Memories of the Polish Dom Kultury Under State Socialism and Beyond

This thesis concerns the Polish institution of the dom kultury (house of culture). A dom kultury is an arts centre housing activity ranging from music clubs to film screenings. Under Poland’s state socialist regime, it was envisioned as a space for the implementation of socialist ideals, although such goals were not always realised in practice. Since the end of state socialism, houses of culture have been less defined by such programmatic socialising content; nonetheless they continue to occupy a key part in Poland’s cultural landscape. This thesis explores local people’s memories and perceptions of the institution, tracing the different frameworks people use to make sense of the world around them. It also uses the theoretical frameworks of culture, temporality and postsocialism to explore people’s opinions. The study utilises an oral history methodology, with the source material consisting of ten interviews conducted with inhabitants of one town in Poland, Chodzież. The research builds on the growing interest in narrations of the everyday rather than trauma in the oral history of ex-socialist countries. A thematic analysis of the material was conducted according to the research focus of ideal roles and lived experiences of the house of culture. Remote methods had to be adopted due to the ongoing pandemic, which impacted on the data collection process by slowing down participant recruitment, while also enabling greater flexibility in the research process. The first main finding of the study pertains to the role played by the house of culture over time. While the dispersion of cultural activity since socialism means that it no longer provides the novelty that it once did, the house of culture plays a growing role in the community in accommodating local organisations’ activity. Secondly, the study found that while reference to socialism has its place in people’s narrations of the past, it is not necessarily the dominant framework, with reminiscences about individual life biographies intersecting with macro-level periodisations. Finally, the importance of the local community that houses of culture are situated in was underscored in participant’s narrations, surfacing in the themes of cultural loyalty and rivalry. The study supports the findings in previous studies of houses of culture concerning the normative ideal of culture. Discussions surrounding cultural authenticity defined perceptions about degrees to which culture is performed ‘correctly’, whether it concerns the institution’s role as provider or people’s role as consumers (and co-creators). Even for those who engage with the institution sporadically, it remains an important part of the Polish cultural landscape, providing locals with access to artistic culture and beyond. This underscores the main theme that runs throughout the findings, concerning the interplay between importance for the individual and the collective