Us Slavs! A Stereotypical Image of the Slav in Polish Memes

ABSTRACT

This study discusses stereotypical distinguishing traits of the Slavs, making up their image that is created by Polish memes. A qualitative analysis of the memes covered their potential to indicate traits and behaviours that are being considered at present as typically Slavic. The analysis is focused on Slavic autostereotypes, showing how today’s Polish Slavs perceive the group with which they identify. The study is aimed to identify the traits defined by the Poles as typically Slavic, and thus to explain who is classified as a stereotypical Slav today. A qualitative analysis of memes depicting the Slavs led to the identification of eight traits attributed to that group of people, namely: the Slav squat, Slavic imagination, the Slavic drinking culture, Slavic culinary preferences, Slavic impulsiveness and tendency to argue, Slavic style, Slavic “technical achievements” and Slavic femininity.

KEYWORDS:

• Stereotype
• Slav
• Meme
• Group identity

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 It is worth noting that the word prawilny (‘correct method’) is strongly value- and stylistically-laden. According to the explanation provided in the Great Dictionary of Polish, it functions in Polish as a borrowing from Russian, has a colloquial character and denotes the approval of members of a given social group for someone or something (WSJP PAN).

2 An interesting fact is that in the Polish culture the appearance of a Slav dressed in such a way (if he is Polish) has a specific name – Seba/Sebix (Miejski.pl; WSJP PAN).

3 Such an idealised image of Slavs is excellently reflected, for example, in the song “My Słowianie” performed by the Polish artists Donatan and Cleo. Both in the lyrics of the song and in the music video, every Slavic trait is shown as positive (YouTube.com).