Osobiste podróże do wyobrażonej Ameryki Mrągowa

Anna Duda

doi:10.23858/JUE23.2025.003

Published: 2025-12-03

Vol. 23 No. - (2025)

Personal journeys to the imagined America of Mrągowo

Anna Duda

Journal of Urban Ethnology

Section: Personal cit

https://doi.org/10.23858/JUE23.2025.003

Abstract

This article aims to explore the festival heritage of Mrągowo, which since the 1980s has contributed to shaping an image of an “imagined America”. Using concepts from the anthropology of tourism, particularly Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) tourism, the study examines journeys to a “personal city” – a space linked to individual memories of a specific historical reality. Mrągowo’s version of America is also interpreted as an “imagined homeland” – a vision of freedom longed for by the citizens of the People’s Republic of Poland at the time. The analysis considers both physical travels, in the form of tourist visits, and symbolic journeys, as during festival days the city’s residents immerse themselves in a different, imagined space. To answer the research questions, qualitative methods were used, including in-depth interviews and a semiotic analysis of Mrągowo’s urban landscape.

Keywords:

tourism VFR, festival heritage, imagined America, Mrągowo

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Duda, A. (2025). Personal journeys to the imagined America of Mrągowo. Journal of Urban Ethnology, 23(-), 45–58. https://doi.org/10.23858/JUE23.2025.003

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