American Studies Center - OSA UW

Today is the final day of the second round of registrations for our MA program, so dont wait much longer! 🐝

🎓Our MA program integrates the structure of American graduate programs with the uniqueness of European views of the United States. In many countries, American Studies has been traditionally rooted in literary studies and history. We naturally offer courses in these, but our faculty represent a full spectrum of US-related interests and disciplines. From film and television to political science, from economics to gender and s*xuality studies, from social science to popular culture – we have it all and more.

Learn more about the program here, and don't forget to sign up afterwards!👇

MA in American Studies | American Studies Center, University of Warsaw From film and television to political science, from economics to gender and s*xuality studies, from social science to popular culture. We have it all and more. Study MA in American Studies.

As always, we are excited to announce that the official ASC Inauguration and Graduation Ceremony will take place on October 4, 2024 at 4:00 pm! 🎓

For our Freshmen, this is an opportunity to receive a warm and heartfelt welcome from the faculty, staff, and fellow students as you begin your academic journey at the American Studies Center! During the ceremony, you will have the chance to meet some of your future professors, listen to the Inaugural speech, and get ready for the new academic year.

For our soon-to-be Graduates, it is a day to celebrate the years of your hard work and academic achievements that have brought you to this pivotal moment. We will be thrilled to hand you your well-deserved diplomas and acknowledge your academic success. Let’s celebrate the end of this chapter together as you toss your graduation cap into the air!

The graduation will take place at the Old BUW, Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28.

Attention readers ❗️

Between September 10 and September 12 (Tuesday to Thursday) our Library will be open only from 12:30 pm to 2 pm 🕧 due to Library Staff training 👩‍💻

Other than that, feel free to visit us from Monday to Friday, 10 am to 2 pm, all throughout September 🌇

Next week prof. Krasuska goes on book tour to the US! 📖

She will be promoting her freshly published book „Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction” (Rutgers UP) with seminars and book talks in New York City, Washington DC, and Philadelphia! Follow prof. Krasuska’s events here and join her book launch at the ASC on October 17. More news soon!

https://karolinakrasuska.org/media_events/

Aleksandra Zuzanna Leniarska's article just came out in European Journal for American Studies!

The article describes 'the Franzen formula’ - the gendered way in which Franzen's characters across multiple novels ditch political engagement when they discover that political idealism is the source of their familial unhappiness. Zuza argues that "although Franzen overtly declares discontent with the neoliberal logic of marketization and privatization both as a public intellectual and in the plots of his novels, indirectly he reinforces the deeply individualistic and apolitical tendencies that lie at the heart of the very phenomenon he criticizes. The narrative arcs of his neorealist novels punish politically engaged characters to ultimately offer them a new, supposedly non-normative, form of success, where tranquility is regarded as the highest value."

Zuza Leniarska is a Ph.D. candidate at the University of Warsaw's Doctoral School of Humanities, specializing in literature. She is also a Fulbright grantee, having visited Stanford University in 2021-22. Her expertise lies in U.S. literature and culture, with academic interests that include literary realism, contemporary fiction, and the theory of the novel. She's writing her dissertation under the supervision of prof. Agnieszka Graff and prof. Paweł Frelik. She also teaches multiple literature-related courses at the ASC, although she's currently on maternity leave.

⬇️⬇️
https://journals.openedition.org/ejas/22040?

“He stopped to lower his window and say hello”: Jonathan Franzen, N... 1. Introduction Jonathan Franzen is not only considered one of the most prominent contemporary American writers and essayists, but he has also assumed the position of an influential public intellec...

The second registration tour for our MA program began today, and it's your chance to become the most important part of ASC, our student!🧑‍🎓

The MA in American Studies is highly individualised, interdisciplinary, and centrally research-oriented, shaping in our students critical thinking and appetite for challenging questions that do not come with easy answers.

The tour ends on September 10th, so hurry up and join us!

More info in the link 👇
https://www.asc.uw.edu.pl/candidates/admissions/ -admissions

Here's a bunch of information about the second round of admissions for our future MA candidates!

➡Second round of registration ends on September 10, 2024 (starts August 10, 2024)
➡Oral exams will be organized on September 19-20, 2024 (online)
➡Announcement of results: September 24, 2024

Submission of required documents at the American Studies Center, Dobra 55, Warsaw
➡First round: September 25-26, 2024
➡Second round (the waiting list): September 27, 30, 2024

For more information, visit our website⬇️
https://www.asc.uw.edu.pl/candidates/admissions/ -admissions

A friendly reminder:
ASC Library is open all throughout August 🪩, 10 am to 2 pm, with the exception of 08/15 and 08/16, due to a short holiday break ⛱️

If you get a chance, stop by and browse through our book collection!
You might be interested in some of the titles which appear on The New York Times’ “The 100 Best Books of the 21st Century” list and are available to borrow in our Library 📚 📥

Here are some of them (from the top 10):

2.
The Warmth of Other Suns: The Epic Story of America's Great Migration / Isabel Wilkerson (304.8 Wil)

4.
The Known World / Edward P. Jones (813.5 Jon)

5.
The Corrections / Jonathan Franzen (813.5 Fra)

7.
The Underground Railroad / Colson Whitehead (813.5 Whi)

10.
Gilead / Marilynne Robinson (813.5 Rob)

Check our Goodreads shelf for other available titles from the NYTimes list:
➡️ https://tinyurl.com/5cb58ywt

What's the first thing you should do after defending your BA thesis? You guessed it — sign up for our MA program! And the second thing you should do? Relax!

That's what a large number of our BA students did right after their defenses. They organized an integration trip to the Polish Tatra mountains, where they conquered mountain peaks and admired local nature. On top of that, they've had some quality time together, which goes to show that ASC is one big family! 🎉

And you? How are you spending your well-deserved summer break? Hopefully you are getting ready for your quality time at the ASC!

"'Soviet-Born' makes a deeply researched and analytically insightful case for the ways in which Soviet-born writing challenges and adds to Jewish American fiction."

If you want to learn more about Prof. Krasuska’s new book, check out the first review of „Soviet-Born” in this amazing venue- Los Angeles Review of Books!

Reconfiguring the Categories | Los Angeles Review of Books Yelena Furman reviews Karolina Krasuska’s “Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction.”

It's been almost a month since the "How to Teach About Gender and Sexuality?" conference, and it's a perfect time to remind everyone how great it was! 🎉

During the conference, we covered a wide range of topics, but the main goal was to answer one not-so-simple question: Can we collectively imagine MA program on gender and s*xuality in Poland?

We had the privilege of hosting over 40 guests from different academic and non-academic backgrounds at six panels. We also had the pleasure of hosting such a big and active audience that took part in the discussions—both during the panels and afterwards.

To conclude this moment of reflection, we would like to thank everyone who took part in the conference and joined us in such numbers. Hopefully we will be able to see you all soon, and who knows – maybe we will see each other at those MA studies? 😉

Dr. Karolina Krasuska's new monograph "Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction" was published yesterday by a great publisher, Rutgers University Press! Congratulations!🎉

Get a digital copy open access at the link in the comment (thank you University of Warsaw!)

And save the date for a book launch at Dobra 55 in the Fall, October 17, 5pm, with Dr. Ian Garner, Dr. Izabella Kimak, and Dr. Krasuska, moderated by Dr. Marta Usiekniewicz!📅

We've recently finished the first round of BA and MA thesis defenses, so this might be the perfect opportunity to tell you about another very important recent defense.🎓

Jan Smoleński defended his dissertation with distinction!

Jan Smoleński's dissertation titled "Constituent Power, the Federal Principle, and the Federal Spatio-Political Imaginary: Reimagining the Democratic Federation as the Union of Unions" brings together theoretical and historical investigation of the historically sidelined strand of federal thought and practice to develop conceptual and normative resources that can serve as a critical mirror for our reflection on the condition of democracy today and challenges it currently faces.

Just few hours left to apply for our MA program!

Hurry up and join us. Meet inspiring people. Develop your passions. Become an expert in American Studies.

Register now at 👇https://irk.uw.edu.pl/pl/offer/PELNE2024/field/P_AMS/

There is still time for you to enroll in one of our programs and become an ASC student!

🎓Our programs are highly individualised, interdisciplinary, and centrally research-oriented, shaping in our students critical thinking and an appetite for challenging questions that do not come with easy answers.

If you're interested in learning more about our programs and the ASC in general, here are some words of wisdom from our alumni!
👉 https://www.asc.uw.edu.pl/candidates/alumni/

At the beginning of June, ASC students Anna Temel, Penelopa Adamczyk, Weronika Wadecka, Kamila Salamaga, Agnieszka Sroczyńska, Julia Majchrzak and Matin Nikookar had an opportunity to participate in the Transatlantic Symposium organized by Prof. Martin Klepper and Dr. Selma Bidlingmaier from Humboldt University of Berlin and Dr. Natalia Pamuła and Prof. Tomasz Basiuk of the American Studies Center. The symposium, which was a culmination of preparatory classes held throughout the semester, began in Wałbrzych and concluded in Berlin. The theme of this year's conference was "Environmental Justice and the Anthropocene," which was explored by the participants in the context of capitalism, colonialism, contemporary media, and identity. The problems discussed by the participants were highlighted during the group's exploration of the old coal mine and the sights of post-industrial Lower Silesia. The group had an opportunity to see Wrocław and learn more about the Central European flood of 1997. Finally, the students traveled to Berlin to visit the Botanical Garden and discuss its construction in the context of German colonial history. The symposium concluded with a guest lecture by Dr. Mathias Foit on Non-Metropolitan Q***r History.

Only a few days left to apply for our programs! ⏰

Hurry up and join us. Meet inspiring people. Develop your passions. Become an expert in American Studies.

MA registration closes on July 4!
BA registration closes on July 10!

Register now at 👇https://irk.uw.edu.pl/pl/offer/PELNE2024/field/P_AMS/

✨11 REASONS TO STUDY WITH US!✨
..and we're only scratching the surface here, so don't miss your chance and join us!

Apply for MA in American Studies 👇https://irk.uw.edu.pl/pl/offer/PELNE2024/field/P_AMS/

Last week, on 13 June 2024, ASC Director Grzegorz Kość signed a Letter of Intent with Brian J. George, US Embassy Warsaw Counsellor for Public Affairs, for the purpose of establishing an American Hub. 🖋

We've agreed to set up American Hub, an American Space at ASC that will help promote American culture and US mobility programs among ASC students, the UW community, and the general public at large. The American Hub will also serve as a framework for US Embassy Warsaw-sponsored events - lectures, screenings, workshops - that promote knowledge about the US.

The occasion brought together three US Embassy officials: Brian J. George, Deputy Cultural Attaché Monica Damberg-Ott, and Monika Rokicka, Director of the American Spaces Unit. From our side, we were represented by Director Grzegorz Kość, IAiE Director Tomasz Basiuk, and ASC Director-elect Paweł Frelik. We showed the US Embassy delegation around Dobra 55, including the rooftop garden.

Summer's right around the corner ☀️🤿🧋🐚 and so it's the perfect moment to launch the second edition of our Borrow for the Summer campaign 📚

You can now borrow any book(s) that you like from our Library for the entirety of the summer vacation 🪁 and return them only by October 18, at the beginning of the new semester 🗓️

Enjoy your reading to the fullest without worrying about monthly due dates and their extension 🍹📖 whether you'll be on the other side of the world or at home, on your couch 🌎 🔄 🛋️

Best of luck during the exam session! 🧘

Just two days to go now until the conference "How to teach about gender and s*xuality? Interdisciplinarity, institutionalization, social engagement."📅

What can you expect from the event?
◾️ Over 40 guests
◾️ Six separate panels
◾️ Two days filled with incredible talks and topics!

And of course, you'll get the chance to find answers to questions that have been bothering you for a long time. How could s*x education look like today? Where do feminism and q***r activism fit in the academy? Is the key word "equality" or "inequality"? Can we collectively imagine master’s degree program on gender and s*xuality in Poland?

Join us on 17-18 June to find out for yourself!
➡️ https://www.asc.uw.edu.pl/event/june-17-18-polish-language-conference-jak-uczyc-o-plci-i-seksualnosci-interdyscyplinarnosc-instytucjonalizacja-zaangazowanie-spoleczne/

Quick reminder!

The deadline for submitting the OZN card for those who plan to defend their thesis in June/July is June 19th!📆

To get your grade, you need to submit all the documents listed on our website in one email to both the OZN coordinator, Dr Marta Usiekniewicz, and the Student Office.

More info below⬇️
https://www.asc.uw.edu.pl/students/open-academic-sessions/

Still not sure about joining our MA program?

Don't worry, we've got you covered. We asked our MA students to tell us why they'd recommend the program, and here are their responses!👩‍🎓

We don't need to say much more than they already did, so we'll let our MA's take the floor and show you what your future experience at the ASC might look like 😉

Find out more about our program:
👉 https://www.asc.uw.edu.pl/candidates/ma-program/

Prof. Karolina Krasuska was awarded the „Tandems for Excellence” IDUB research grant for her project „Soviet-Born World Literature: Towards a Post-Cold War Comparative Framework”!🎉

The collaborative project conceptualizes a new post-Cold War global framework for recent literature by Soviet-born Jewish authors in German, English, and Russian, extending the individual research by prof. Krasuska and the senior Visiting Researcher, prof. Stuart Taberner from the University of Leeds (Taberner, The New German Jewish Literature, 2024; Krasuska, Soviet-Born: The Afterlives of Migration in Jewish American Fiction, 2024). They will collaborate with further 3 researchers from the US and UK as well as create a junior UW MA/PhD student 1-year research position.

The main objective of the „Tandems for Excellence” program is to stimulate the achievement of scientific excellence by improving the level of internationalisation at the University of Warsaw and the visibility of research carried out at the University. Prof. Krasuska’s project was one of 9 projects funded with the sum up to 250.000 PLN and the only one in the humanities. Congratulations!

👩‍🎓Registration for BA and MA programs opens tomorrow!

If you want to learn more about our programs, check out our website. There you'll find a more detailed description of the admission requirements and other practical information.
👉 https://www.asc.uw.edu.pl/candidates/admissions/

Register now at 👉https://irk.uw.edu.pl/pl/offer/PELNE2024/field/P_AMS/

Good luck! We're hoping to see you soon!

The third project with the NCN Sonata grant is Dr. Jędrzej Burszta's project titled "Psychedelic Culture in Poland: Practices and Discourses"!

Here's a summary of the project⬇

The aim of this project is to examine the cultural and social phenomenon of the current psychedelic renaissance from the perspective of the discourses, practices and aesthetics connected with the various uses of psychedelic substances by members of contemporary Polish psychedelic communities. It will explore the social practices (ceremonies, events, festivals) and cultural meanings associated with psychedelicsubstances by different groups of psychedelic enthusiasts and activists in Poland, and analyze how psychedelic cultures are expressed through embodied experiences, music, and visuals. It will also map the changing status of psychedelic substances in different types of competing discourses: medical, spiritual, ecological, cultural. Combining in-depth ethnographic interviews, participant observation, research on psychedelic music, and critical analysis of competing discourses, the project will examine the connections, continuations, and points of departure that have shaped contemporary psychedelic culture seen both as a local and transnational phenomenon that has for long existed on the margin but is gradually becoming more mainstream in Poland.

Congrats and good luck with your project!🍀

The second project that received the NCN Sonata grant is Dr. Joanna Mąkowska's project titled "A Form of Protest: Documentary Assemblages in American Poetry"!

My project explores a largely undertheorized American documentary poetics, situating it within a broader tradition of protest writing. It aims to examine and theorize literary and transmedial assemblage as an experimental form of protest, which exposes and opposes socioeconomic, environmental, and racial injustice in the United States. Drawing on the new materialist assemblage theory, the project investigates how documentary poets assemble voices of dissent to shed light on those aspects of history that were forgotten or silenced. While focusing primarily on 21st-century documentary poetry, it also examines selected works by modernist women authors, whose pioneering innovations illuminate our understanding of experimental documentary practices as integral to American protest literature and culture. By setting documentary assemblage and protest literature in conversation, this project combines two objectives: 1) it broadens our understanding of protest literature by exploring its formally innovative modes and 2) it offers a new perspective on documentary assemblage and its cultural significance as a crisis-responsive form of protest. As part of my project, I will publish a scholarly monograph and two journal articles.

Congrats again, and of course, good luck with your project!🍀

Have you ever wondered what our professors do when they're not at Dobra? Do they just disappear? 🕳️

It turns out they do some pretty cool things, like visiting conferences abroad! Here's a collection of photos taken by our faculty at the SFRA conference in Tartu, where ASC was represented by Dr. Burszta, Dr. Kurowicka, Prof. Frelik, Dr. Kotwasińska, Olga Gajek, Klaudia Paola Zalewska, Joanna Kaniewska, and Anna Maria Grzybowska!

Here's the full program of the conference⬇️⬇️
https://www.sfra2024.ut.ee/program/