TOWARDS IDENTITY.JOURNEY OF POLISH ARMENIANS IN POSTMODERN TIMES

The article examines the contemporary phenomenon of the redefinition of an ethnic community. It describes one method for the ethnic identification of Polish Armenians, a community with a history going back several centuries. The analysis concerns deconstructed texts of the postmodern reality. The topics of identity and journey appear in every attempt to describe Armenian society, just as with every other group whose appearance in a given territory is a result of migration. Thus, the description of culture involves a journey to categories which are fundamental for each community.The reflections in the article are based on an advertisement - a symbolic indicator of the directions taken in Armenian journeys towards identity. The analysis of the cultural content of this text seeks to untangle a web of meanings, signs, and points along the Armenian ethnic map and, at the same time, identify the symbols crucial in the reconstruction of identity. The journey to identity also borrows diverse elements from the past: a faded photograph, a tattered century-old notebook, a ruined manor or chapel located in the remote eastern frontier (Kresy).