The Inaugurai Lecture

of the Thirty-Sixth Annual

School of Polish Language and Culture
at the Jagiellonian University, July 5, 2005
z okazji otwarcia
36. i Kultury Polskiej
Uniwersytetu 5 lipca 2005
ENCOUNTERlNG
THEOTHER:
THE CHALLENGE FOR THE
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
SPOTI<ANIE Z INNYM
JAKO WYZWANIE XXI WIEKU
Krakw
Copyright by Ryszard Towarzystwo Autorw
i Wydawcw Prac Naukowych UNIVERSITAS and
i Kultury Polskiej UJ, Krakw 2007
ISBN 97883-242-0605-6
TAiWPN UNIVERSITAS
Projekt
Ewa Gray
Na
fotografie
, ;:
Translation from Polish into English:
Katarzyna Mroczkowska-Brand, William Brand
ENCO:UNTERING
THE OTHER:
THE CHALLENGE FORTHE
TWENTY -FIRST CENTURY
When I reflect on my journeys throughout the world,
which have gone on for so long now, it sometimes strikes
me that the most troubling problem s were not so much
borders and front lines, or the exertion and the danger, as
the constant1y recurring uncertainty about the nature and
course of my encounters with Others, with the other peo-
ple I came across somewhere along the way. After all, I knew
that a great deal, and at times everything, was at stake.
Each of these encounters was an unknown: What would it
be like? How would it unfold? What would it lead to?
Questions just like this dat e back, of course, to time
immemorial. The encounter with the Other, with other
people, has always been a universal and fundamental expe-
rience for our species. Archaeologists tell us that the very
earliest human groups were small family-tribes num bering
thirty to fifty individuals. Had such a community been larg-
er, it would have had trouble moving around quickly and
efficient1y. Had it been smaller, it would have found it hard-
er to defend itself effectively and to fight for survival. So
he re is our little family-tribe going along searching for nour-
ishment, when it suddenly comes across another family-
-tribe. What a significant moment in the history of the
world, what a momentous discovery! The discovery that
there are other people in the world! Until then, the me m-
bers of these primal groups could live in the conviction, as
they moved around in the company of thirty to fifty of
their kinfolk, that they knew aU the people in the world.
Then it turned out that they didn't - that other similar
beings, other people, also inhabited the worldl
But how to behave in the face of such a revelation? What
to do? What decision to make?
Should they throw themselves in fury on those other
people? Or walk past dismissively and keep going? Or rath-
er try to get to know and understand them?
7
That same choice, which a group of our ancestors faced
thousands of years ago, faces us today as well, with undi-
minished intensity - a choice as fundamental and categori-
cal as it was back then. How should we act towards Others?
What kind of attitude should we have towards them?
It might end up in a duel, a conf1ict, or a war. Every
archive contains evidence of such events, which are also
marked by countless battlefields and ruins scattered
around the world. All this is proof of man's failure - that
he did not know how, or did not want, to reach an under-
standing with Others. The literature of all countries in all
epochs has taken up this situation, this tragedy and weak-
ness, as subject matter of infinite variety and moods.
But it might also be the case that, instead of attacking
and fighting, this family-tribe that we are watching decides
to fence itself off from others, to isolate and separate itself.
This attitude leads, over time, to objects like the Great
Wall of China, the towers and gates of Babylon, the Ro-
man limes, or the stone wall s of the Inca.
Fortunately, there is evidence of a different human ex-
perience scattered abundantly across our planet. These are
the proofs of cooperation - the remains of marketplaces,
the remains of ports, of place s where there were agora s and
sanctuaries, where the seats of old universities and acade-
mies are still visible, or where there remain vestiges of such
trade routes as the Silk Road, the Amber Route, or the
Trans-Saharan caravan route. AlI of these were places where
people met to exchange thoughts, ideas, and merchandise,
and where they traded and did business, coneluded cove-
nants and alliances, and discovered shared goals and valu-
es. "The Other" stopped be ing a synonym of foreignness
and hostility, danger and mortal evil. People discovered
within themselves a fragment af the Other, and they be-
lieved in this and lived confidently.
8
People thus had three choices when they encountered
the Other: they could choose war, they could build a wall
around themselves, or they could enter into dialogue.
Over the expanse of history, mankind has never stopped
wavering among these options, and, depending on chang-
ing times and cultures, has chosen one or the other; we
can see that mankind is fickle here and does not always feel
certain, does not always stand on firm ground.
War is hard to justify. I think that everyone always loses
because war is a disaster for human beings. It exposes their
incapacity for understanding, for putting themselves in the
shoes of Others, for goodness and sense. The encounter
with the Other usually ends tragically in such cases, in
a catastrophe of blood and death.
The idea that led people to build great walls and gaping
moats, to surround themselves with them and fence them-
selves off from others, has been given the contemporary
name of apartheid. This concept has been erroneously con-
fined to the policies of the now defunct white regime in
South Africa. In reality, apartheid was already being prac-
ticed in the earliest mists of time. In simple terms, it is the
view whose proponents proelaim that everyone is free to
live as he chooses, as long as it's as far away from me as
possible, if he isn't part of my race, religion, or culture. If
that were alI! In reality, we are looking at a doctrine of the
structural inequality of the human race. The myths of many
tribes and peoples inelude the conviction that only we are
human - the members of our elan, our community - while
others, all others, are subhuman, or aren't human at alI.
An ancient Chinese doctrine expressed it best: a non-Chi-
nese was regarded as the devil's spawn, or at best as a vic-
tim of fate who did not manage to be bom Chinese. The
Other, according to this belief, was presented as a dog, as
a rat, as a creeping reptile. Apartheid was and still is a doc-
9
trine of hatred, contempt, and revulsion for the Other,
the foreigner.
How different was the image of the Other in the epoch
of anthropomorphic beliefs, the belief that the gods could
assume human form and act like people. Then, you could
never tell whether the approaching wanderer, traveler, or
newcomer was a person, or a god in human guise. That
uncertainty, that fascinating ambivalence, was one of the
roots of the culture of hospitality that mandated showing
all kindness to the newcomer, that ultimately unknowable
being.
Cyprian Norwid writes about this when he ponders, in
his introduction to the Odyssey, the sources of the hospi-
tality that Odysseus encounters on his journey back to Itha-
ca. "There, with every beggar and foreign wanderer," Nor-
wid remarks, "the first suspicion was that he might have
been sent by God ... No one could have been received as
a guest if the first question were: 'Who is this newcomer?'
But only when the divinity in him was respected, did the
human questions follow, and that was called hospitality,
and for that very reason it was numbered among the pious
practices and virtues. There was no 'last among men!' with
Homer's Greeks - he was always the first, which means
divine."
In this Greek understanding of culture, cited by Nor-
wid, things reveal a new significance that is favorable to
people. Doors and gates are not only for closing against
the Other - they can aIs o open for him and welcome him
inside. The road need not serve hostile columns; it can also
be a highway along which one of the gods, in pilgrim' s garb,
comes to us. Thanks to such an interpretation of signifi-
cances, the world we inhabit starts being not only richer
and more diverse, but also kinder to us, a world in which
we ourselves will want to encounter the Other.
10
Emmanuel Levinas calls the encounter wit h the Other
an "event," or even a "fundamental event," the most im-
portant experience, reaching to the farthest horizons. Levi-
nas, as we know, was one of the philosophers of dialogue,
along with Martin Buber, Ferdinand Ebner, or Gabriel
Marcel (a group that later came to include Jzef Tisch-
ner), who developed the idea of the Other, as a unique
and unrepeatable entity, in more or less direct opposition
to two phenomena that arose in the 20th century: the birth
of the masses that abolished the separateness of the indi-
vidual, and the expansion of destructive totalitarian ideolo-
gies. These philosophers attempted to salvage what they
regarded as the paramount value, the human individual -
me, you, the Other, the Others - from the actions of the
masses and of totalitarianism that obliterated aU human
activity (which is why these philosophers promoted the
concept of "the Other" to emphasize the differences be-
tween one individual and another, the differences of non-
interchangeable and irreplaceable characteristics).
This was an incredibly important movement, one which
rescued and elevated the human being, a movement that
rescued and elevated the Other, with whom, as Levinas
suggested, I must not only stand face to face and conduct
a dialogue, but for whom I must "take responsibility."
In terms of relations with the Other and Others, the
philosophers of dialogue rejected war because it led to an-
nihilation; they criticized the attitudes of indifference or
building walls; instead, they proclaimed the need - or even
the ethical obligation - for closeness, openness, and kind-
ness.
In the circle of just such ideas and convictions, a similar
type of inquiry and reflection, a similar attitude, arises and
develops in the great research work of a man who did his
undergraduate work and went on to earn a Ph.D. at the
11
J agiellonian University, and who was a member of the Polish
Academy of Sciences - Malinowski.
Malinowski's problem was how to approach the Other,
not as an exclusively hypothetical and abstract entity, but
as a concrete person belonging to a different race, wit h
beliefs and values different from ours, and with his own
culture and customs.
Let us point out that the concept of the Other is usual-
ly defined from the white man's, the European's point of
view. But today I walk through a village in the mountains
of Ethiopia and a crowd of children run after me, pointing
at me in merriment and calling out: "Ferenchi! Ferenchi!"
- which means "foreigner, other". This is an example of
the dismantling of the hierarchy of the world and its cul-
tures. Others are indeed Others, but for those Others, I am
the one who is Other.
In this sense, we're all in the same boat. All of us inhab-
itants of our planet are Other for Others - Me for Them,
and Them for Me.
In Malinowski's era and in the preceding centurie s, the
white man, the European, left his continent almost exclu-
sively for gain - to take over new land, to capture slaves, to
trade, or to convert. These expeditions, at times, were in-
credibly bloody - Columbus conquering America, and then
the white settlers, the conquest of Africa, Asia, and Aus-
tralia.
Malinowski set out for the Pacific islands with a differ-
ent goal - to leam about the Other. To leam about his
neighbor' s customs and language, and to see how he lived.
He wanted to see and experience this for himself, person-
ally, to experience it so that he could later tell about it.
It might seem like an obvious undertaking, yet it tumed
out to be revolutionary and it stood the world on its ear. It
12
lays bare a weakness, or perhaps simply a characteristic that
appears to a differing degree in all cultures: the fact that
cultures have difficulty understanding other cultures, and
that people belonging to a given culture - the participants
in and carriers of that culture - have this difficulty.
Namely, Malinowski stated after arriving at his research
site in the Trobriand Islands that the white people who
had lived there for years not only knew nothing about the
local people and their culture, but also, in fact, held an
entirely erroneous image characterized by eon temp t and
arrogance.
He himself, as if to spite all colonial customs, pitched
his tent in the middle of a lo cal village and lived among the
local people. What he experienced tumed out to be no
easy experience. In his Diary in the Strict Sense oj the Term,
he continually mentions problem s, bad moods, despair, and
depression. Y ou pay a high price for breaking free of your
culture. That is why it is so important to have your own,
distinct identity, and a sense of your own strength, worth,
and maturity. Only then can you confidently face a differ-
ent culture. Otherwise, you will withdraw into your own
hiding-place and timorously eut yourself off from others.
All the more so beeause the Other is a mirror into which
you peer, or in which you are observed, a mirror that un-
masks and denudes, whieh we would prefer to avoid.
It is interesting that, while the First World War was
underway in Malinowski's native Europe, the young an-
thropologist was eoneentrating on researeh into the eul-
ture of exchange, eontaets, and eommon rituals among the
inhabitants of the Trobriand Islands, to whieh he devotes
his excellent Argonauts oj the Western Pacific, and formu-
lating his important thesis, so seldom observed by others,
that "to judge something, you have to be there." This gradu-
13
ate of the J agiellonian University advanced another thesis,
incredibly bold for its time, and namely that there is no
such thing as a higher or a lower culture - there are only
different cultures, with varying ways of meeting the needs
and expectations of their participants. For him, a different
person, of a different race and culture, is nevertheless
a person whose behavior, like ours, is characterized by dig-
nity, respect for acknowledged values, and respect for tra-
dition and customs.
While Malinowski began his work at the moment of the
birth of the masses, we are living today in the period of
transition from that mass society to a new, planetary soci-
ety. Many factors lie behind this - the electronics revolu-
tion, the unprecedented development of all forms of com-
munication, the great advances in transport and movement,
and also, in connection with this, the transformation at
work in the consciousness of the youngest generation and
in culture broadly conceived.
How will this alter the relations between us, the people
of one culture, and the people of some other culture, or of
Other cultures? How will this influence the I-Other rela-
tionship within my culture and beyond it? It is very diffi-
cult to give an unequivocal final answer, since the proces s
is ongoing and we ourselves, with no chance for the dis-
tance that fosters reflection, are immersed in it.
Levinas considered the I-Other relation within the
bounds of a single, racially and historically homogeneous
civilization. Malinowski studied the Melanesian tribes at
a time when they we re still in their primal state, not yet
violated by the influence of Western technology, organi-
zation, and markets.
Today, this is ever less frequently possible. Cultures are
becoming increasingly hybridized and heterogeneous.
14
1 recently saw something astonishing in Dubai. A girl, surely
a Musiim, was walking along the beach. She was dressed in
tight jeans and a close-fitting blouse, but her head, and
only her head, was covered by a dark chador so hermetical-
ly puritanical that not even her eyes we re visible.
Today there are whole schools of philosophy, anthro-
pology, and literary criticism that devote their major at-
tention to this proces s of hybridization, linking, and cul-
tural processing. This process is underway especially in
those regions where the borders of states were the bound-
aries of different cultures, such as the American-Mexican
border, and also in the gigantic megalopolises (like Sao
Paulo, New York, or Singapore) that are ho me to popula-
tions representing the most variegated cultures and races.
We say today that the world has become multiethnic and
multicultural not because there are more of these commu-
nities and cultures than before, but rather because they
are speaking out more loudly, with increasing self-sufficien-
cy and forcefulness, demanding acceptance, recognition,
and a place at the round table of nations.
Yet the true challenge of our time, the encounter with
the new Other, derives as well from a broader historical
context. Namely, the second half of the 20th century was
a time when two-thirds of humanity freed themselves of
colonial dependency and became citizens of their own states
that, at least nominally, were independent. Gradually, these
people are beginning to rediscover their own pasts, myths,
and legend s , their roots, their feeling of identity, and of
course the pride that flows from this. They are beginning
to realize that they are the masters in their own house and
the captains of their fate, and they lo ok with abhorrence
on any attempts to reduce them to things, to extras, as
the victims and passive objects of domination.
15
Today, our planet, inhabited for centurie s by a narrow
group of free people and broad throngs ?f the is
filled with an increasing number of natlOns and soc1et1es
that have a growing sense of their own separate value and
significance. This process is often occurring amidst enor-
mous difficulties, conflicts, dramas, and losses.
We may be moving towards a world so entirely new and
changed that our previous historical ,,:ill prove
to be insufficient to grasp and move around m 1t. In any
case, the world that we are entering is the Planet of Great
Opportunities, yet these are not unconditional opportuni-
ties, but rather opportunities open only to those who take
their tasks seriously and thus prove that they take them-
selves seriously. This is a world that potentially has a lot to
offer, but that also demands a lot, and in which taking
easy shortcuts is often the road to nowhere.
We will constantly be encountering the new Other, who
will slowly emerge from the chaos and tumult of the present.
It is possible that this new Other will arise from the meet-
ing of two contradictory currents that shape the cult.ure
of the contemporary world - the current of the globahza-
tion of our re ality and the current of the conservation of
our diversity, our differences, our uniqueness. The Other
may be the offspring and the heir of currents.
We should seek dialogue and understandmg w1th the new
Other. The experience of spending years among remote
Others has taught me that kindness towards another be-
ing is the only attitude that can strike achord of humanity
in the Other.
Who will this new Other be? What will our encounter
be like? What will we say? And in what language? Will we
be able to listen to each other? To understand each other?
Will we both want to appeal, as Conrad put it, to what
16
"speaks to our capacity for delight and wonder, to the sense
of mystery surrounding our lives; to our sense of pity, and
beauty, and pain; to the latent feeling of fellowship with all
creation - and to the subtle but invincible, conviction of
solidarity that knits together the loneliness of innumera-
ble hearts: to the solidarity in dreams, in joy, in sorrow, in
aspirations, in illusions, in hope, in fear, which bind s men
to each other, which binds together all humanity - the
dead to the living and the living to the unborn."
SPOTKANIE Z INNYM
JAKO WYZWANIE XXI WIEKU
Kiedy zastanawiam nad swoimi,
mi, po czasem wydaje mi najbar-
dziej problemem nie tyle granice i fron-
ty, trudy i ile
o rodzaj, i przebieg spotkania z Innymi, z innymi
z ktrymi w drodze.
bowiem, wiele, a nieraz i wszystko, od tego
takie spotkanie - jak prze-
biegnie? jak potoczy? czym
Same tego rodzaju pytania prawieczne.
Spotkanie z innym z innymi
zawsze powszechnym i podstawowym
naszego gatunku. Archeolodzy nam, najpierw-
szymi grupami ludzkimi rodziny-plemiona
ce osb. Gdyby taka
trudno by jej szybko i sprawnie poru-
Gdyby mniejsza, trudniej by jej skutecznie
o
I teraz nasza idzie przed sie-
bie w poszukiwaniu i nagle napotyka ro-
to moment w dziejach
jakie odkrycie! Odkrycie, na
cze inni ludzie! Dotychczas bowiem wspomnianej
przez nas grupy pierwotnej w
w gronie po-
bratymcw zna wszystkich ludzi na Tymczasem
nie - na jeszcze inne podob-
ne istoty, inni ludzie!
Ale jak wobec takiej rewelacji Jak

z na tych napotkanych? ich obo-
i dalej? Czy i porozu-

21
T en sam wybr, przed ktrym lat temu
grupa naszych prarodzicw, stoi przed nami i i to
z wybr rwnie jak
wwczas zasadniczy i kategoryczny. Jak do In-
nych? wobec nich
tak, dochodzi do pojedynku, do konfliktu,
do wojny. takich wszyst-
kie archiwa, je pola niezliczonych bitew, resztki
rozrzuconych po ruin. Wszystkie one do-
wodem - tego, nie albo nie
z Innymi. Literatura wszystkich krajw
i wszystkich epok i
za swj w i nastroju te-
mat.
Ale tak, przez nas rodzina-
miast i postanowi
od innych, To w wyniku takiej postawy
z czasem podobne w obiekty,
jak Wielki Mur, i bramy Babilonu, rzymskie
limes czy kamienne mury Inkw.
Na dowody na jeszcze inne, znane
czeniu ludzkiemu rozrzucone obfi-
cie na naszej planecie. To dowody na - pozo-
rynkw, przystani wodnych, miejsca,
gdzie agory i sanktuaria, gdzie widoczne sie-
dziby starych uniwersytetw i akademii, czy
szlakw handlowych, takich jak Jedwabny, Bursz-
tynowy czy Saharyjski. tam ludzie spotykali
wymieniali idee i towary, handlowali i inte-
resy, zawierali przymierza i sojusze, znajdywali wsplne cele
i Inny synonimem i wro-
i
w sobie owego Innego, w to, w ta-
kim
22
Tak trzy zawsze przed
kiem, z Innym:
murem, dialog.
Na przestrzeni historii czas waha
dzy tymi opcjami, w od czasu i kultury wybiera
to to widzimy, w tych wyborach jest zmien-
ny, nie zawsze czuje pewnie, nie stoi na mocnym
grunCie.
trudno
wszyscy, jest ona istoty ludzkiej, ob-
jej do porozumienia, do wczucia w In-
nego, do dobroci i rozumu. Bowiem spotkanie z Innym
zwykle wwczas tragicznie, dramatem krwi
i
ktra do budowy wielkich mu-
rw i przepastnych fos, do otaczania nimi i odgrodze-
nia od innych, nadano doktryny apart-
heidu. to ograniczone do poli-
tyki w
Afryce. W apartheid praktykowany
w czasach. W uproszczeniu jest to
ktrego zwolennicy jak chce,
byle z dala ode mnie, nie do mojej rasy, religii,
kultury. Ale gdyby to tylko o to W rzeczywisto-
mamy tu do czynienia z strukturalnej nierw-
rodzaju ludzkiego. W mitach wielu plemion i ludw
zawarte jest przekonanie, tylko my -
naszego klanu, naszej a inni, wszy-
scy inni, albo w ogle nie Najle-
piej to jedna z doktryn Chin: nie-
za diabli pomiot, w najlepszym ra-
zie za losu, ktrej nie
kiem. Inny, zgodnie z tymi przekonaniami, przedsta-
wiany jako pies, jako szczur albo gad. Apartheid
23
i jest pogardy i do Inne-
go, obcego.
jest obraz Innego w epoce
antropomorficznych, to znaczy takich, ktrych bogowie
mogli i jak lu-
dzie. Bowiem nigdy wwczas nie wiadome, czy ten
oto przybysz, to
wiek czy bg do podobny. T a ta in-
ambiwalencja jest jednym ze kultury go-
okazanie wszelkiej przy-
o do nierozpoznawalnej istocie.
Pisze o tym Cyprian Norwid, w swoim
do Odysei nad z Odyse-
usz w swojej drodze powrotnej do Itaki. "Tam
w i obcym - autor Pro-
methidiona - podejrzewano naprzd, czy on nie jest z Bo-
ga? ... Nie nikogo, naprzd:
kto jest - ale dopiero skoro w nim usza-
do ludzkich i to
a dlatego
dzy praktyki i cnoty. ostatniego
wieka nie u Grekw Homera! - zawsze on pierw-
szym, to jest boskim".
W takim, przytoczonym przez Norwida greckim rozu-
mieniu kultury rzeczy swoje nowe, przychylne
znaczenia. Drzwi i bramy nie tylko do
zamykania przed Innym - przed
nim, w Droga nie musi
kolumnom, traktem, ktrym idzie do nas,
ubrany w strj pielgrzyma, z bogw. takim
interpretacjom zaczynamy w
nie tylko bogatszym i ale bar-
dziej nam w ktrym sami
chcieli z Innym.
24
Spotkanie z Innym Emmanuel nazywa "wyda-
rzeniem", nawet - "wydarzeniem fundamentalnym"; to naj-
naj dalej horyzont. Levi-
nas, jak wiemy, do grona filozofw dialogikw, takich
jak Martin Buber, Ferdinand Ebner czy Gabriel Marcel
do grona tego i Jzef Tischner), ktrzy
Innego - jako bytu jedynego i niepowtarzal-
nego - w mniej lub bardziej opozycji do dwch
fenomenw, ktre w XX wieku, a ktrymi
narodziny jednostki
masowego i ekspansja niszczycielskich ideologii totalitar-
nych. Filozofowie ci starali dla nich war-
- mnie, ciebie, Innego, Innych - od
mas
i totalitaryzmu upowszechnili oni Innego dla
a
niewymienialnych i cech).
to nurt nurt i
nurt i Innego,
z ktrym, jak Levinas, nie tylko
w twarz i z nim dialog, ale
za niego
chodzi o stosunek do Innego i Innych, dialogicy
odrzucali wojny jako do kryty-
kowali i odgradzania murem, a za-
miast tego - etyczny
i
W takiej i podobnego
typu i refleksji, podobnej postawy, rodzi
i rozwija wielkie badawcze a potem dok-
tora filozofii Uniwersytetu PAU -
Malinowskiego.
Problem Malinowskiego: jak do Innego,
to nie jest istota postulatywna, abstrakcyjna, ale
25
konkretny do odmiennej rasy,
swoje od naszych wierzenia i kul-
i obyczaje?
"Inny" jest okre-
z punktu widzenia Europejczyka. Ale
przez w grach Etiopii, biegnie za gromada
dzieci mnie palcem, rozbawionych i
cych: Ferenczi! Ferenczi! - To znaczy obcy, .inny.
Oto dehierarchizacji i jego kultur. Ze co
prawda inni Inni, ale dla tych Innych to ja je-
stem Inny.
W tym sensie wszyscy jedziemy na jednym wozie. Wszy-
scy naszej planety Inni wobec Innych
- ja wobec nich, oni wobec mnie.
W epoce Malinowskiego i w wiekach
Europejczyk, wyprawia poza swj konty-
nent niemal w celach zdobywczych - aby opano-
nowe ziemie, niewolnika, czy na-
to ekspedycje krwawe - pod-
bj Ameryk przez Kolumba, a potem osadnikw,
podbj Afryki, Azji, Australii.
Malinowski wyprawia na wyspy Pacyfiku w odmien-
nym celu - Innego jego
zwyczaje i jak Chce i do-
tego sam,
-
Tak, oczywisty projekt okazuje jed-
nak rewolucyjny, on bowiem, wy-
w co prawda, stopniu czy
po prostu - kultury, na tym,
jedna kultura ma w rozumieniu innej, te trud-
ludzie do owych kultur Ich uczest-
nicy i nosiciele.
26
Mianowicie, autor Ogrodw koralowych stwierdza po
przybyciu na teren swoich - Wyspy Trobrianda -
tam latami biali nie tylko nic nie
o miejscowej i jej kulturze, ale o niej
nacechowane i wy-

I sam, na przekr wszelkim zwyczajom kolonialnym,
rozbija namiot w jednej z tutejszych wiosek i za-
mieszkuje z To, co nie
dzie W swoim zachowanym Dzien-
ni/w w znaczeniu tego wyrazu coraz to wspomina
o swoich nastrojach, depre-
sji. Za wyrwanie ze swojej kultury
Dlatego tak jest posiadanie
poczucie jej i Tylko ww-
czas z kul-
W przeciwnym wypadku w swojej
kryjwce, od innych. Tym bardziej
Inny to w ktrym czy -
w ktrym jestem to lustro, ktre mnie demasku-
je i czego jednak
Jest kiedy w rodzimej Europie Malinow-
skiego toczy I wojna antropolog sku-
pia na badaniach kultury wymiany, kontaktw i wspl-
nych Wysp Trobrianda,
czemu swoje Argonauci Zachod-
niego Pacyfiku, i a tak rzadko prze-
przez innych "aby o trze-
ba tam Z jeszcze na owe czasy
nie wychowanek Uniwersytetu
skiego, a mianowicie, nie ma kultur i
- tylko kultury w odmienny sposb
ce potrzeby i oczekiwania jej uczestnikw. Dla niego inny
27
z innej rasy i kultury, jest ktrej
zachowanie, jednako jak z nas, cechuje
szacunek dla uznawanych poszanowanie tradycji
i obyczaju.
O ile Malinowski w momencie naro-
dzin masowego, to w okresie
przechodzenia od masowego do no-
wego - planetarnego. Wiele temu sprzyja - rewolucja elek-
troniczna, rozwj wszelkiej komunikacji, wielkie
w i przemieszczaniu a -
i w z tym - w
naj i w szeroko rozumianej kul-
turze.
Jak to zmieni stosunek nas -ludzi z jednej kultury - do
ludzi z innej kultury czy innych kultur? Jak to na
J a-Inny w mojej kultury i poza Bardzo
trudno na to w sposb jednoznaczny i osta-
teczny, jako chodzi o proces, ktry trwa i w ktrym my
sami - bez szansy na dystans - je-
zanurzeni.
Levinas Ja-Inny w jednej, hi-
storycznie i rasowo jednolitej cywilizacji. Malinowski
plemiona melanezyjskie w czasie, kiedy jesz-
cze stan pierwotny, nienaruszony zachodniej
technologii, organizacji i rynku.
Dzisiaj coraz rzadziej jest to Kultura staje
bardziej i bardziej hybrydyczna, heterogeniczna. Niedaw-
no w Dubaju zjawisko. Brzegiem
morza dziewczyna, z Ubra-
na w i a
jej tylko ciemny czador tak
szczelny, nawet oczu nie
Dzisiaj w filozofii, antropologii, kryty-
ce literackiej, ktre temu procesowi hybrydyzacji,
28
i kulturowego przetwarzania
Proces ten trwa w tych regionach, gdzie granice
granicami kultur (np. granica amery-
a w gigantycznych megamia-
stach Uak Sao Paulo, Nowy Jork czy Singapur), w ktrych
miesza kultury i rasy naj prze-
mwimy wielo-
etniczny i wielokulturowy nie dlatego, tych
i kultur lecz one
coraz coraz bardziej samodzielnym
i zdecydowanym, akceptacji, uznania i miej-
sca przy stole narodw.
Ale prawdziwe wyzwanie naszego czasu, spotkanie z no-
wym Innym, bierze i z szerszego kontekstu hi-
storycznego. A mianowicie - druga XX wieku to
lata, w ktrych dwie trzecie wyzwala z za-
kolonialnej i staje obywatelami swoich, przy-
najmniej nominalnie, Stopniowo
ludzie ci
mity i legendy, swoje korzenie, poczucie i, oczy-
dumy z tego go-
spodarzami i sternikami swojego losu, z
na wszelkie prby traktowania ich przedmioto-
wo, jako statystw, jako ofiary i bierne obiekty dominacji.
nasza planeta, zamieszkana wiekami przez
grono wolnych i szerokie rzesze zniewolonych,
coraz narodw i o
poczuciu i znaczenia. Proces ten
przebiega ogromnych konfliktw,
dramatw i strat.
zmierzamy w tak no-
wego i odmiennego, dotychczasowe hi-
storii aby go i mc
w nim W razie w ktry wchodzi-
29
my, jest Wielkiej Szansy, ale nie szansy bezwarun-
kowej, lecz otwartej tylko dla tych, ktrzy swoje
zadania serio, tym dowd, siebie samych
serio. Jest to ktry potencjalnie wiele daje, ale i wiele
wymaga, w ktrym prba chodzenia na skrty jest

w nim nowego Innego, ktry
powoli zacznie z chaosu i
ten Inny zrodzi ze dwch
przeciwstawnych nurtw
go - z nurtu
i z drugiego, nasze
nice, Ze ich i spad-
z nim dialogu i porozumienia.
przebywania latami dalekich Innych
uczy mnie, tylko do drugiej istoty jest po-
ktra w niej
Kim ten nowy Inny? Jak nasze
spotkanie? Co sobie powiemy? I w jakim Czy po-
trafimy nawzajem? Nawzajem
Czy razem zechcemy do tego, co - jak mwi
Conrad - "przemawia do naszej
zachwytu i podziwu, do wyczucia tajemnicy
do naszego poczucia i blu, do utajo-
nej z - i do subtelnego, ale nie-
o ktra zespala
w jedno nieprzeliczonych serc ludzkich, do
wsplnoty w marzeniach, troskach,
nadziei, ktra z
wiekiem, ktra - z
a z jeszcze nie narodzonymi".
30
RYSZARD
Reporter, journalist, writer (1932-2007).
Graduated in 1955 from the Warsaw University Department of
History.
Fluent in: English, Russian, Spanish, French, Portuguese.
Visiting Professor in Bangalore, Bonn, Caracas, USA (Philadelphia,
Harvard, Columbia Universities), Vancouver, San Sebastian, Irkuck,
Cape Town, London, Madrid.
Doctor Honoris Causa:
Uniwersytet Katowice (polska, 1997); Uniwersytet Wro-
(polska, 2001), Sophia University (Bulgaria, 2002); Uni-
wersytet (polska, 2004); Uniwersytet (polska,
2004); Universitat de Barcelona (Espafia, 2005).
Awards:
(1956); Kawalerski Orderu Odrodzenia
Polski (1974); Nagroda im. Prusa (1975); Nagroda
stwowa II Stopnia (1976); Nagroda Tygodnika "Kultura" (1978);
Cesarz / The Emperor - "Sunday Times'" Book of the Year (1983),
N agroda PEN Clubu im. Ksawerego (1990); N agro-
da "Literatura" (1990); Nagroda Ministra Spraw Za-
granicznych (1990); Nagroda Fundacji Alfreda Jurzykowskiego
(New York, 1994); Leipziger Buchpreis zur Europiiischen Verstiindi-
gung (Deutschland 1994); Prixd'Astrolabe (France 1995); Nagro-
da Fundacji (Toronto, Canada 1996); Nagroda PEN
Clubu im. Jana Parandowskiego (1996); Nagroda
31
"Odra" (1997) ; Nagroda Instytutu Jzefa w dziedzinie
literatury im. Josepha Conrada (USA 1997); Hanseatische Goethe-
-Preis der Alfred-Toepfer-Stiftung (Deutschland 1999); Nagroda
Miast Partnerskich im. S.B. Lindego (1999); Na-
groda Sezonu Wydawniczego "Ikar'99"; Nagroda Stowarzyszenia
Polskich Wydawcw i (1999); Premio Viareggio (Italia
2000); Premio Omegna e il Premio Creola dell'Universita di Bolo-
gna (Italia 2000); "Dziennikarza Wieku" uzyskany w plebi-
scycie pisma "Press" (1999); Nagroda "Bursztynowy Motyl" za al-
bum Z Afryki (2001); Prix Tropiques (France 2002); "Superwik-
tor" Nagroda Polskiej Akademii Telewizyjnej (2002); Order "Ecce
Homo", Tomaszw Mazowiecki (2002); Nagroda
"Znak" im. Jzefa Tischnera (2002); Premio "Liberpress" (Espafia
2002); Premio Grinzane Cavour (Torino, Italia 2003); Premio Prin-
cipe de Asturias de la Concordia (Espafia 2003); Nagroda tygodni-
ka "Newsweek" - "Podporiusz 2003"; Nagroda Polskiej Rady Azji
i Pacyfiku "Ambasador Dialogu" (2003); Nagroda Literacka im.
St. Reymonta (2004); Bruno Kreisky Preis (sterreich
2004).
Books in Polish:
1. Busz po polsku (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1962)
2. Czarne gwiazdy (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1963)
3. Kirgiz schodzi z konia (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1968)
4. Gdyby Afryka ... (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1969)
5. (KiW, Warszawa 1970)
6. Chrystus z karabinem na ramieniu (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1975)
7. Jeszcze (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1976)
8. Wojnafutbolowa (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1978)
9. Cesarz (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1978)
10. Szachinszach (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1982)
11. Notes (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1986)
12. Lapidarium (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1990)
13. Imperium (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1993)
14. Lapidarium II (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1995)
15. Lapidarium III (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1997)
16. Lapidaria (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1997)
32
17. Heban (Czytelnik, Warszawa 1998)
18. Lapidarium IV (Czytelnik, Warszawa 2000)
19. Z Afryki (album fotograficzny) (Buffi, 2000)
20. Lapidarium V (Czytelnik, Warszawa 2002)
21. Autoportret reportera (Znak, Krakw 2003)
22. z Herodotem (Znak, Krakw 2004)
Translated, among others, into: Albanian, Bulgarian, Croatian,
Czech, Dutch, English, Esperanto, Farsi, Finnish, French, German,
Greek, Hebrew, Hungarian, Italian, Japanese, Norwegian, Portu-
guese, Rumanian, Russian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish,
Ukrainian.
Photographic exhibitions: Warszawa, Budapest, Roma,
Oviedo.
Theatrical adaptations of Cesarz / The Emperor staged in:
Warszawa, London, Zurich, Budapest, Amsterdam, Toronto.
Contents / Spis t r e c i
ENCOUNTERING THE OTHER:
THE CHALLANGE FOR THE
TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY .............................. 5
SPOTKANIE Z INNYM
]AKOWYZWANIEXXIWIEKU .......................... 19
About the Author. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 27
TOWARZYS1WO AUTORW I WYDAWCW
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