Opposite Poles : immigrants and ethnics in Polish Chicago, 1976-1990
Mary Patrice Erdmans (Author)
Opposite Poles presents a fascinating and complex portrait of ethnic life in America. The focus is Chicago Polonia, the largest Polish community outside of Warsaw. During the 1980s a new cohort of Polish immigrants from communist Poland, including many refugees from the Solidarity movement, joined the POlish American ethnics already settled in Chicago. The two groups shared an ancestral homeland, social space in Chicago, and the common goal of wanting to see Poland become an independent noncommunist nation. These common factors made the groups believe they ought to work together and help each other; but they were more often at opposite poles. Mary Erdmans's dramatic account of intracommunity conflict in Chicago Polonia demonstrates the importance of distinguishing between immigrants and ethnics in American ethnic studies. She shows that while common ancestral heritage creates the potential for ethnic allegiance, it is not a sufficient condition for collective action. -- From back cover
Print Book, English, 1998
Pennsylvania State University Press, University Park, Pennsylvania, 1998