Jana Shostak’s Tactical Entry into the Public Debate on Refugees
The mass influx of refugees to Europe in 2015/2016 created the opportunity for a meaningful and rational debate in Poland concerning the presence of the representatives of other ethnic groups, cultures, and religions in the country. Yet, that chance was wasted as the dominant, strategic position in...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw
2019-01-01
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| Series: | Miejsce |
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| Online Access: | https://miejsce.asp.waw.pl/en/english-jana-shostaks-tactical-entry-into-the-public-debate-on-refugees/ |
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| Summary: | The mass influx of refugees to Europe in 2015/2016 created the opportunity for a meaningful and rational debate in Poland concerning the presence of the representatives of other ethnic groups, cultures, and religions in the country. Yet, that chance was wasted as the dominant, strategic position in public discourse was seized by politically motivated anti-refugee rhetoric based on fearmongering and hate speech. The crisis of public debate since 2015 compels a question about other forms of art’s social engagement in public discourse.
An example of such engagement is Jana Shostak’s project ”Nowak / Nowaczka / Nowacy” (2017–), which consists of an attempt to replace the word “refugee” in common usage with the word “nowak,” a common noun that happens to be the homonym of the most popular surname in Poland, “Nowak.” Toward this end, the artist has consistently used it in interviews and promoted it on social media, seeking to build a community of users of the word “nowak” in order to give it independent life.
The text situates Shostak’s project in the field of “tactical media,” as defined by David Garcia and Geert Lovink, as well as Joanne Richardson, and in the context of the concept of “communication guerrilla” by the autonome a.f.r.i.k.a. gruppe collective. I also examine ”Nowak” through the prism of selected terms from Stephen Wright’s ”Toward a Lexicon of Usership”. These references serve to highlight the distinctly tactical (as understood by Michel de Certeau) character of Shostak’s project as a subversive intervention in public debate. I discuss the mechanism of that intervention in relation to Foucault’s concept of discourse and its inherent potential of resistance, as well as in the light of the framing of Islamophobia and xenophobia as a discursive practice, put forward by Monika Bobako in her book ”Islamofobia jako technologia władzy”.
In the spirit of tactical media and communication guerrilla, Shostak taps into the potential of resistance offered by discourse, using it as a weapon against xenophobia in public debate. Since an unbiased, rational, and empathetic debate is not currently possible at the strategic political and social level, tactical engagement appears as one of the few tools of resistance still available, and a way to prepare the ground for potential strategic shifts in the future. |
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| ISSN: | 2956-4158 |