Polish and Lithuanian Tatars. One history and two stories

Abstract

In my paper, I would like to discuss the current status of the ethnicity of two Tatar communities - Lithuanian and Polish - which, for almost 600 years, have been part of one ethnos, separated by national borders, which therefore experienced different social and political conditions a few decades ago. I would like to take a closer look at the similarities and differences pertaining to the character of the ethnicity of Polish and Lithuanian Tatars, with special focus on the impact of the above mentioned conditions on their identity. I am particularly interested in the interpretation of ethnic history shared by each group. In that context, I am going to analyse four films to show how Polish and Lithuanian Tartars have used their cultural resources, for example history and the past, (partly shared, partly different) to describe their ethnic characteristics.