Curriculum
All lecture courses carry 45 hours or 30 hours of in-class instruction per semester. Usually, lecture courses will meet twice per week for one and a half clock hours. Most courses offer the academic reward of 6 or 5 European Credit Transfer System (ECTS) credits (approximately 3 US credits).
Polish language courses contain 60 hours of contact instruction and customarily meet three times per week for two clock hours of class time instruction. Polish language courses are also given 6 ECTS credits.
The requirements for earning credit for each lecture course at the Department of IPS vary, however regular attendance, active participation, a semester essay and/or presentation, and a written and/or oral exam during the examination period are the standard.
Participants in the Study Abroad Programme at IPS are obliged to complete a minimum of 30 ECTS points per semester. Thus students must register for a minimum of five courses in order to be considered full-time students. An additional lecture course, that is, a sixth course, that will take students above 30 ECTS credits for one semester, carries the extra cost of US $450 above the tuition fee payment. An enrolment of 5 students is required to open any lecture course.
Polish language instruction is not mandatory, however, considering these are not just Polish Studies, but studies in Poland, students are encouraged to take language courses as well. Language courses are taught in co-operation with the Center for Polish Language and Culture in the World.
Codes:
CUL = Culture
HIS = History
JST = Jewish Studies
LIT = Literature
LAN = Language
Autumn Semester 2021 (September-December/January)
For the full and updated list of available courses please contact us with email.
Between Intimacy and Politics: Modern Polish Literature, Comparative Studies, and Translation Theory
Instructor: Tomasz Bilczewski, PhD, Alicja Fidowicz, PhD
Code: LIT 102S
ECTS Credits: 5
Hours: 30
In recent debates concerning the prospects of comparative literature, which has often been perceived as the place of renewal in the whole area of studies devoted to culture, the issue of interpretation and/as communication clearly becomes a central one. In this way, the discipline gives its answer to the ongoing and increasingly more complex process of globalization that affects many spheres of cultural production. Numerous questions raised by comparatists, trying to find for literature some new space in the intellectual life of modern societies, lean toward a revision of the existing ideas regarding translation - the key notion in thinking about cultural dialogue in the era of technology. The process of translation has often been viewed as a purely technical operation involving neutral, value-free interlingual communication. Our cultural tradition stubbornly maintains that translating is a kind of secondary, not necessarily creative, activity; a rather auxiliary tool which, as a transparent pane of glass, leads to the real source. This stereotypical view has created a whole set of binary and value-oriented oppositions in which the authority of a perfect original is imperfectly rendered by its copy, replica, duplicate, portrait, reflection, reproduction, imitation or mirror image.
The aim of this course is to demonstrate, in a comparative perspective, how this broad concept of translation penetrates different areas of literary and cultural studies and how it coincides with various fields influenced by the so called 'translation turn': anthropology, philosophy, psychology, women, gender and queer studies, linguistics, and even theology. We will examine in the context of Eastern European literature and culture, which after the collapse of the Berlin Wall became a hot topic in the most recent debates on the state of comparative studies, how cultural and literary theories handle the issue of translation and how they try to use it as a fresh comparative perspective in thinking about literature and culture.
Our weekly classes will be divided into two parts. The first meeting will be devoted to the analysis of historical and theoretical issues; the second one will try to make use of the previous discussions and apply them in reading Polish literature and culture. The course will start with an introductory outline and an attempt to look at translation and Polish experience from the outside (Eva Hoffman). Then we will switch into authors representative of various streams of 20th century Polish literature and culture: Witold Gombrowicz, Bruno Schulz, Ryszard Kapusciński, Tadeusz Różewicz, Zbigniew Herbert, Czesław Miłosz, Wisława Szymborska, Anna Swirszczyńska, Adam Zagajewski, and others.
Symbols Embodied: Modern Polish Drama and Theatre
Instructor: Artur Grabowski, PhD
Code: CUL 107A
ECTS Credits: 5
Hours: 30
Unlike most of western theatre, which is usually realistic, the Polish way of playwriting and Polish performing art are mostly poetic and allegorical. Polish drama of the 20th century has achieved world-wide acclaim and counts among the acknowledged masterpieces of the European canon. The most famous names: Witkiewicz, Gombrowicz and Mrozek, among others, come to mind. Modern theatre of our time counts the names of Grotowski or Kantor to their founders.
The intension of the course is to familiarize students with major trends in Polish drama of the 20th Century. Texts and video-recorded performances of selected plays will be presented and discussed; they will be treated both as a unique phenomenon and as a typical example of some great European aesthetic movements. As the course serves for non-polish speaking students of Polish culture, comparative literature and theatre we will always try to maintain balance between “performance studies” and literary “close reading” to finish with a kind of survey. We start from general cultural context of folk performances and medieval religious theatre only to pass quickly to metaphysical “plays in verses” of Polish Romanticism. Then the most of the time we will spend on analyzing modern avant-garde plays together with their theories and manifestos to see how they are realized in theatre productions.
Introduction to Translation Studies
Instructor: Zofia Ziemann, PhD
Code: CUL 110A
ECTS Credits: 5
Hours: 30
The course is designed as presentation of the main schools of Western Translation Studies since the 1940s till today. We are going to look at the main tenets of particular branches of contemporary TS as well as tracing the changes of theoretical paradigms and research areas. The main stress will be laid on studies concentrating around the notions developed within the equivalence paradigm, the broadly defined area of Descriptive Translation Studies and the Cultural Turn in TS. The idea of TS as an interdiscipline and the status of translation and translation studies in today’s humanities will also be discussed. Some attention is also going to be given to historical statements on translation.
Language Learning Strategies
Instructor: Waldemar Martyniuk, PhD
Code:
ECTS Credits: 5
Hours: 30
This seminar will examine language learning styles and strategies. The main goal of the seminar is to determine language learning styles and profiles of the participants and to assist them to effectively manage their learning of languages. Readings in English will be required; a bibliography will be given during Meeting 1. A presentation and a final paper will be required for grade.
Miłosz and Gombrowicz: the Dialectic of Belief and Unbelief
Instructor: Łukasz Tischner, PhD
Code: LIT 103S
ECTS Credits: 5
Hours: 30
Miłosz and Gombrowicz are the key Polish writers who - more or less openly - debated the problem of religion. One of the biggest issues for Miłosz was so called ”the erosion of the religious imagination” related to the sense of loss of “the second space”, e.g. beliefs of Christian eschatology. Gombrowicz was obsessed with the fact of human and animal pain which contrasted with Christian image of the benevolent God. At a glance they just seem to stand on the opposite sides; Miłosz claimed to be Catholic, while Gombrowicz defined himself as an atheist. After consideration, however, it occurs more complex – Miłosz’s religious assent is very fragile („I was judged for my despair because I was unable to understand this [Christian eschatological vision]” - From the Rising of the Sun), Gombrowicz’s atheism, on the other hand, is accompanied by a sense of mystery of life and his criticism against “shallow laicism”, e.g. militant and vulgar versions of atheism. The elusive nature of Miłosz’s and Gombrowicz’s positions towards religion is summed up in the phrase “the dialectic of belief and unbelief”.
The essential aim of the course is to reconstruct dynamics of eligious/agnostic/atheistic insights shared by the two great personalities.
Polish Language: Beginner's, Intermediate, Advanced (language level will be determined upon sitting proficiency test after arrival to Kraków)
Instructor: TBA
Code: LAN 101A
ECTS Credits: 6
Hours: 60
Spring Semester (February-June 2022)
Please ask for the complete list of courses available in Spring as the list below is not fully updated yet.
A Survey of the Polish Art History (From Romanesque Art to Art Nouveau)
Instructor: Piotr Oczko, PhD
Code: CUL 105S
ECTS Credits: 6
Hours: 45
The aim of the course is to instruct the students about the specimens of old Polish arts and crafts, their development throughout the centuries, their intellectual, social, and historical background, and the multitude of foreign influences (both from the West and East). Finally, the special emphasis will be put on the artistic phenomena that took place only in Poland (e.g. 17th century coffin portraits, national Polish Sarmatian outfits, etc.)
The course will focus both on theory (workshops, analyses of the iconographic materials – the lectures will be illustrated with a vast selection of visual material) and practical analysis (outings to the museums – e.g. The Bishop Erazm Ciołek palace, sightseeing).
Symbols Embodied: Modern Polish Drama and Theatre
Instructor: Artur Grabowski, PhD
Code: CUL 107A
ECTS Credits: 5
Hours: 30
Unlike most of western theatre, which is usually realistic, the Polish way of playwriting and Polish performing art are mostly poetic and allegorical. Polish drama of the 20th century has achieved world-wide acclaim and counts among the acknowledged masterpieces of the European canon. The most famous names: Witkiewicz, Gombrowicz and Mrozek, among others, come to mind. Modern theatre of our time counts the names of Grotowski or Kantor to their founders.
The intension of the course is to familiarize students with major trends in Polish drama of the 20th Century. Texts and video-recorded performances of selected plays will be presented and discussed; they will be treated both as a unique phenomenon and as a typical example of some great European aesthetic movements. As the course serves for non-polish speaking students of Polish culture, comparative literature and theatre we will always try to maintain balance between “performance studies” and literary “close reading” to finish with a kind of survey. We start from general cultural context of folk performances and medieval religious theatre only to pass quickly to metaphysical “plays in verses” of Polish Romanticism. Then the most of the time we will spend on analyzing modern avant-garde plays together with their theories and manifestos to see how they are realized in theatre productions.
Jews in Poland and Polish-Jewish Relations during the Holocaust and its Aftermath
Instructors: Edyta Gawron, PhD
Code: JST 102S
ECTS Credits: 6
Hours: 40
Topics related to Polish-Jewish relations are exceedingly difficult, because of the tragic historical events of the 20th century. Additionally, lack of contact between the two groups during the Communist period in Poland led to the deepening of stereotypes and prejudices, and cast a shadow over contemporary Polish-Jewish relations. The course will be dedicated to the most important and striking moments in contemporary Polish-Jewish relations, and the contemporary history of Jews in Poland. It will also be a platform to promote Polish-Jewish dialogue, and the development of Jewish studies at universities in Poland.
The course presents the history of Polish Jews during the Holocaust and post-Holocaust period. Discussing various aspects of the Holocaust, its history, but also its sociological and psychological features (e.g., human behaviour in different situations and in different countries), will be the background to understand the postwar history of the Jews not only in Poland, but also in Central and Eastern Europe. Topics of the post-Holocaust history include migrations, political issues, Jewish cultural and religious life, social life of the Jewish communities in Poland, antisemitism, Holocaust memory, and revival of Jewish culture. The contemporary history of Jews in all parts of Poland is included, however special attention is given to the Jews of Cracow. This emphasis on Cracow is attended to by visiting the local places important for Jewish history and meetings with people involved in contemporary Jewish life.
Cultural History of Love Discourse: from the Ancient Times till Romantic Crisis.
Instructor: Grażyna Urban-Godziek, PhD
Code: CUL 105A
ECTS Credits: 6
Hours: 40
The main point of our interest will be put on topics and styles of medieval and early modern literature (especially Italian, French and Polish), but in a wide perspective: from the ancient sources of European love poetry to the “point of destination” i.e. Romanticism, when the whole tradition is gathered, cumulated, exhausted and finally distracted.
A thorough analysis of poetic texts directed towards finding out the origins of love topics largely known from 19th- and 20th-century literature aims at acquainting students with the conventions of erotic poetry, and also it should help them to improve their skills in interpreting poetic texts (a close reading method) using a wide literary context. The other aim is to show how a competent, profound philological analysis could contribute to cultural studies and anthropology of literature. Furthermore, the exploration of long lasting , and changing motives, conventions, styles and functions of poetic speaking of love should on the one hand, picture – the continuity of European culture, and on the other, indicate the most important turning points in this culture, which determined its internal metamorphosis.
It will not be a regular course of the history of literature, but we will follow the motives, topoi (topics) and typical styles of poetic love discourse through the ages, such as: “anacreontic”; elegiac; pastoral; chivalrous; petrarchian; antipetrarchian; libertine; sentimental; rococo; romantic. Several topics should be described with poetic examples – from ancient Greek and Roman literature, then medieval (mainly Provençal and Italian), humanistic Neo-Latin (form Italy, France, Poland, Netherlands, England etc), to Renaissance and Baroque vernacular European literatures, sometimes also classicistic and Romantic (especially English and French 18th and 19th-century literature based on Italian Renaissance topics). Such a structure of lectures and programme is invented also to show a place of Polish early modern literature in Europe.
Witold Gombrowicz: Literature and Existence
Instructor: Professor Michał Paweł Markowski, PhD
Code: LIT 101A
ECTS Credits: 6
Hours: 45
The course aims at presentation one of the most original writers of European Modernism, Witold Gombrowicz (1908-1969) through reading of the three volumes (in excerpts) of his Diary, kept and published in installments in Paris, between 1953 and 1969. The Diary was conceived not as a neutral record of life events but as a creative strategy of presenting the writer’s self to the Polish readers living abroad. Gombrowicz was very sensitive to the image he was imposing on his audience so he was meticulously building his literary persona very different from his actual personality. Thanks to many fictional devices used to confuse the reader, Gombrowicz, as he appears from reading the Diary, is a man hard to pin down and characterize, always elusive and turned into a literary character. The course helps to understand both Gombrowicz and the fundamental issues related to literary self-presentation. Emphasis is put on existential problems (and their character) as they turn out to dominate the whole text.
Polish Language: Beginner's, Intermediate, Advanced (language level will be determined upon sitting proficiency test after arrival to Kraków)
Instructor: TBA
Code: LAN 102S
ECTS Credits: 6
Hours: 60
Courses temporarily not available
Jews in Poland: Their History, Culture, and Religion to 1939
Instructor: Michał Galas, PhD
Code: JST 101A
ECTS Credits: 6
Hours: 40
The course is a survey of Jewish history in Poland from the beginning of Jewish settlement on Polish lands up to the present time. It presents an overview of Jewish history in Poland from the Middle Ages up to contemporary Poland, with a special focus on key events important to Jewish history and Polish-Jewish relations. These include: the Chmielnicki pogroms, the partitions of Poland, the development of Polish national ideology, the Holocaust and the situation of Jews in Poland after 1945. The course will also discuss the most significant phenomena of Jewish religion and culture which flourished among Jews in Poland, including: Jewish traditional culture, mystical and messianic movements (Sabbateanism, Frankism and Hasidism), the influence of Haskalah and of reform movements in Judaism, Yiddish culture and literature, and religious life during the interwar period and the Holocaust.
As a city rich in Jewish history and sites of Jewish cultural heritage, Kraków offers a unique site and model for the study of the history of Jews in Poland. During the course students will have an exceptional opportunity to compare academic studies with heritage and remnants of Jewish life in Kraków that have survived till the present day.
History of Poland in the 20th Century, 1914-1990
Instructor: Jakub Basista, PhD
Code: HIS 101A
ECTS Credits: 5
Hours: 30
Poland is a historic nation and Poles like to recall their history. It is often very difficult to understand the Polish mentality having no information and knowledge of the past centuries which bring about Poles' pride and cast shadow on today's life, politics, culture, religion - in practically all domains of life. This will be a typical survey course intended to share with students the basic political, cultural and social changes in Polish history, from Poland's non-existence at the beginning of the 20th century up to the transition to democracy in the 1990s. Polish history will be discussed in a Central European/European context.
Iconoclasts: Polish Critical Art and War of Images
Instructor: Roma Sendyka, PhD
Code: CUL 107A
ECTS Credits: TBD
Hours: 40
What is Iconoclasm? „It seems so dated” – says Michael Taussig, but why so many write about it today? New interest in the life if pictures makes us redefine the old issue of “picture-hate”. Thanks to the new research in anthropology of pictures we know now that images can inspire very different reactions; some claim, that pictures can themselves be subjects and influence or manipulate us; some others point out that we have changed the definition of the “icon”. To sum up - the age-old definitions must be revised. In our course we will investigate this new, “extended field of iconoclasm”.
Polish Theatre at the Crossroads of Cultures
Instructor: Mateusz Borowski, PhD
Code: CUL 105A
ECTS Credits: TBD
Hours: 40
Although seen from the outside Polish theatre might be regarded as a monolithic phenomenon, in fact from the mid-20th century onwards it has been developing under the impact of a variety of cultures and theatre traditions. The heritage of the Polish Romanticism and the avant-garde of the first half of the century mingled with both the Western influences (such as happening, performance art or lately postdramatic theatre) and elements of Eastern conventions and acting styles. The most notable examples are Jerzy Grotowski’s “poor theatre” which incorporated Asian traditions of theatre in a unique format of physical theatre and Tadeusz Kantor’s “Theatre of Death” where contemporary performative arts mixed with both Polish and Jewish cultural traditions. Notably, each of these fusions, of which Grotowski and Kantor are only most eloquent examples, have a unique character and can be understood only in a broad context of theatre studies and theatre practice.
For this reason the course “Polish Theatre at the Crossroads of Cultures” has been designed to break with the stereotype of Polish theatre as a hermetic set of conventions, communicating only with the local audiences. To achieve this aim, it offers a chance to get thoroughly acquainted with the most significant developments in contemporary Polish theatre from the 1950s till today through learning and practice. It combines theoretical and historical approach with practical exercises and workshops conducted by theatre practitioners and theatre scholars, specialist in the field. The 40-hour course focuses on the main lines of development of Polish theatre both in the mainstream and in the off-theatre and aims to show where Polish theatre originated and to what extent it influenced and enriched other Western and non-Western traditions and cultures. This intercultural and interdisciplinary perspective has been chosen to introduce Polish theatre to foreign students interested not only in the indigenous, local traditions but also their place in the wide context of contemporary tendencies in theatre.
(In)visible Loss. The Holocaust and the Everyday Visual Experience in Contemporary Poland and Central Europe
Instructor: Roma Sendyka, PhD
Code: CUL 106A
ECTS Credits: TBD
Hours: 40
This course aims to examine the relationship between the endeavor to remember the Holocaust and the contemporary everyday visual experience of the present day cities in Poland and neighboring countries. The main question is how/if the Holocaust is (in)visible to the citizens of the today’s cities once partially inhabited by the Jews. The purpose of this course is to undertake a critical and comparative study of the "memory policies", deepen the skills of analysis of visual discourses (monuments, museums, visual arts, movies, architecture, finally: the discourse of the city as a visual object) as well as of the visual aspect in the literature (modes of description). The issue of representation of the Shoah will be discussed based on a range of texts from the City without the Jews by Hugo Bettauer through This Way for the Gas, Ladies and Gentlemen by Tadeusz Borowski to Fateless by Imre Kertész accompanied by the works of visual arts (Żmijewski, Libera, Liebeskind, Bartana among others). It will build the background for examining the core problem: do/how the today’s Central/Eastern European cities represent the loss of its inhabitants?
Guest lecturers: Tomasz Majewski, Katarzyna Bojarska, invited guest: Martin Jay
Syllabus
The Encounter with the Everyday: Polish Popular Culture
Instructor: Grzegorz Jankowicz, MA
Code: CUL 102S
ECTS Credits: TBD
Hours: 40
The POPCULT course is an introduction to the central role popular culture has played in the last decades of twentieth century Polish history and consciousness. Through lectures, readings, class discussions, and a wide variety of supplemental materials, we will examine the relationship between popular culture and the transformation of Poland from a communist to a postmodern society as well as the historical debates over the definition and nature of contemporary popular culture and its effects on audiences and society.
Popular culture analysis occurs in a number of different fields, including Sociology, Communications, Anthropology, History, Cultural Studies, Women's Studies, Ethnic Studies, and Polish Studies. We will move between these various disciplines to refine the student's ability to synthesize analytical materials into her or his own interdisciplinary examination.
There is a wide range of forms that are related to Polish popular culture (film, music, sports, comix, fashion, television, advertising, cyberculture), but three of them appear to play the crucial role in the aforementioned transformation of Polish consciousness: film, comix, and SF literature. We will examine these forms in the context of such issues as race, gender, sexuality, censorship, and imperialism.
Syllabus
