Instructions (Preface)

Every vacuum cleaner and every domestic appliance comes with instructions for use. Often these are not consulted and if they are, they are usually difficult to understand and are thus immediately put away. In our case things are different – if you don’t read the instructions you might put this book aside because it may not seem to make much sense to you. We are so used to buying into the reality that we are given by others. We might long for a better world and dream of other worlds when reading fantasy fiction but most of us are quite unaware that we actually create our own world. Let’s assume that reality is a construction that we construct by means of our senses and communications with each other. We construct our own small or larger stories on a daily basis, consciously or unconsciously. In this way identity is formed. Some stories are passed on from one generation to the next and accepted without further reflection. Sometimes stories serve to reflect power relations or to seduce us. Stories can also serve to open up new spaces for thoughts and actions, remove the boundaries in our heads and start new relationships. Nowa Amerika is such a space. Here are the Germans, over there are the Poles – this dichotomy no longer exists in Nowa Amerika. We are Nowa Amerikans with post-Polish, post-German and many other migration backgrounds. We have founded a new space in the space between the two and this new space removes the dialectics between two national societies. As Nowo Amerikans we are bound to this common sense of belonging and thus we no longer participate in the German-Polish act of shaking hands. We invite you to visit our beautiful country and to experience it with your own eyes. Come play with us, be serious about the game and perhaps you can add another building block to the construction of Nowa Amerika.