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Joshua C. Blank, History Alumnus Publishes New Book

Cover of Creating Kashubia

Please join the Department of History for their start of term reception where they will mark the publication of Creating Kashubia by Department alumnus Joshua C. Blank.

When: September 16th, 2:30-4:30 PM

Where: The reception will be held in the History Lounge, 4th floor Paterson Hall, and all are welcome.

Blank’s work is thorough and his approach is multidisciplinary. His conclusions reach beyond the experience of Poles in Canada and have application for the entire Polish diaspora as well as other ethnic groups.” – Anna D. Jaroszynska-Kirchmann, Eastern Connecticut State University

About the Book

Creating Kashubia. History, Memory, and Identity in Canada’s First Polish Community

A groundbreaking work that looks at the changing ways in which Canada’s first Polish community views itself.

In recent years, over one million Canadians have claimed Polish heritage — a significant population increase since the first group of Poles came from Prussian &mdahs; occupied Poland and settled in Wilno, Ontario, west of Ottawa in 1858. For over a century, descendants from this community thought of themselves as Polish, but this began to change in the 1980s due to the work of a descendant priest who emphasized the community’s origins in Poland’s Kashubia region. What resulted was the reinvention of ethnicity concurrent with a similar movement in northern Poland.

Read more about Joshua C. Blank and Creating Kashubia. History, Memory, and Identity in Canada’s First Polish Community on the Department of History’s website.