Feeling at home in Grochów. The phenomenon of Kicia Kocia

Sławomir Sikora

doi:10.23858/JUE17.2019.005

Published: 2019-12-31

Vol. 17 (2019)

Feeling at home in Grochów. The phenomenon of Kicia Kocia

Sławomir Sikora

Journal of Urban Ethnology

Section: Articles

https://doi.org/10.23858/JUE17.2019.005

Abstract

Feeling at home can be metaphorically associated with dwelling (M. Heidegger) and finding/constructing one’s place. With, i.a. the concepts of Heidegger and M. de Certeau as a starting point the author shows how the process of creating one’s place can be understood today. Recalling various examples of tamed “places/venues” (the cigar shop in Smoke by P. Auster and W. Wang, the local shop in the anthropological documentary Tobacco, Truths and Rummikub by S. Meyknecht, and the “mobile bar” in Ankara described by D. Altay), he creates an ambiguous concept of the “own place today”. An example crucial for the presented reflections is the establishment and functioning of the Kicia Kocia clubhouse in the district of Grochów (Warsaw) showing how a “real place” can be created first virtually (Facebook), through stories and things, and then by the people themselves or rather through their relationships. It is the latter – or their network – that allow to construct a place-rhizome, which radiates throughout a district.

Keywords:

anthropology of space, Kicia Kocia clubhouse, feeling at home, Grochów, place, urban anthropology

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Sikora, S. (2019). Feeling at home in Grochów. The phenomenon of Kicia Kocia. Journal of Urban Ethnology, 17, 81–96. https://doi.org/10.23858/JUE17.2019.005

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Sławomir Sikora

slawomir.sikora@uw.edu.pl
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2147-8543

Affiliation:

Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology University of Warsaw, Poland

Bio Statement (e.g., department and rank)

Sławomir Sikora PhD (habil.) is a cultural anthropologist working at the Institute of Ethnology and Cultural Anthropology of the University of Warsaw. His research interests include visual anthropology, film, urban anthropology, and anthropology of death.