Josef Obrebski

Josef Obrebski
Born	1905
Died	1967
Residence	4 St Georges Square NW1 [A63]
Society Membership membership ordinary fellow left 1931 last listed elected_AI 1931.04.28

Notes

House Notes

1931.03.24 proposed by C.G. Seligman, seconded by J.L. Myres

Notes From Elsewhere

Józef Obrębski (born February 18, 1905 in Teplik , died December 28, 1967 in Holis, New York) - ethnologist , Slavist and sociologist . In the years 1926-1930 he studied ethnography and Slavic philology in Krakow with Kazimierz Moszyński and Kazimierz Nitsch . In the years 1931-1933 he carried out doctoral studies under Bronisław Malinowski at the London School of Economics , in which (1932-1933) he conducted ethnosociological field studies in Macedonia . An important source of inspiration was Florian Znaniecki's humanistic sociology . After returning to the country, in the years 1934-1937 he undertook research in western Polesie . In 1938-39 he lectured at Wolna Wszechnica Polskiej in Łódź , from 1945 at the University of Lodz . In 1945 he obtained a habilitation.

His parents were; Antoni Obrębski - administrator of estates of counts Potocki and Maria from Hołajscy - teacher. He had two older sisters. Antonina Obrębska-Jabłońska (1901-1994) was a slavist , the creator of Polish Belarusian studies . Her husband, Witold Jabłoński , a sinologist . On the other hand, the second sister, Maria Stieberowa (1904-1995) was a painter, graphic artist and teacher at art academies, wife of a linguist and Slavic writer Zdzisław Stieber . The Obrębski family lived in the Potocki estate in Podolia and Byelorussia . However, at the moment of her husband's death, Józef's mother had to support her own family, working as a teacher and a clerk. Józef and his sisters and mother lived with their uncle in the Berdyczów poviat . Then they moved to Kiev , and around 1911 to Warsaw .

He began his education in Warsaw at the gymnasium E. Konopczyński (from 1919, Adam Mickiewicz). He worked there, among others editing the "Swastyka" magazine. Then he continued his education after the seventh grade in Krakow, in the 4th State Gymnasium named after H. Sienkiewicz. After an annual break caused by lung disease, he passed his secondary school-leaving examination as an extramural student. The next step was to study at a university. Obrębski attended the Law Faculty of the University of Warsaw . He finished two trimesters there, participating, among others, in lectures on sociology at Leon Petrazycki . In October 1925, he enrolled at the Faculty of Philosophy of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, where he studied at the Slavic College, ethnography and Slavic philosophy. During his studies, he was appreciated by his professor Kazimierz Moszyński, who employed him as a deputy assistant and later as his assistant. His studies included ethnography of Slavs, Slavic philology and dialectology, general linguistics, Polish grammar and Ukrainian language, as well as Russian language, archeology, Polish literature, history of art and philosophy. He conducted his first research during his studies at the University; participating in the car expeditions of Orbis, Ludomir Sawicki, head of the Geographic Institute of the Jagiellonian University, he conducted research in Bulgaria (together with Kazimierz Moszyński and Christ Wakarelski). He also went to Macedonia, where he conducted research on archaic material culture; agriculture and hunting. Materials collected during this trip were the basis for his future master's thesis Folk Agriculture of the eastern part of the Balkan Peninsula, which was also published in the Lud Słowiański magazine (1929, 1930, 1931), the organ of the Studium of the Slavic Jagiellonian University, edited, among others with his cooperation. He took doctoral studies with Bronisław Malinowski at the London School of Economics and Political Science . He specialized in field work methods and the theory of social anthropology. Józef Obrębski belonged to him a group of closest students of Bronisław Malinowski. Therefore, during the scientific leave of Professor Malinowski, he had the opportunity to prepare field documentation, and above all, Kiriwin linguistic material, for the book Coral garden and their magic . This work allowed him an intensive, practical study of both the functional method and the linguistics of Bronisław Malinowski. In his later studies, he based himself on both the science raised from Kazimierz Moszyński and professor Malinowski. In the period from May 1932 to March 1933, he carried out field research in Macedonia, among the highlanders of Porecz. For most of that time he stayed in the village of Wołcze, where he documented the structure of the rural community and family, religious life, rituals, folk healing and magical rituals. His material from these studies remained mostly in the form of manuscripts and typescripts. In the following years, he prepared for print the monograph on the magic of Porecz, which showed the functioning of magical practices in relation to the entire socio-economic system, family system, beliefs, and rites of the Macedonian highlanders. Unfortunately, however, the manuscript of the book was destroyed during the Warsaw Uprising, and from this material only three articles appeared (including one posthumously - Ritural and social structure in a Macedonian village , ed by Barbara Kerewsky and Joel M. Halpern, Department of Anthropology, 1977 ), showing the results of these studies in Porecz [1] . After this time, Józef Obrębski obtained the title of doctor of philosophy in the field of social anthropology.

Józef Obrębski acted dynamically as a researcher; member of many associations, research organizer or lecturer in the second half of the 1930s.

From March 1936, a member of the Institute for the Study of Nationality Affairs; He lectured at the National Institute's National Institute Seminary.
From 1936, he was a lecturer in sociology at the Pedagogical Institute of the Polish Teachers' Union and in the university of the Free Polish University in Warsaw and Łódź.
November 1936, deputy director of the newly-created National Institute of Rural Culture; responsible for field research. Organization of research on rural emigration, peasant memoirs and folk universities.
From 1937, a member of the Polish Sociological Institute and editorial staff of the Sociological Review; from 1938, head of the scientific research section, editor-in-chief of the sociological library published by the institute.
Józef Obrębski was one of the first promoters of Bronisław Malinowski's functionalism in Poland, both in a practical context (field research in Macedonia and Polesie) and theoretical (publications, lectures, lectures). Thanks to this, Malinowski's literature was more accessible to the Polish reader.

The war and subsequent political changes in the country disturbed the perspectives and scientific plans of Józef Obrębski. His scientific career collapsed, many of the projects he started did not complete. He did not realize himself as an academic teacher. During the occupation, Józef Obrębki lived with his wife Tamara in Warsaw at Ursynowska 58, in a place that was a center of intense underground activity. Most likely, he cooperated with the Home Army Information and Propaganda Office, as some information contained in the archives preserved in the USA indicates. Obrębski edited, among others monthly review and analysis of the underground press for the London government, underground publishing houses and radio programs. Obrębski's house was also a shelter for Jews hiding during the occupation. What's more, a secret academic life was taking place in this house; two underground seminars were held there regularly. In the years 1941-1944, Obrębski taught sociology on weekly secret sets of the Social and Educational Section of the Pedagogical Faculty of the Free Polish University . He also gave a lecture and seminar on ethnology at the University of Western Lands in Warsaw. In 1942, the underground Polish Sociological Institute was reactivated; Obrębski became part of its board (along with Stanisław Ossowski and Stanisław Rychliński ) [2] . When the Polish Sociological Institute began its activity in 1945 in Lublin, and soon afterwards in Lodz, Józef Obrębski began working on its board, and in the editorial committee of the "Sociological Review". He also became a member of the Sociological Commission of the Polish Academy of Learning and a member of the Board of the Folklore Society . In April 1945, he resumed his work at Wolna Wszechnica Polskiej in Łódź, which was soon transformed into the University of Lodz. From September, he became the chair of ethnology at the newly established Sociological Institute of the University of Lodz [2] . In 1946, Józef Obrębski went to London with his wife and son Stefan, invited by Sir Edward Evans-Pritchard to give a series of guest lectures at The Changing Peasantry of Eastern Europe . Some time later he was hired by the London School of Economics and Political Science as a sociologist-terrain for research in Jamaica. His wife and local assistants helped him. From there comes the richest collection of field materials of Józef Obrębski. At the end of his stay in Jamaica, he received a proposal to lead the department of sociology at the branch of the University of London that is being created there. He rejected this offer, driven by the desire to work in Poland. He finally accepted the offer of a job at the United Nations Trust Department (United Nations) in New York. He worked there for ten years (1948-1958), where he was a member of the UN Secretariat, a specialist in social affairs at the Trusteeship Department , responsible for the so-called trust territories - countries liberating themselves from colonial dependence. However, work at the UN did not satisfy Józef Obrębski. After resignation from the post he returned to academic work. In 1959-1962 he worked as a lecturer in sociology and anthropology at Brooklyn College , Hofstra College and Queens College of the City University of New York . In 1962, he joined the CW Post College of Long Island University , where until 1966 he was employed as an Assistant Professor (assistant professor), and from 1966 - Associate Professor (equivalent of associate professor). He became the first professor of social anthropology at this university, but his position was lower here than in Poland [3] .

In 1957, Józef Obrębski received job offers in Poland several times; at the University of Warsaw . However, he did not decide to return to the country. He died suddenly on December 28, 1967 in Hollis . Unfortunately, many of his works have remained unfinished.

Publications

External Publications

1931 Index for Henryk Biegeleisen's "Healing the Polish People" , Kraków.


2005 People of Polesia today and other essays , edited by Anna Engelking , Warsaw: IFiSPAN

2007 Ethnosociological studies. Volume 1. Polesie , edited by Anna Engelking, Oficyna Naukowa