In Summer 2019, the American Studies Library received a large donation of science fiction books, both fiction and critical studies, from Prof. Joan Gordon. Now retired, Joan Gordon was Professor of English at the Nassau County Community College (New York), President of the Science Fiction Research Association, and the Distinguished Fulbright Chair at Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin (2008/2009). 

Joan Gordon is an author and editor of an extensive volume of highly influential critical writings on science fiction and animal studies. For years, she has served as an editor for Science Fiction Studies, the premiere journal of the field, and Humanimalia: A Journal of Human/Animal Interface Studies. She has also received SFRA’s Thomas D. Clareson Award for Distinguished Service (2002) and the SFRA Award for Lifetime Contributions to SF Scholarship (2014).

The donation was secured and arranged by Prof. Paweł Frelik. The books are being cataloged as we speak and will become available to students and faculty within the next few months. 

American Studies Colloquium Series

November 28: Soviet-Born Jewish Literature between North America and Germany

November 22, 2024

In this conversation, Stuart Taberner (University of Leeds) and Karolina Krasuska (University of Warsaw) will explore some of the parallels and contrasts between the experiences of Soviet Jews who migrated to Germany and the United States in successive waves since the 1960s. Specifically, they will examine the literary production of these cohorts of Soviet Jewish migrants, relating to arrival in the destination country, the reconfiguration of Jewish identity, gender, and Holocaust memory. Following a brief introduction to the historical, sociological, and literary context in Germany and the USA, Stuart and Karolina will engage in a discussion of key points of comparisons and difference.

Year 2024/2025

November 21: “House of Horrors: Familial Intimacies in Contemporary American Horror Fiction” Author’s Meeting

November 19, 2024

Join us on November 21, 2024 for an author’s meeting with Dr. Agnieszka Kotwasińska about her book “House of Horrors: Familial Intimacies in Contemporary American Horror Fiction” published last year by the University of Wales Press. Dr. Kotwasińska will be joined by Dr. Sorcha Ní Fhlainn, and the event will be moderated by Dr. Jędrzej Burszta.

Year 2024/2025

November 20: ‘A Plane out of Phase’ – The Dark Continuance of the Gothic 1980s

November 19, 2024

Weird Fictions Research Group invites you to join for a fantastic (no pun intended) lecture by our guest, Dr. Sorcha Ní Fhlainn from Manchester Metropolitan University! This lecture asks you to consider the dark return of the Gothic 1980s in contemporary culture. Drawing upon ideas and examples of sequelisation, IP branding, apparatus theory, YouTube video curation, nostalgic programming, weird TV, and music, and the confluence of such forms in streaming series including Stranger Things and the current media adoption of Dark MAGA, this lecture invites you to examine the toxicity of the rhetoric of restorative projections and to query its undervalued reflective nostalgia as imagined onscreen to reclaim the future from the precarious dark present.

Year 2024/2025

November 18: After the US Elections: The Futures of European Security and Transatlantic Cooperation

November 18, 2024

Together with Gazeta Wyborcza we are delighted to invite you to the whole-day conference “After the US Elections: The Futures of European Security and Transatlantic Cooperation” dedicated to the global and regional (CEE) impact of the results of the 2024 US presidential elections. We will try to parse through the scenarios regarding the relationship between the US and Europe, human rights and democracy worldwide, aid to Ukraine, and new global threats. The invited guests include President Aleksander Kwaśniewski, ASC professors, external policy experts, and journalists and editors from GW.

Year 2024/2025

November 14: Recruitment for the Student Chapter of the Gender/Sexuality Research Group

November 14, 2024

We are happy to announce that we are opening recruitment for the team coordinating the activities of the Student Chapter of the Gender/Sexuality Research Group at the ASC! This year, we would like to invite new members of the ASC community (and not only) to our team, in order to coordinate the next series of events and, above all, to make our space available to different classes of graduates at the BA and MA level.