansowanego przez Narodowe Centrum Nauki.Institute of Slavic Studies. Polish Academy of Sciences. Poland29931