Fisher Fellow Talk: Laura Clarissa Loew, "Not 'From Dishwasher to Millionaire,' but 'From Peasant to Farmer': The Politics and Narratives of Social Advancement in the Polish People's Republic

"Not from dishwasher to millionaire, but from peasant to farmer" – this could have been a slogan promising social advancement in the Polish People’s Republic. The vision of social upward mobility was at the core of the socialist narrative of progress and modernity. While it was also supposed to create the possibility for individuals to reach higher educational, professional, and political levels, its collective scope was the most important for the socialist idea. A peasant should not only become a farmer through better education and improved technology, but through the integration into a state-provided network of social, educational, and technical infrastructure. Using autobiographical narratives, journalistic texts, as well as local archive sources, this talk will explore the policies and narratives surrounding social advancement in socialist Poland.

This talk will be available via Zoom, you are welcome to join here https://illinois.zoom.us/j/84950817279?pwd=tU7haqEoKJ1JTdKbVsM0beiGWOdamk.1 

Laura Clarissa Loew is a Ph.D. student and a research assistant at the Department of History at Justus Liebig University in Giessen (Germany). Her dissertation examines how social policy, public infrastructure, and socialist ideology shaped the promise of social advancement in the Polish People's Republic. Recently, she has been awarded a scholarship of the German Historical Institute in Warsaw.