This article looks at the mobility of highly skilled female migrants from the perspective of the post-socialist semi-peripheral countries in Eastern Europe. It analyses chosen aspects of the biographical experiences of highly skilled women from three post-USSR republics bordering the European Union – namely Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia – in Poland, a post-socialist country itself but also an EU member-state. The empirical analysis focuses on their lifestyle changes and choices, made through the experience of living in a new, though quite familiar Polish culture, which is both more emancipated (Western) while, at the same time, pertaining to some of the familiar (Eastern) patterns. Due to this liminal nature of the host country, the adaptation process of migrants is easier and comes at a lower biographical cost. In the analysis, I explore two notions: the gender roles renegotiation and the changes in the women’s approach towards the external manifestations of femininity, which I contrast with their reflections of the changes undergone. As for the gender role renegotiation, three main approaches were described varying by the degree to which the old, familiar patterns are maintained. In terms of the external notions of femininity, while taking care of one’s looks is still an observable element of the migrants’ identity, they do take advantage of the wider spectrum of options available in the host society, and try to blend in with the casual big-city crowd. The article was written on the basis of empirical material in the form of twenty in-depth, unstructured interviews, which were confronted with the selected subject literature.

The author reviews the latest book by Leszek Bednarczuk devoted to the beginnings and the borderlands of the Polish language. The book under review deals with a wide array of topics related to the prehistory and history of Polish taken in its relation to Indo-European and the neighboring languages, the borderland varieties of Polish, and the linguistic vicissitudes of the Christianization of Poland.

The article addresses poetic monologues in the works of the Belarusian poet Anatoly Sys, one of the founders and creative leader of the legendary literary group “Tutejšyja” (‘Locals’) (1986-1989). The poet turned to poetic monologue at different periods of his work, being especially active in the second half of the 1980s, during Gorbachev’s perestroika and the new wave of Belarusian national revival. Exhibiting outstanding acting abilities, Anatolʹ Sys recited his poetic monologues at parties and illegal rallies, hiding national revival and anti-Communist ideas relevant for his time behind the guise of famous historical figures – Apanas Filipovič, Zmicier Žylunovič, Alesʹ Harun, Karusʹ Kahaniec and others. In addition to their journalistic sharpness, A. Sys’s best poetic monologues are of a high artistic quality with a universal philosophical content, which has allowed them to pass beyond time and become a part of the golden fund of 20th-century Belarusian poetry (Monologue of a “Local”, Monologue of Apanas Filipovič, Monologue of an Unfrocked Priest, Monologue of an Apostate, Monologue of Karusʹ Kahaniec).

Nowadays, the Polish Old Believers live in a language island. Language islands are detached from their ethnolinguistic roots and suffer a constant shortage of language structures. On the one hand, they acquire the language of the dominant group; on the other hand, it is important for them to preserve the language of their ancestors. The Old Believers’ Russian dialect has been influenced by the Polish language for over a century. As a result of the territorial proximity of the Old Believers’ homeland with the compact Belarusian language territory as well as exposure to Belarusian language and its dialects, “Polish” Old Believers’ speech bears many features characteristic for them. The main aim of this paper is to present the prepositions of space in the local dialect of Old Believers in Poland and to describe their characteristics. The “Polish” Old Believers’ narratives investigated in this paper contain many examples of use of the prepositions of space typical for their indigenous dialects as well as the Belarusian language and dialects. There are also many examples of use of such prepositions that can be considered as a result of Polish influence on the Russian dialect of Old Believers living in Poland.