Reflection on the female body in Polish-Jewish ego-documents of the late 19th and early 20th centuries – challenges and opportunities

ABSTRACT The article focuses on methodological questions in the research on memoirs, recollections, diaries and correspondence written in Polish by Jewish women between the late 1880s and 1918. It seeks to show the benefits for Jewish studies of analyzing discourses on body and sexuality in Polish-Jewish ego-documents. It asks the question of benefits and challenges for the study of Jewish and Polish social histories that such sources evoke. Adapting methodology used in anthropology, the article discusses the impact of the researcher on the interpretation of the analyzed sources.