Maintaining Close and Intimate Relationships by Migrant Peasant Families at the Beginning of the 20th Century

Abstract

In the proposed article and its presentist approach, I raise the question about the nature of close, intimate relationships in Polish peasant families from the early twentieth century, which were separated by migration and maintained contact with their family members through letters, with reference to three chosen series of letters (the Stelmach family, the Topolski family and the Makowski family) from The Polish Peasant in Europe and America by W. Thomas and F. Znaniecki. Referring to the paradigm of transnationalism, modern phenomena and research categories associated with migration of families, I try to show how the chosen peasant families tried to experience togetherness and feelings across borders in the pre-technology era.