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Feminist Re-appropriations of National and Religious Symbols in Poland’s Strajk Kobiet Protests. Protest Banners as Sites of Meaning-Making

Czyz, Iga LU (2025) MRSM15 20251
Human Rights Studies
Abstract (Swedish)
This thesis examines how participant-made banners from the Strajk Kobiet protests in Poland re-appropriated national and religious symbols to challenge cultural narratives and offer alternative visions of Polishness and womanhood. Set against democratic backsliding and a strong state–Church alliance, the study focuses on five photographs from the Archive of Public Protests, selected for their engagement with recognised national or nationalised religious symbols. Using a constructivist approach to representation, the analysis draws on Barthes’s denotation, connotation, and myth, combined with Panofsky’s iconology, to identify two modes of creative re-appropriation: layered, which retains the sign while adding new meaning, and... (More)
This thesis examines how participant-made banners from the Strajk Kobiet protests in Poland re-appropriated national and religious symbols to challenge cultural narratives and offer alternative visions of Polishness and womanhood. Set against democratic backsliding and a strong state–Church alliance, the study focuses on five photographs from the Archive of Public Protests, selected for their engagement with recognised national or nationalised religious symbols. Using a constructivist approach to representation, the analysis draws on Barthes’s denotation, connotation, and myth, combined with Panofsky’s iconology, to identify two modes of creative re-appropriation: layered, which retains the sign while adding new meaning, and transformative, which inverts or dismantles it. Defamiliarisation and symbolic tension were found to be central mechanisms. The findings show that these banners positioned Polish feminism both inside the national vocabulary, through reclamation of shared icons, and against its exclusionary uses, by dismantling nationalist codes. This dual strategy revealed how feminism can both contest and inhabit national identity, challenging the boundaries of Polishness while redefining its symbolic core. (Less)
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author
Czyz, Iga LU
supervisor
organization
course
MRSM15 20251
year
type
H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
subject
keywords
Strajk Kobiet, Polish feminism, Polish Nationalism, Feminist Patriotism, Creative Re-Appropriation, Visuality of Social Movements, Protest Banners, Human Rights Archives, Protest Movements, Constructivism, Representation, Semiotics, Iconology
language
English
id
9220797
date added to LUP
2026-02-03 11:41:25
date last changed
2026-02-03 11:41:25
@misc{9220797,
  abstract     = {{This thesis examines how participant-made banners from the Strajk Kobiet protests in Poland re-appropriated national and religious symbols to challenge cultural narratives and offer alternative visions of Polishness and womanhood. Set against democratic backsliding and a strong state–Church alliance, the study focuses on five photographs from the Archive of Public Protests, selected for their engagement with recognised national or nationalised religious symbols. Using a constructivist approach to representation, the analysis draws on Barthes’s denotation, connotation, and myth, combined with Panofsky’s iconology, to identify two modes of creative re-appropriation: layered, which retains the sign while adding new meaning, and transformative, which inverts or dismantles it. Defamiliarisation and symbolic tension were found to be central mechanisms. The findings show that these banners positioned Polish feminism both inside the national vocabulary, through reclamation of shared icons, and against its exclusionary uses, by dismantling nationalist codes. This dual strategy revealed how feminism can both contest and inhabit national identity, challenging the boundaries of Polishness while redefining its symbolic core.}},
  author       = {{Czyz, Iga}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Feminist Re-appropriations of National and Religious Symbols in Poland’s Strajk Kobiet Protests. Protest Banners as Sites of Meaning-Making}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}